This host was by far the ABSOLUTE WORST host I have had in my airbnb experiences (have had other trips with family, friends, and boyfriend under their accounts). Not only did the host not respect my privacy, but she continued to do things that were not recommended to do as a host by Airbnb standards. Claudia (the owner Ricardo's wife) continued to text my personal cell phone number against multiple attempts and requests for her to communicate through the Airbnb application only. This made me feel extremely uncomfortable. The first time she texted me was to get my personal email address to send a PDF handout that was too large to send through the app (which was exactly what was printed out in the welcome binder in the apartment, minus one of the four PDF's outlining her favorite places to eat/drink in Asheville). The second email was sent shortly after about the 83 best patios of Asheville. I told Claudia at that time that I prefer to communicate through the Airbnb app, but she did not seem to understand. The next morning Claudia decided to text me on the day of my arrival to get the exact time I was arriving in Asheville and to get my arrival time at the apartment. I live in Pacific time so her text was sent at 6:00 AM my time. Claudia then proceeded to CALL AND LEAVE A VOICEMAIL at 7:54 am requesting a text back immediately with my arrival information because I didn't respond to her text. WHO DOES THAT ?! Not only was she not respecting my privacy then, but I would also never feel comfortable giving anyone I didn't know any personal travel information like that. She proceeded to call / text me EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. of my vacation even after i requested she communicate with me only through the application. Claudia then texted me that my lack of daily communication with her was against the vacation rental agreement. I then sent her a screenshot of airbnb's policy regarding messaging outside of the application (which if you do, YOU AND THE HOST lose out on certain protections through airbnb of cancellation and refund policies, Host Guarantee, Host Protection Insurance Program, Terms of Service, Payments Terms of Service, and other safeguards to name a few). After I finally sent her the screenshot from Airbnb's website recommending against communicating outside of the application, she STILL CONTINUED to text me to ask to text her to let me know exactly what time we were checking out. The check-in / check - out process was easy to understand and we had zero issues. We read the check-in / check-out instructions and followed them as requested and respected the time frames for both processes. Again, we had no issues, so there was no need to text her with problems when we did not have any. I responded through the application as a courtesy when we checked out (which was way ahead of the check-out time). I then blocked her personal phone number so that she could never contact me ever again. I would not recommend this airbnb host and if I knew what I would be dealing with, I would have never booked this stay. To top it off, Claudia and Ricardo also try to sell you Ricardo's framed photography that is found around the apartment in the information binder. Regardless, Claudia is the TOP reason I have given this stay such a poor review.
Otherwise, there were just a few other minor cleanliness issues (water-stained pillow cushions in the living room, moldy plastic cover for the shower curtain, and the very dusty bathroom fan). On a weakly positive note, I will say that the location is very central to downtown and we could walk easily to multiple locations. If I would have known what I was up against with the host, I would have never booked this airbnb. I regret not staying at one of the hotels (for probably the same amount of money) that was just as central to downtown Asheville with a quarter of the hassle that came with dealing with Claudia my entire trip.