This basement apartment is well located, has a well equipped kitchen, and allows dogs, all strong points in its favor. Unfortunately, I ended up having to end my stay early and work with Airbnb to switch to a different place, on a holiday, due to a number of maintenance and safety issues.
I have stayed in many Airbnbs all over the world, including a number with my dog, and I have never had any issues before. I've always received positive reviews from hosts. I'm comfortable staying somewhere spartan if the price is right. But unfortunately, this apartment did not meet those standards during my stay.
Issues included the freezer not working consistently, cracked and loose floor tiles with loose chunks of grout, bugs ranging from flies/fruit flies and spiders to a line of ants crawling on the wall, a strong mildew smell (and a large dehumidifer that needed to be run 24/7 and emptied daily), and a blocked secondary exit (in an apartment with all glass block windows). Sometimes maintenance issues come up and I understand that, but seeing as how many of these things have been mentioned in past reviews, I don't get the impression they were surprises. I didn't want to spend my time in Chicago waiting in a dark apartment to deal with repairmen and exterminators, knowing some of the other issues could not be addressed, so I needed to seek other accommodations.