We were disappointed with this AirBNB experience. We experienced a bait-and-switch situation in which the place we rented was not the one we were given at check in. I do not recommend staying here.
I am myself an AirBNB super host, so I understand the limitations that hosts face, but this one was far below the standards we would have expected, especially at a total cost of over $800 for a two-day weekend stay.
Here is what was good:
- The location is in the heart of the French Quarter near the intersection of Bourbon Street and Toulouse. It could not be a more convenient location for touring NOLA.
- The room was clean and the bed was comfy. Most of the finishings were nice.
Here is what could have been better:
- The title of the listing specifically mentioned a balcony. If you have been to the French Quarter you can appreciate that the balcony is a major part of the destination experience (looking over the crowds below). The second or third floor also provides an added layer of safety (it’s a bit wild on the ground floor of the French Quarter) and the upper rooms are a bit quieter. When we arrived we checked in and there was no balcony. Upon further inspection the unit we were given was nothing like the one we purchased. The room was on the ground floor with windows opening directly to the street. The room was quite loud all night (until around 6am) with people yelling, cars screeching, etc just outside the thin window which were about 18 inches from our bed). Just upon arriving, we contacted our hosts to switch to a room like the one we purchased. The hosts got back with us indicating they couldn’t provide what we purchased and in the end offered two choices: to move us out of the French Quarter (albeit in a nearby neighborhood), or take $150 off of a $800+ reservation. We didn’t want to try to check in to another room late at night (we were sent links to other units but not until quite late), so we felt forced to just accept the unit we were assigned. We did take the partial refund, but frankly we would not have paid $650 for this room in the first place. To be fair, they told us that the unit we rented had a plumbing issue and they had to move us, but it would have been helpful to have this information before we checked in or to even acknowledge it at all in advance (they only told us we were moved to a different unit when we complained that the one we bought didn’t match the one we checked in to). The hosts also told us that they felt the situation was “unacceptable” but I’ll admit I wondered if they really did feel this way. If they had, the would have flagged it in advance and provided us with better options. In retrospect I wondered how many times they have used a bait-and-switch approach like this to rent at a high rate and then give a small discount if people complain. The use of the term “unacceptable” may in fact be part of their bait-and-switch strategy.
- This is notably the smallest AirBNB I have ever stayed in. Generally speaking, rooms are small in the French Quarter, but this one was exceedingly small. It was remarkable how small the bathroom and tub were (again they looked nothing like the ones in the photos of the room we rented). Also the tile in the bathroom floor was broken and loose, posing a hazard when you step out of the shower.
- The check-in process is confusing and though I thought I completed the numerous pre-check-in tasks they require (fill out several forms, download a separate app, upload my ID, use face recognition software, providing my personal contact information, etc), it still took about 30 minutes more to complete check-in after we arrived.
If you stay at the place, you should expect that you may not get what you paid for and may need to spend several hours of your vacation looking for other places to stay. I don’t recommend staying here, and as a fellow host, that is not a statement I would say lightly.