We stayed on the 1st floor. This is important information for the cons.
The pros:
- The location was really close to downtown which made walking there and back easy
2 - The place was clean and tidy. The coffee was good and there were ample towels.
3 - The host has a website that tries to help you find locations of interest for downtown.
The cons:
1 - I cannot express enough the issue of noise. We were on the 1st floor and were up most of the night listening to the people upstairs. They weren't partying - they were just up. And EVERY STEP was like a bowling ball, and every word could be heard clear as if they were in the hallway. I don't believe there is insulation at all in that house. And then there was the noise in the morning from the shelter across the street. Perhaps that part is expected in the city? But at 8am, the shelter had cars out front blaring music which just added to the lack of serenity. The host supplied a white noise machine and ear plugs, but that was not sufficient. I value my sleep, and I really would have chosen somewhere else if I had the slightest inkling that sleep might be such an issue depending on where you stay in the house (though admittedly, we could hear our neighbors across the hall during the day, so I can't be sure anyone felt like they had privacy). For that reason alone, the 1st floor either needs to be at a severely reduced cost or not rented at all. For what we paid, I would have rather gotten a hotel for the extra $100 a block away just to have a good nights sleep.
2 - There was 1 ply toilet paper. For the "upscale" sell of the rest of the house, that just seemed like an odd oversight