My wife and I stayed here for 11 days in May 2013.

The apartment is located in a good neighbourhood, literally right around the corner from the subway that got us almost everywhere in Manhattan we wanted to go. Nataliya was very welcoming and pleasant to deal with, providing us with recommendations and tips on good places to eat, how to get around, etc. The kitchen is reasonably well-equipped, the living room couch is good for two to sprawl on after a long day of walking (and Nataliya kindly provided access to her Netflix account) and, most importantly, the queen-sized bed is firm and comfy.

However, we did have problems with the cleanliness of the apartment; it simply hadn't been properly cleaned in awhile – dirty floors, big dust bunnies, and greasy surfaces in the kitchen and on the dishes. We also had a few visits from cockroaches (although, to be fair, this is probably not unusual in older buildings in NY).

We expressed our concerns to Nataliya and she was quite apologetic, explaining that the apartment had been rented out back-to-back for quite awhile and offered to compensate us for the lowered standard of cleanliness – which we felt was a classy move and showed her genuine interest in providing a positive experience for her guests.

Hopefully, this is an isolated incident (and Nataliya handled it well, responding promptly to our criticism and suggestions). So, overall, our stay was a mixed bag: good host, good location and decent amenities, but the cleanliness problems really took the shine off for us.

Just a few notes if you're thinking of renting this apartment (neither positive nor negative, just info): 1.If you are 'scentsitive', there are scented candles, cleaning products, incense and other scented products used. 2.The building has central heat, which was still on during our stay in May, when it was already quite hot out. Since we're from the Pacific Northwest, we're used to much cooler temperatures and found it took several nights to adjust to the ambient temp + the heat pumping out of the radiators. This is not something Nataliya has any control over, and if you're used to sleeping warm, it probably won't phase you. There is a big ceiling fan which definitely helped.