This stay was truly an unusual stress test for us and Samuel.
After we arrived close to midnight at the property, due to the ambiguity in the instructions, the set up of the lock boxes, not being able to get a response on the Airbnb app at check-in time, and carelessness of our part in the darkness, we accidentally opened the wrong lock box and obtained the key to the wrong unit also owned by Samuel (the first floor unit above the basement unit that we were supposed to enter). Since the units are not labelled, and the property info and instructions did not state that unit we booked was in the basement, we didn’t realize this mistake after entering the unit and going to sleep, until Samuel discovered that we entered the wrong unit with the surveillance cams.
Samuel was reasonably upset but still allowed us to stay in the unit we entered. However, instead of respectfully working on a solution together, he conveyed his distraughtness with accusations such as our staying in the wrong unit made him pay more cleaning fee (as far as we have checked, the cleaning fee are the same on the two listings). He tried to blame this incident entirely on our carelessness, while the set up of the checking process (lock box setups and ambiguity in instructions) played a decisive part in this incident. This friction made the entire stay very stressful for us.
I still think Samuel would be an awesome host for the most of the time. The location is good, as well as is the property. However, I do think Samuel can improve the clarity of instructions and safety of the lock boxes to prevent event like being able to get keys to the unintended unit from happening again. Also, I hope Samuel could communicate in a more cooperative, understanding, and less accusing manner when mistakes like this, which is neither side’s intention, occur.
The location of this property is very good. It is clean and well-maintained. The only downside would be that we cannot adjust the temperature of the thermostat as it is passcode protected. It can get a bit chilly at night in Chicago Winter.