**LONG REVIEW PLEASE READ ALL**
The Anthology building is a beautiful property in a great location in DC with amazing amenities. Despite this, we had an absolutely terrible experience during our stay.
First, check-in was supposed to be 4pm on Friday. A rep reached out that there were issues getting the apartment cleaned and indicated that it would be ready around 5:45pm. Not ideal but issues happen. We arrived around about 5:20pm and went to the apartment expecting it to at least be in the process of being cleaned. We opened the door and saw that there was garbage piled up that smelled and the beds looked like they had just been slept in. We left with all of our things and went to wait on the roof with all of our bags.
We waited for about an hour before again attempting to go into the apartment. It still was uncleaned. When we called Abode we were told that the cleaning crew attempted to go in an clean but couldn’t do so because for some reason they didn’t have the key. To this day this still makes no sense as the time they allegedly attempted to go we had not yet arrived so the 2 keys for the apartment were available to have been used. We explained to the rep that we had plans Friday and that the delay seriously inconvenienced us and essentially ruined our plans because we had no place to leave our things or shower. Because of this we requested a refund of our Friday payment. Abode was only willing to refund us 50% of the rate and the cleaning fee. To this date we has indicated that was insufficient and are still waiting on additional information regarding a refund.
After waiting hours for the cleaning crew to arrive, Abode then called us to had US give keys to the apartment to the cleaning crew because they still couldn’t get in. We had at that point left the building to try and get food and found it in appropriate that we had to leave the restaurant to go back and give the cleaning crew keys, but we did it anyways. This was probably around 6-6:30pm. After an hour and a half we still did not hear if we could go into the apartment. We were told that we couldn’t expect to go into the apartment until 8:30pm. At this point we were pushing up against dinner reservations and needed access.
We finally got into the apartment around 8:45pm, 4 hours and 45 minutes after the advertised 4pm check-in time. When we got in there were other issues. The apartment was advertised to sleep 6 people: 2 ppl per room (2BR) and then there was supposed to be an additional blow up mattress that would also sleep 2. The bathroom only had 2 bath towels and none of the pillows had pillow cases. We later found that the cleaning crew had tossed all of the unwashed towels into garbage bags and attempted to hide them in a closet rather than wash them. At minimum a note would have been appreciated.
There also was no air mattress in the apartment. This was a problem as our group was composed of 6 members and Abode was aware of this per the pre-booking survey that I had to complete. I specifically mentioned that we would need the mattress. I messaged Abode letting them know about the dirty towels and the missing air mattress. I was told that an air mattress would be dropped off the next morning at 11am and I gave them permission to enter the apartment and leave the mattress inside. This meant that we had one night where all of our members could not comfortably sleep on beds. The next day we went out and came back in to find not air mattress. I was again told that the cleaning crew couldn’t gain access and that they left the air mattress with the door person in the lobby. When we went to the lobby to collect the mattress, we were told that there were a number of large boxes dropped off. None of them included an air mattress. The boxes seemed like a bunch of towels and toiletries. We found it in appropriate that Abode expected us to carry these boxes to the apartment as it was not our job to do this and the one thing that we needed still was not included.
I’ve used Airbnb on a number of occasions and never had such a poor experience. It was a true disappointment especially as we had rented this apartment for a birthday weekend in the city and the birthday guest ended up sleeping on the floor because of false advertising. I would not recommend this apartment to anyone, and it’s unfortunate because the property is beautiful and centrally located.