Beware of a bargain! I thought this was a good deal because it was only $65 a night and it is so close to the State Capital. All the other options available were either too small or too cheap so I knew something would be wrong. I should have realized this was one of those traps... Don't come here unless you're up and out by 7 am and you won't be back until very late. You're basically staying in someone's in-law apartment in the basement of a beautiful house. It's definitely NOT plush or anything close to feeling "Private" or being "Luxury" which is what they had advertised it as. There were several incidents that left me completely unhappy and led me to leave the property a day early.
1) Monday, 12/20 AM – I was woken up around 7 am by loud noises of people walking back and forth, talking and moving around directly above the bedroom that I was trying to sleep in. This continued until 9 am. After 9 am, I couldn't go back to sleep because there was a dog or dogs (unsure) that would howl and bark insistently. As a dog owner, I recognize these wailing sounds as the dog crying for its owner due to being left alone. At 10:25 am, I notified the host that they should let the tenants/neighbors know that the dog keeps crying and it was hard for me to sleep with the howling noises. Nothing was done.
2) Tuesday, 12/21 AM – I was woken up around 8 am by loud noises of metal scrapping against the concrete floor outside of the bedroom window. I could also hear men speaking in Spanish. I was very confused because the window was towards the backyard. I looked outside and saw workers with yellow jackets outside doing something. This lasted for about an hour. I had never been warned that this would be happening.
3) Tuesday, 12/21 PM – At around 6 pm, while trying to relax in the living room by watching television, I started to hear the dog barking and howling again. I tried to ignore it but the noise continued and was distracting to the point that I couldn’t concentrate on the movie that I was trying to watch. At 6:32 pm I informed the host via text message that I had been provided when I first checked in. After the noise continued, I let them know this was becoming very frustrating and I couldn’t possibly relax. I took this opportunity to ask them why I wasn’t notified about the workers that would be coming so early in the morning. I also sent them a picture of the workers as evidence. Since the host wasn’t able to resolve the issues, I called the Airbnb Support number and explained my dissatisfaction with my stay at this location. The person informed me that they would be reaching out to the host then get back to me.
4) Tuesday, 12/21 late PM – As I was starting to wind down and organize my belongings, I opened a drawer from the tall dresser and found a pair of pants with soiled underwear and socks. These were obviously NOT mine. The apartment had obviously NOT been thoroughly cleaned so at 10:05 pm, I notified the host via the Airbnb app that I found this disgusting and I was completely done with staying at this property. I sent them a picture as evidence.
What bothered me about this is that I had to pay extra to check-in early because I had flown in on the red-eye from California to DC so I arrived at 7 am on Sunday. The normal check-in time is 4 pm so I wasn't going to wait around for that long.
On Tuesday, 12/21 at 11:18 pm, I informed the host that I would be checking out the next day before 10 am because of my unhappiness with the entire experience and I didn’t want to continue to go through this. I was SOOO happy at the hotel that I checked into. I didn't have to deal with putting away all of the garbage, putting the linens and towels in the front for the housekeeper, basically completely cleaning up after myself. For literally $30 more, I could get a hotel room where a REAL housekeeper will do that for me. This place was a total fraud. Don't stay here.