My stay in "Chateau Bleu" was a miserable experience.

Just two days after arriving, the front door--it and the doorframe are quite quite decrepit--jammed, and I found myself stuck in the unit. There was no way to exit the rear because the host had not maintained the backyard, which was overgrown with weeds taller than me. I attempted, in vain, to climb over back fences, only to find myself in others' yards. In the end, I was "rescued" by one of the upstairs tenants, who let me pass through their unit, also owned by Mary Beth but rented out on a non-Airbnb basis. The tenant there told me that she had had numerous problems with Mary Beth.

I called Mary Beth immediately and to her credit she sent a handyman to "shave down" the door and frame to prevent jamming that day. I also asked if she would consider a discount, both because of this issue (also a major safety issue--what if there had been a fire?) and because of the general state of the unit, but she refused. I felt stuck because I had just started a new job and the terms of the Airbnb contract did not allow for easy cancellation, so I decided to stick it out.

In the ensuing weeks, problem after problem emerged. The air conditioner in the bedroom continually spewed debris of some sort and it spilled onto the bed. The couches smelled so badly of dog (the previous tenant, Mary Beth had told me, had a dog--and since the unit was leased on a non-Airbnb basis, I am not sure how the review previous to mine even appeared on here--the smell was so overpowering that when I put my clothes on either of the two couches they absorbed the smell. There is mold and dust throughout the unit, and an area near the bathroom where the heating unit stands is filthy. The stovetop is constantly too hot too touch because a pilot light heats it to unsafe temperatures. There was Internet in the unit at first from the previous tenant's subscription, but when that ran out Mary Beth promised that a new router upstairs would reach the basement. It did not, and I had spotty coverage for the remainder of my stay there. During the last two weeks, Mary Beth had workers at the house constantly, and they entered my unit without prior notification. When I learned that my job training would end early and asked Mary Beth for a refund for the last four nights (out of a 50 night stay), she refused again.

Besides renting a unit that is in no state to be rented at any price, Mary Beth also proved herself to be stingy at every step of the way, at a cost to my mental and physical health. I ended up moving out a week early but received no discount/refund despite numerous requests.