I wanted to give them a 5 star review, I really did. The owners tried hard to fix the problems, but they were big problems.
The heater wasn't working, and we found out the hard way when it got really cold overnight. It took 3 days to get it fixed, because it happened over Thanksgiving. We made do with a small space heater, but it was not a pleasant experience.
In addition, the Wi-Fi was out for 2 days, which meant that the TV didn't work either. With my whole family cooped up inside due to the pandemic, this was also a big problem.
As I said, the owners tried hard to fix the problems as quickly as possible, but it took time. It also took my time to work with the technicians and help troubleshoot. I was working an 80-hour week, so this was not how I wanted to spend my time, especially over the Thanksgiving holiday.
It's a nice house overall, in a great location close to Chinatown. With a little more effort, it could be a great place. But there were also a lot of little problems, and they add up too. The kitchen was not well stocked - very few drinking glasses and wine glasses, no baking equipment. Cleanliness was questionable - no sanitary wipes supplied, dog poop in the back yard. The Wi-Fi, even when it was working, was very marginal, only 10 Mbps.
The owner declined an offer from Cox Cable to upgrade the Wi-Fi to 50 Mbps for only $10/month, which I know because I was on the phone too, helping to troubleshoot. To me, this sums up the attitude of the owners. They try to spend as little money as possible, and wait until stuff breaks to fix it, rather than being proactive about maintenance and keeping things up to date.
So there you have it. This was not a 5 star experience. Even giving it 4 stars is generous, but I know that a 4 star rating is considered bad in the Airbnb system. Most guests would not have put up with these problems, and would have simply moved out. Most guests also would not give such thorough constructive criticism. I really hope the owners take my comments to heart and try to make improvements. The place has a lot of potential.