The host allowed me to check in early since my flight got in early, within an hour of me being there it was a roach on the wall. I killed it & tried to say it was due to the rain.
At 2am, I went to put my phone on the charger & a roach was crawling on my charger on thee night stand. I took a picture & sent it in the airbnb chat. I was so uncomfortable, I zipped my suitcase up & went to the living room. It took me 2 more hours to fall asleep. Once the host reached out to me, he offered to come over. He showed up & told a story about how he had “upgrades” done the night before & it wasn’t a roach because roaches are bigger (as if they don’t start small & grow) & it is a “light attracting bug” which it clearly is not a moth or anything of the sort. He asked where we were from & saying in Chicago they were used to the bugs. I let him know no matter what kind of bug it is, I’m not comfortable with it. He offered an exterminator & I told him if he exterminated while we were there that it would cause any bugs to surface & we both also had asthma & allergies. I did not want any bugs in my things. He said they didn’t have an infestation, which I never mentioned. My friend agreed to an exterminator, he said that would be done at 4pm. We left a napkin at the door to see if they came while we were out. We left for about 3 hours, & hadn’t heard anything from him. We got back at 4:16, the napkin was still on the door so we assumed they hadn’t come yet. Within seconds, he called me to say they came to the apartment, exterminated about 20 minutes ago - we found it interesting how as soon as we got in, he called but didn’t call when or immediately after it allegedly happened. We didn’t smell any fumes, there was nothing sprayed around the base boards or any traps laid down. I asked him what did the exterminator do, he said “sprayed or something” .. how do you get a service done & you don’t know what they did?! The apartment is small. I told him I didn’t believe that he got anything done because the paper being at the door as well as us not seeing any signs of treatment being done and him not being able to tell me what was done. He then got upset and defensive, he asked if I thought he was lying and kept saying he didn’t have a reason to lie & asked me if I wanted to come outside. As a man, to ask a woman in the middle of the conversation if she wants to come outside is aggressive & unnecessary. He also said that he saw us put the paper in the door which raised a lot of concern about cameras in the unit. We let him know we were leaving & asked how to get refunded for the nights we were not staying & he told us to contact airbnb & they would do it.
When we contacted airbnb, and they spoke with him and he refused to issue the refund. It’s very unfortunate how he handles business & lacks integrity. And for airbnb to allow him to carry on like this is truly upsetting & disappointing.
The airbnb itself is decent, although the people above your head walk heavy & could be loud. The street parking was perfect, available right in front of the unit. Very convenient location for activities throughout Chicago. But off of cleanliness & integrity, spare yourself.