First off, I will speak about David. David was very friendly, easy to communicate with, and flexible. He was available for us to check in at anytime. David provided us with bottled waters, some drinks, muffins, and even a drawstring bag to take to the festival we were in town for. He also provided us with some directions to get to the places we needed to go. Dealing with David was at times enjoyable.
Unfortunately, that is where the positive experience for our stay ends. I hope I am able to convey at least some of issues with this place. We understood that we were not paying for very high quality, but at the same time expected a certain standard that was not met. Upon returning to the Airbnb late at night after our first day at the festival, we discovered there was no hot water in the unit. We found it hard to believe that David, or the other occupant living in the house had not already discovered this and notified us. We immediately notified David via text who responded to us the following morning saying he was not aware of the problem and would look into it. We spent the second day at the festival without receiving an update on the situation. Once we returned, late at night, we again discovered that we would be without hot water. The following morning, on our third day, David notified us that the situation would likely not be resolved during our stay and offered us about a 25% refund. We replied that a 50% refund would be more appropriate and were obliged. Being without hot water is definitely not the most terrible thing that could happen to a person during an Airbnb stay, but it very negatively impacted our 4-day weekend. We dreaded returning to an icy cold shower at the end of hot, 12 hour days spent in the city and festival. At the same time, we recognize this is something that was possibly out of David's control and appreciate the partial refund we received because of it. Still, we feel it to be completely unacceptable.
While the lack of hot water might have been out of David's control, the cleanliness of his place was not. (While writing this review, I am not sure if I have the option to upload pictures but will do so if able.) It was filthy. Especially his bathroom. There was dirt caked in all corners, there was a hole in the ceiling of the shower, a dirty toilet bowl brush was laying on the floor next to the toilet, covered in hair. Every single window pane in the house was spattered with dirt. It became very apparent that David had not deep cleaned his place in years if ever. On the sheets and blanket provided to us for the air mattress there were hairs and crumbs that did not belong to us. We felt dirty our entire stay.
It was also in David's control to be considerate to his guests, which he was not late into nights. The room we stayed in was located in David's artistic room/living room. This room does not have it's own door so there is no privacy and it is located right next to the front door. Each night our sleep was interrupted by either David or someone else entering the home being obnoxiously loud anywhere from 11-1 at night. I counted 4 different people entering the house in the middle of the night during our stay. In David's case, he was mumbling to himself for an extended period of time before noticing he had woken us up. It almost felt like he didn't even realize we were there.
Lastly, I must stress that the location of this Airbnb is not a safe one. The streets and sidewalks are covered in trash and glass from broken bottles. During our last night we heard multiple gunshots outside of the Airbnb and felt they were pretty close to us. We spent our last night formulating and exit plan in case bullets hit the home or someone entered the house. I would not recommend anyone staying in this location alone or being out and about after night.
Overall, our experience staying at this place was awful. It was by far the worst experience we've had on Airbnb and really incomparable to any other experience. The only saving grace to this place was David's pleasantness, which is greatly overshadowed by all the negative. I strongly urge anyone looking at this place to spend more money on a different spot that is clean and safe. I would never recommend anyone to stay in this place and do not think it should even be allowed to operate as an Airbnb. I have personally been soured on Airbnbs in general and I will likely be returning to hotels or other home sharing services.