So, I've only left a negative review once and that was for a host that cancelled the day of check in (3 hours before i was flying out there). Nor for an emergency but bc the host was violating their properties contract by price gouging all their time shares to airbnb folks.
Anyway, I booked this over a month ahead for myself and my mom. It was expensive, but it said superhost, so I thought it would be a small, cozy place but with all of the amenities listed, excellent communication, host on board and ready to resolve issues asap, welcoming details, stocked tp and multiple towels, working kitchen and electronics, etc...
Nothing DRASTIC happened, but there were a series of small frustrations and then one big one. the communication was there, but not much follow up, zero urgency, and - well, you'll see. The first red flag was having to contact the host for checkin info. I guess it was an instant book bc there was never a greeting message to say "hey thanks for booking i'll contact you with check in info by x". The listing said the checkin info would appear 3 days prior to checkin, the airbnb email i got a week ahead said 48 hours. well day before check in (28 hours maybe?) and there was nothing, so i messaged the host who then said she waited 24 hours to send that. so i was like okay that's a bit inconsistent. however, the directions she sent were pretty thorough. i mentioned driving up there so it would have been nice of her to volunteer info about parking. there is street parking in front of the property, across the street, or around the right corner (headed north). there are no tow signs or restricted hours, just a couple reserved handicap spots. the next frustration were the keys. there are three keys, none labeled - again no volunteered info in check in message about which goes to what. one goes to the gate. btw another thing not mentioned, there are dogs on the property. i didn't see them, i don't mind dogs. but my mom is allergic and others might want to know this but it's not in the listing that i'm aware of. so we figured out the gate key. went into the backyard where the tenants were hanging out in inflatable pools. that's cool, it's a shared space!
the stairways up to your room are VERY narrow. there's no way anyone with lots of or big luggage will get up there without a struggle or possibly breaking their neck. we had several bags. i knew it was on the second level but you do go up 3 narrow wooden flights of stairs, one of which has a dog gate, making it even narrower and it takes up half the bottom step - so watch yourself. we find the door (it's the one on the right) and it took about five minutes to open it because it's an old door. so we were frustrated about the keys already, then the door but had we been TOLD which key goes to what and maybe the door would stick, it wouldn't have felt like one thing after another. just a courteous heads up would've been cool. when we got the door open, it was tidy. it's a small space, i'd say an efficiency. there's a double bed. i can't say it was comfy but hey i knew it was a double. what makes it "two rooms" is an arched wall between bedroom and kitchen. there's a full kitchen. there was a lot of baking stuff but the tea/coffee were in canisters as opposed to individual packets, which is a surprise because of covid. honestly, it's cute and sweet but i think it's best for one person. i think any other food is stuff left over from past guests bc it's not organized or stuff you'd want to snack on or presented in a very, you know, host-y way. there was a bottle of wine tho which i'm sure was for guests but then i wasn't bc it still had a price tag on it. i was expecting at least some water in the fridge. there was a frozen water bottle in the freezer and a bag of ice. there was a binder of places to eat, which was helpful, the wifi info, check out info. i noticed there was only one full TP roll when i used the restroom. we were there all of 5 minutes before heading out. so we didn't get back until 8, which is when i noticed the tv didn't work. i turned it on, blank, tried different inputs, unplugged tv and apple tv. then it finally came on but the "menu" button that lets you go back would never work so any time we wanted to just READ about a show or change a show, i had to unplug the apple tv to get back to the menu. i worked on it for a half hour before texting and messaging devin through the app. i heard nothing for over an hour. that's the other thing, i think messaging should stay in the app, not a phone, but i got a faster responses through text. after nearly 90 minutes of trying to get this tv to work after a long day of driving and running around chicago, devin did text but said she wasn't home and gave a few suggestions, which didn't work and said she'd come by the place by 11am. i was frustrated at that point because i've never heard of a host being out of reach the day of a check in or not having a second person who could resolve the issue. so okay first night no tv. now, the other thing was, the refrigerator. i thought it was the ac that sounded like a motor boat, but at six am when i could not sleep and it was pretty