Surprisingly in 2020 this was my first Airbnb experience but it won't be my last based on my experience. My wife, son and I stayed here for six days as we were moving apartments for my daughter who currently attends DePaul. We didn't want to stay in the city and wanted to be located in Lincoln Park. So with that in mind, here is my first review that I hope you all find helpful.
First, the location is excellent. If you are visiting DePaul, it is about a mile walk. Every morning my wife and I would leave our place and everything is so close. From Old Town, walking through beautiful neighborhoods, South Port, Wrigley, Lincoln Park. Each walk according to our phones was 8000-13000 steps. Grant it, we always took the long way because we love looking at the old homes in the neighborhood. You are literally though steps away from amazing restaurants, bars, Starbucks, an amazing local coffee shop, a mini Target if you forget something and about 6 blocks away from a Trader Joes another other typical retail shops on Diversy. A huge win is there is also a Divvy Bike Station a block away. If you don't know what these are the best way to describe it is that you can rent bikes throughout the city for 15 dollars a day and they literally have stations everywhere.
The apartment itself is very new. In fact, it still smelled a bit of fresh paint. It is on the second floor and you get a key code in the building and one to your door. It is very spacious. The bedroom is comfortable with a big closet, the living room had a pull out couch that my son found very comfortable, a large dining room table and a spacious kitchen. The bathroom had a washer and dryer which we used a couple of times and will help me with overpacking for our next trip. The bathroom sink is small but needs to be (you will laugh) but needs to be because the shower has been redone with a nice big black door and it needs to be so it can open. They did a great job on decorating and it has some fun nostalgic pictures with a modern feel. When I say everything is new, literally, everything is new. From couches, appliances, light fixtures, shelving, utensils, flooring,... literally everything.
Now, I would remiss thought not to tell you about the entry. Not a big deal but I don't want you to be surprised when you get there. The property sits about 30 feet off of Clark Street so one will have to walk past a restaurant and garage to a private residence. So one will see them occasionally pull up with a delivery truck, someone pull in their garage, and yes if you own a business you have to put out your trash here too. By no means a "deal breaker" but just be prepared because I would hate to see someone dismiss this place just because they had to walk past. My son simply said, "Pops, we are living in the city this week."
Finally, the host Jonathan was amazing. He must sleep with his phone because getting there I had a few questions and he emailed right back. Along the stay he invited us to a few hosting they were having, offered to buy us a sandwich to a new restaurant, even on the day of check out said, "Take your time because the cleaning crew isn't coming until later" knowing we were waiting for our plane to take us back to California.
Fun times, loved our trip, and wouldn't think twice about coming back here. First time at an Airbnb but won't be our last. Thank you.