I’ve never left a negative review on Airbnb before. I’ve had a couple of sub par experiences, but nothing to inspire a rating this low or writing a warning to others.
I’ll start with the positives. The location is great. The unit was indeed clean, though there’s a bit of mold in the bathroom where they seem to have an issue with a leak. The floor was quite wet on arrival. The bed is decently comfortable. And that’s it for the positives.
First of all, calling this unit “stylish” is massively false advertising. It’s dingier than the photos suggest. Any motel room would be nicer (and while not gracing any interior decorating magazines anytime soon, would still be much more stylish than this unit). A motel will also have somewhere to put your soap and stuff in the shower. Seriously, do they just expect people to put it on the floor here? Yuck.
But my major issue with this rental was the fire hazard/housing code violation. Since this is an “apartment” rental and not a hotel, it should be up to housing code, and it was not. Both windows were sealed and inoperable. One of them contained the AC which was screwed in, so fair enough. But the other had been locked and then had the locking mechanism —removed— and then on top of that was nailed shut. This is why I ended up canceling my reservation within hours of checking in, but it wasn’t the only negative.
The amenities in this unit didn’t work. First off, the TV didn’t work—the remote needed batteries, and there were no operating buttons on the TV. Annoying, but no huge deal for me. But I specifically rented an Airbnb over a hotel because I wanted a kitchen. I checked in, bought a bunch of nice things to cook during my stay, and then I discovered that the stove flat out didn’t work. This is something that should be checked for ahead of a guest’s arrival. And I’m sure this didn’t happen spontaneously after the last time it was checked. I’m pretty sure I’m not the first to mention it, and they just don’t fix it between guests, because after I canceled and left this rental, I ended up meeting the next guests. I discovered I had lost the belt of my coat, and knowing how unresponsive the management was (oh, another thing—none of my messages with a small query ahead of check-in ever received a response), I just went back to check for it myself. This was towards the end of my stay in Boston, so I had reported the non-working amenities to management 3 days earlier, on which occasion I was told someone would be sent to fix things the next day. When I later stopped by to see if my belt was there, the new guests* asked me how to get the TV to work—it turns out management still hadn’t fixed anything. Not even a simple battery replacement for the remote.
*I cannot believe they were allowed to continue renting out the unit with the code violation. I provided photos to Airbnb support, so it’s with full knowledge. Furthermore, pretending you’re going to fix the issues with your listing only to ignore them and pretend with each new guest that the issues are a complete surprise to you is peak scummy.
I don’t understand how this unit was as well rated as it is. I suspect something dodgy is going on—but good luck getting Airbnb to do anything about it. This listing should have been suspended until proof of the window being brought up to code, but here they are continuing to rent it out without interruption. Shameless.