In the Beginning, Black Swan was very transparent and accommodating. They even allowed us to change our reservation dates at the last minute. I stated that we were content creators and we would be shooting the entire stay. Black Swan responded and said thank you for letting us know. I was more than pleased and had high expectations for our stay. However, we were met with a disastrous stay.
AMENITIES
Black Swan listed Rooftop, Gym, Wifi, and other amenities on the listing however we didn't get to access to any amenities. There was miscommunication between Black Swan management and The Liz building General Manager. On Friday, Black Swan sent us a notification on Airbnb messenger saying that the rooftop was inaccessible on Saturday, February 27th from 5-8pm for an event. So on Friday, February 26th we wanted to make sure we got to take pictures of each other. But once we tried to access the roof to take pictures (NOT A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOSHOOT) 4 of the 5 women on this trip were followed to the 7th floor by The Liz General Manager, Victoria, and was told they needed approval from the owner of the apartment to have access to the 7th floor, we were immediately denied access. So I told Samantha of Black Swan to call me immediately.
Samantha of Black Swan then called me directly and accused me of lying on her to the General Manager saying that we said she allowed us access to the 7th floor for a photoshoot. I explained that permission should have been granted since it was listed as an amenity that we already paid for and that it was false advertising and unethical. She said it is an amenity but due to COVID they need permission for guests that are staying less than 7 days. NOWHERE ON THE LISTING WAS THIS EXCEPTION MENTIONED. And why would you send me the rooftop notification the day before if we didn't have access? We only booked this place to take pictures using the amenities because the purpose of the trip was a Content Retreat. She then confirmed verbally that she will not be able to allow us access to the rooftop at all and then blamed us for compromising the relationship with Black Swan and The Liz. Shortly after that, I checked the amenities on the Airbnb.com listing, and the rooftop amenity was removed. We found out the next day that the General Manager of the building hosted a party on the rooftop from 5-8pm for her guests.
After our conversation, our keys were purposely kept deactivated and we were unable to access the elevators. Every time we needed access to get back to our room on the 4th floor we had to ask the concierge. It was humiliating and degrading. What made it worse was that we were given the runaround, excuse after excuse (determined later as lies) on why our keys weren't being reactivated. Finally on my last conversation with Samantha on Monday, March 1st she told us the keys were purposely deactivated to prevent us from accessing the amenities of the building. That was the most degrading part. A group of 5 Black women denied access to the full service, sadly it wasn't surprising. It was intentional and heart-wrenching.
WIFI
We are influencers with a combined following of over 45k followers and have promoted properties in the past through our social media platforms. The WIFI did not work the entire stay. At this point, I felt extreme anxiety in asking Black Swan to correct the situation since we were previously ignored on other requests. So I asked Alex the building Concierge. He tried to help but the password he gave us didn't work. As a result, we could not efficiently complete our work the entire stay.
ROOM ISSUES
We reported immediately to Black Swan that the half bath sink was stopped up badly and that we couldn't use it and the toilet paper dispenser was broken upon our arrival. Black Swan confirmed that they would put in a ticket for maintenance. However, maintenance arrived on the last day of our stay after a complaint message was sent. We were unable to use the sink the entire stay. The master bedroom bed was broken which we realized on the last day of stay. The bed was sunken in the middle which resulted in an uncomfortable sleep each night.
PARKING
Samantha of Black Swan sent several parking links for us to book our parking through an online portal. Every link she sent did not work. After driving around for an hour we finally found parking on the street.
GYM
The gym is on the same floor as the rooftop. Again, no keys, no gym. 1 of the 5 women on the trip just had a medical procedure and needed to use the gym. The concierge had to escort her to the gym, again degrading.
We requested early checking for 3 pm and Black Swan confirmed it was ok on Airbnb messages. However, upon arrival, the concierge didn't know anything about it and our keys weren't activated till 4 pm.
Black Swan was responsive in the beginning, however, responsive also means a resolution is provided by the host. There was delayed or no solution to many of our issues the entire stay. We were followed, watched, and purposely denied access to parts of the building.
Simply put we didn't get what we paid for! I suffered extreme stress and even tears during this stay. Our group felt racially profiled because we were black. One of the concierge even mentioned that a white male resident asked for help with a similar issue and it was fixed right away. In my last conversation with Samantha of Black Swan, she stated she understands "how we may feel" It took everything within me to compose myself. But how could you understand how we feel? You are not black. The property prioritizes residents over guests and sadly in this current racially