Ended a 2 week stay early due to 4 issues with the unit:
1. Very low quality, unrefurbished used furnishings
2. Very bright light outside bedroom window, no curtain
3. Very loud neighbors at 2am-3am
4. Toxic responses from unit owner (Liz)
So, a 2 week stay isn't long, and I am moving from TX to IL and needed a transitional place to stay prior to moving into an apt Nov 1. Made Liz aware of this during booking. I attempted to deal with the issues, which I'll explain in more detail below. Some issues were, by themselves, not deal breakers and overall I wanted to try to make the best of the situation due to my circumstances. But, all the issues combined were just too much. Ended up spending the same $ at Residence Inn by Marriott for a profoundly better experience. For the record, the unit owner owns the entire apartment building; it's a small building with maybe 4-5 apartments, including this unit, a basement apartment.
1. Quality of the unit is not great. The unit itself is pretty nice, but all of the furnishings are used. Think "thrift store, but not chic." The pillows were old, low quality pillows. Mattress was new, I think, but low quality. The towels smelled mildewy. Overall, the condition of the unit itself - the walls, floors, kitchen - the room itself was pretty nice. The problems, as I can tell, were due to the overall quality of furnishings and the quality of cleaning.
2. Very bright (like LED 5000k) security light directly outside the window adjacent to the main full/queen size bed. There is a twin bed, but in a small nook and it has a very low ceiling; didn't use the twin bed because afraid of bumping my head (I'm 5'10") if I got up to use the bathroom at night (nook prob great for kids). Window adjacent to bed was about a 30" x 30" square with absolutely no curtain or window covering (unit owner said she fixed after I left - which is good, although I would be surprised if she used a black out curtain based on the furnishings of the rest of the apartment). I stacked pillows and an empty moving box in the window to try to block the light. Worked ok. But, why was this overlooked by the unit owner? This bright 5000k light is obviously very helpful for security, but the way the unit owner furnished the unit made it very difficult to sleep each night due to the color and brightness of the light. Again, tried to make the best of it.
3. So, I have lived in this neighborhood (Rogers Park) in Chicago for about 10 years. I'm aware it's near a college and houses a lot of students. Noise is a part of life here. And, this unit was noisy most nights. Think: upstairs neighbors walking, and can hear most of their conversations, but not quite make out what they're saying. It's an older building that hasn't been fully renovated (ie vintage), and that's to be expected. The noise plus the super bright light just outside the bedroom window made it difficult to sleep. THEN, Friday night. Whew. The neighbors upstairs had a party. I fell asleep around 8:30 because I had trouble sleeping the other nights. At 10:30, I was awoken by the noise upstairs. Neighbors talking loudly, one man literally yelling (think Rick Flair "WHOOOO"). Obviously a party, and good for them. I figured it would die down and I could then get back to sleep. I think the neighbors went out around 11:30pm-12:00am, so it was quiet and I tried to get back to sleep. But, I couldn't quite fall back asleep by the time the neighbors got home around 1:30-2:00am. And, then they started to party again. Much more of the man yelling like Rick Flair. All of this combined was too much, so finally I stopped trying to make the best of it and called AirBnb. Quick note: I could have called the police regarding the noise, but I didn't want to cause more problems then the ones I had already experienced.
Speaking with AirBnb. The customer service agent I spoke with was great. I was obviously frustrated and the customer service agent could literally hear the neighbors over the phone. She suggested I leave the unit and stay in a hotel. I commented that I would wait until morning, contact the unit owner and then get a hotel, but the agent actually suggested I leave right then. AirBnb records all of their calls, and this can be verified. SO, I packed up everything into my car and was leaving around 3:00am. The neighbors were still very loud and yelling then. Must have been a great party.
I had emailed the unit owner at 2:00am, and I obviously didn't expect her to respond in the middle of the night, but it made sense to inform her of the circumstances.
When she did respond, however, she basically blamed me for the circumstances, rather than take responsibility for the condition of the unit, the bright lights w/o window covering and the loudness of the neighbors (remember, she is the owner of the building). I will paste a few of her emails below so you can get an idea of what I'm referring to. Simply put, she wasn't willing to take responsibility and just blamed me. Simply put, the unit owner could have:
1. checked the quality of things like pillows, made sure the towels were cleaned properly, etc. I grew up poor and we often purchased furniture from thrift stores. There is no shame in not being able to afford higher quality furnishings. But, we took care of our things and many times refinished or reupholstered furniture we bought at thrift stores. All of the used items in Liz's unit were pretty much as is.
2. The bed is placed directly next to a window. Outside the