My family and I had a lovely stay in NYC, thanks to Joy being a fantastic host. From the moment we started communicating prior to our arrival to the entire time we were in New York, she has been 100% responsive via text (immediate responses pretty much the whole time!). On the first day, she greeted us despite our late arrival at around 22:00, showed us around the flat (which was directly above hers), as well as gone through a booklet she had put together with neighboring restaurants, shops, and public transport routes.

The open-plan flat is a good size, and comes with one bedroom and two sofa beds. I travelled with 3 other family members and we shared one sofa bed and the double bed in the bedroom, which sufficed. The only downside to sleeping in the lounge was that the curtains weren’t quite dark enough, and along with the noise from the streets in the morning, the cars and sunlight could wake you up if you are a light sleeper/not use to living in a big city.

The kitchen was very well equipped, with a fully functioning fridge/freezer, 4 ring gas cooker, and even had all the basic cupboard essentials that Joy/previous guests had left behind.

The only issue we encountered was not having any hot water for the first 3 nights… We arrived on a bank holiday Monday, so Joy couldn’t get a plumber to get it fixed until the Thursday, which was unfortunate. However, when I asked about an alternative place to shower with hot water, she arranged her neighbor to accommodate us for the following two nights which was very kind of them both. After a third night of not having the hot water fixed, Joy left us a small gift card to enjoy.

The listing description is accurate, and the flat looked very much like it does in the photos. The Harlem neighbourhood is very much residential based with lots of convenient shops that opened till late, fast food outlets and a few restaurants. The flat is located two streets away from the Metro however, and takes about 35 – 45 minutes to get to Times Square door to door.

Thanks for being so accommodating Joy, especially with the hot water issue.