It would be fair to say the home and layout met and exceeded expectations ... very nice and cozy.
But... the actual location of this Airbnb is not a particularly safe one as indicated to us by numerous locals. This will be apparent upon arrival (I grew up in a “ghetto” area in Los Angeles so this isn’t foreign to me). Using the terms “Hip” and “up and coming” are a pretty weak guise to hide the truth.
Anyway, upon arrival from a late dinner (approximately midnight) we drove up in an Uber to our street blocked of with police tape and surrounded by police cars with a crowd of local on-lookers. As pointed out by our Uber driver, it was a normal thing for our area. We ultimately learned that there was a shooting a couple doors down from our location and we needed to ask for permission and an escort to our front door by a police officer.
After speaking with an officer we were escorted to our front door while the local onlookers began yelling profanities at the police officers and my group for being allowed to go to our Airbnb within the crime scene. I won’t go into the racial slurs and names being yelled by the small crowd but it definitely didn’t make us feel welcomed or safe at this location. We were told by the officer to stay inside and lock the door till they were finished outside.
For the next hours we could hear some of the locals arguing in the back alley in regards to the shooting that occurred out front. It was a lot of angry banter but unsettling to say the least as we tried to sleep.
We contacted the owner of the Airbnb and immediately made reservations to stay at a hotel in a nicer area. We did not receive any response from the owner that night in regards to our situation, but were contacted a few hours later by an assistant of the owner when the Airbnb renter in the unit below us was locked out and needed the main door opened. It was obvious then that they were avoiding our situation.
He indicated we could talk about our situation in the morning because it was late but we never received a call back from him in the morning.
We payed approximately $850.00 to stay here for four nights. Our incident happened on the second night and we canceled the following two nights. After service charges and taxes after canceling we payed about $650 and received a refund of $198. The owner seemed content with that refund and it wasn’t negotiable.
Bottom line... I wouldn’t waste my time or money with this place. You can find better.