This was my first time staying at a Airbnb. Hiram and Susie's place was great! They gave us a keycode three days prior which allowed us access into their basement unit from the side of their townhouse stairs. The keycode allows access through an exterior door into a small room where we could take our shoes off and hang our coats. A key was on the wall that opened a second door that allowed us into the remodeled hardwood floor unit. You walk into the kitchen from there (which had a coffee machine, utensils, plates, pans, microwave, fridge, etc). A small hallway behind the kitchen was where the bathroom was (which had a one person jetted bathtub and rain style shower-head!) On the other side of the hallway, an efficiency style setup featured a full size bed and living room separated by a partition. The bed was big enough for two people and had memory foam pillows. The living room had comfortable leather type couches and a nice size TV. (the TV only had a analog antenna and the signal did break up a bit). However, we had so much to do in NYC we really only used the unit as a place to shower and sleep. Another partition was set up against the sliding glass door to block out the sun. Hiram & Susie left us Towels, soap & shampoo and a filtered brita water jug for us to enjoy.
Although we checked in without seeing our hosts through a private side stairs entrance, we met Hiram and Susie when we had questions about operating the tub after walking in NYC all day. Hiram and Susie (who live upstairs) replied to all our messages and phones calls very quickly and were very polite. Hiram allowed us to check in early and check out late when our flight was delayed without penalty (which was very nice and over the top for him to do)
We used a umbrella in the unit and accidentally broke it on the subway. We offered to replace it but Hiram and Susie said there was no need. The unit's location was a seven minute walk from the PATH Grove Street Station and about a 35 minute drive from Newark Airport. It cost us about $25-30 to get from the airport from the Airbnb by Uber. The unit was very clean and noise free. I noticed the upstairs furnace did make some noise but it wasn't anything that kept us from sleeping. We had our own thermostat to control the heat/air in our unit. All unit doors other than the entry, backyard sliding door and restroom were locked (no worries about the hosts entering the unit or vise versa)
We saved a lot of money by staying with Hiram and Susie and received much nicer amenities than we would have at a hotel in the city. I think for the setup at a fancy hotel would've required us to purchase an executive suite (between the full size kitchen, jetted tub, living room etc) I would recommend staying with Hiram and Susie! They really worked hard to accommodate us and have a very clean and private Bnb. Ten minutes by subway to WTC, walking distance to restaurants, stores and a nice bagel place called Wonder-bagels!