I stayed here for 5 months (originally scheduled for 3 months, but extended my stay due to COVID) and enjoyed the entire experience. The studio layout worked perfectly for me, very clean and stylish, and just the right size. Here's a list of pros and cons, although keep in mind that I give the pros a lot more weight than the cons. I thoroughly enjoyed staying here, I would highly recommend it to anyone, 5/5 stars. The cons are mostly minor nitpicks, while the pros are huge selling points. :)
Cons
-Lighting
There's a light above the front door, two lights in the bathroom, some overhead lights in the kitchen, some overhead lights over the bed, two hanging lamps on each side of the bed, and a small lamp on the desk. Yet somehow this is not enough to light the area underneath the stairs. It's D-A-R-K DARK under there, and I would know; I filmed quite a lot there. The small desk lamp is the *only* moveable light source in the whole place, and it ended up doing quite a bit of heavy lifting. What the room really needs is lights above the desk area. A man can dream...
-Storage
If you're staying here for an extended period of time, I hope you're okay with storing your clothes in the kitchen closet. The room has no chest of drawers or bureau of any kind (like the things underneath the TV in hotel rooms, that thing) for you to store things. Alternatively, if you don't plan to use the couch, feel free to use it as a shelf. You might need it.
-Subway Proximity
My daily commute for my field study consisted of walking to the nearest bus stop to catch the B48 (<5 min) and riding the bus to the L train stop (10-15 min). The nearest subway stop is the G train, which is a ~5-10 min ride on the B48. Going anywhere too far to walk is a game of daisychaining bus schedules and hoping they're running on time. Sometimes it's just more time-efficient to take an Uber. This isn't an issue with the Airbnb though, really. Just the location.
-Laundry
Why can't the laundry machines just be free, with the expense included in the rent? Alas, the washers and dryers need quarters to operate. It's not even the expense that's annoying, it's the inconvenience of remembering to keep your stock of little metal circles replenished just so you can wear clean underwear tomorrow.
-Noise
The odd sloped shape of this room is due to it's location directly underneath the stairs to the fourth floor. As you can imagine, not the quietest! The walls don't do a particularly great job of soundproofing either, but get yourself a nice pair of noise-cancelling headphones and you won't notice a thing.
-Parking
If nobody has told you yet not to bring a car into New York City, allow me to be the first. There's simply nowhere to park the darn thing. The street outside the apartment technically has free parking, but only if you can actually find a spot, and not on Monday through Thursday from 9:30am to 11am (but only in even-numbered years, only when the Yankees are winning, and only when Mercury is in retrograde...) And all the surrounding streets are the same. Do not bring your car unless you plan to move it twice per day, back and forth between streets, all at the ungodly early hour of 8am.
-Dishwasher
Don't get me wrong, the fact that this unit has a dishwasher at all is a MAJOR Pro! It is small though, so if you do a lot of cooking, you won't be able to fit much. If you're good at Dish Tetris, you can get a lot more in there than you expect. I personally didn't have any issue with this, but I figured I'd list it here.
Pros
-TV
It really says something that the first "Pro" that came to mind was the TV. It doesn't show this in the pictures, but the wall-mounted TV has an entire extendable support behind it that allows you to swivel the TV in any direction you choose! Do you have any idea how convenient it is to be able to watch TV while cooking in the kitchen, or while relaxing in bed, or while having dinner? That's a feature that's very hard to live without now that I'm used to it! Take advantage of the mech suit television!
-View
It's pretty incredible. You can see the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building clearly. I expected windows overlooking a parking lot, or mostly obstructed by trees or something, but no! The view of Manhattan is gorgeous! (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EO3NLBaXUAI8cq7?format=jpg&name=medium) Almost good enough to get a sunlight-hater like myself to not keep my blinds closed 24/7. Almost.
-Housekeeping
Every week, housekeeping will come to collect trash, change towels, run the dishwasher, change bedsheets, and do a full deep clean of the entire room. I was so caught off guard at first by how thorough the process is, but it sure is worth it. It's so nice not to worry about washing bedsheets or towels. And there's nothing like a nice, clean bathroom. It really is exactly what it looks like in the pictures!
-Response
Every time I texted the host, I would hear back very soon. When I first arrived, the bed in the room was extremely hard. Felt like sitting on a rock. When I texted the host, he said he could have the mattress swapped out. That same day, I returned from work, the mattress had been swapped out, the new one was perfect, and it was even freshly made. I was so pleasantly surprised by how quickly that happened!
-Temperature
I've stayed in my fair share of places that are way too hot or way too cold. Or worse, places where no matter how much you cool one area, the circulation is so poor that it's still 80