Honest review
Pros: Great location, lots of restaurants in the area, French cafe next door. Nice sitting area w/ TV.
Cons:
Very old building. Long, curved staircase to climb; huge hole in the wall in the bathroom behind the sink; many cracks, tiny holes, exposed nails in the wall/floor and many crevices throughout the apartment. RAT box to the right of the entrance of the front door; saw some rats in parking lot scurrying around at night. I din’t see roaches but I felt the need to zip up my bag because there were just TOO many cracks and crevices everywhere!!! I was only there 2 nights 3 days days. I was attending conference, so I was gone most of the day.
But, other reviewers HAVE seen ROACHES. Again, I didn’t see any inside but I saw some outside in the neighborhood!
But if I would have read that review I wouldn’t have booked. Doug charges WAY too much to have pest/rodent issues!).
Kitchen is tiny and it wasn’t a kitchen that I’d like to cook in anyway. Plus there we couldn’t find any pots and pans. Couldn’t even find foil to heat up take out dishes. Internet was shaky one night. We felt some racial hostility in the neighborhood from neighbors. It just felt like they didn’t see black people in that area very often based on some stares and questions we got as we walked around the neighborhood and went to local eateries. It didn’t ruin our trip, but it was an annoying, tense and awkward part of the trip.
Separate issue
Doug accused us of smoking cannabis in his apt, which we NEVER did. Cannabis is legal there. There are 3 dispensaries within a 2 mile radius of the apartment. They even delivered. Once our business conference had concluded and we finished our last session, we put in an order for pre roll joints; and the dispensary delivered our order. We smoked a joint OUTSIDE,NOT inside in the apt!!!
We don’t drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. We NEVER had guest or parties.
Doug ASKED guests to “leave a gift that builds community” for the next people who stay. He lists this in his guest manual and he asked his guests to do this before they left.
So, we left a Ginger beer (non alcoholic) and we left 1 pre roll joint sealed in an enclosed case. It hadn’t been opened. We thought, well let’s leave the pre roll joint as part of a “parting gift”; if Doug wants the joint fine. If not, he or the cleaning team could just throw it away or re-gift it. Again, it is perfectly legal to use cannabis recreationally in D.C. to the point where they deliver it to your home.
We left the place completely SPOTLESS!!!!! I went out of my way to do that because that’s just my personality and I like to be a respectful guest. Read ANY of my other reviews and they will say the same thing!!!
Well, on the last day, Doug’s cleaning people saw us standing waiting for an Uber. I smiled, waved and yelled “It shouldn’t be much to clean! We left everything spotless!”
The cleaning ladies went upstairs, then after about 10 min., they come downstairs laughing and looking over at us. I literally thought they were happy we left everything so clean that they could be finished early!
Apparently, his cleaning ladies MISTAKENLY thought we were smoking cannabis in the apt because we left the joint behind (they called it “evidence” as if we committed a crime) and then they claimed there was a “strong smell” of cannabis and accused us of smoking in his apt!!!!
The cleaning ladies opened the joint case to take a photo. And they removed the encased pre-roll from the kitchen table and brought it into the bedroom for a photo. This made it look like they found it in the bedroom. And I also think that opening the closed container contributed to the alleged “strong smell” of cannabis.
Doug immediately sends me a text after receiving this fraudulent photo saying I owed him $1,000!!!! This is on top of what I had already paid for the stay - which was almost $1000 - and now he wanted ANOTHER $1,000. He wanted to penalize me for “breaking a rule” and allegedly smoking in his apt - which we still vehemently deny - he and tried to get me to pay $500 for a “deep cleaning” of his ENTIRE APARTMENT due to lie, which is crrrrazzzy!!!
We had literally smoked a joint OUTSIDE nearly 3+ hours before we had to check out!!! Then, we both even took showers after we smoked and ate at the bakery next door before we headed to the airport! There wasn’t any lingering smoke anywhere outside nor was there any smoke or weed smell inside!! It just wasn’t true! And now this guy is trying to charge me $1,000 for a story he and his cleaning crew made up. That’s what makes me so upset! It is truly so cruel to treat people this way.
To me, it was a HUGE misunderstanding!
I misunderstood Doug’s “leave a gift” message. People leave bottles of wine, beer behind. Cannabis is legal in 38 states and me leaving that behind (for someone who doesn’t drink alcohol) was like leaving behind a decent bottle of Cabernet! If you want it fine, drink it or take it. If you aren’t interested, throw it away or don’t drink it.
His cleaning people tried to criminalize the situation because the language they used to describe the situation definitely wreaked of some cultural, maybe racial bias. After reading through reviews, he’s had about 130 people stay with him and only 5-6 have been black identifying people; of those 5-6 black/brown people, half had an issue with their stay too!
I don’t believe he nor his cleaning ladies encounter many black women guests (again that’s based on the reviews and how