Alex's customer service wasn't good. Needs to work on people skills, and trying to understand where people are coming from.
He said the balcony sliding door doesnt need a lock or to be disclosed on the listing, because the balcony is on the 2nd floor, and has a bamboo privacy thing up...WHAT? IN THE CITY?... that to me is ridiculous, it's a super busy part of town, and the police were on our street at least once a day when we were there at the unit(Which wasn't a lot) it's a Hot spot, especially on the weekends, and not family friendly we learned, as you have to walk by a bar to get in the unit, I had a drunk man stop me, and ask my where I was staying, etc. and we saw lots of homeless people. My husband saw people shooting up when trying to find parking. I did not feel save(with my 4 kids) when my husband was gone, and that was a lot with the parking situation. The last day there were 6 police cars near the same alley way of our balcony that Alex said was safe without a lock, a man was hiding in that alley from the police, and they had wipens drawn. All happening while we are trying to find parking, and get the kids inside, right in front of my kids. So scary!
He also said he didn't have to disclose that it was a busy part of town, and high traffic/hot spot. That was my job to look into, when he could have easily included that info in the listing and saved people hours of research. It's just not honest and forthcoming in my opinion.
It may not be something you have to disclose, but if you care for your guests, it should be something you try to be upfront about...
With parking, be prepared to possibly spend hours trying to find street parking, especially on the weekends. we did one night. 50.00 for some parking lots, meters on the street, or some free parking a block away, if you get lucky.
The pool is not as described in the pictures, we didn't even get in it. It was falling apart, and I didn't trust it. Tiles all over the place. I didn't see anyone else in it the whole time we were there either.
On a positive note, the place was pretty clean! There was a smell of smoke that came and went probably from a nearby unit, but the windows don't seal so no way to stop that.
Everything worked well. and the AC was nice. Beach was pretty close. Restaurants also. The other host was nice.
This experience may have ruined Airbnb for me, in the future, sadly.