I try to be fair with my reviews— good and bad.
Good: pretty decent amount of space for NYC— the hosts are also nice. Nice to have a fridge and microwave. Little Italy is walking distance. They tried to make it feel homey.
Bad:
The price. They are way more expensive than any place I’ve stayed at in the Bronx with a similar amount of space that allow pets AND had parking. The street parking was a lot harder than the ad suggested. I’ve stayed at places in the Bronx like this before and generally the host will let the guest park in front of the driveway (blocking it) and they go and find another space. I spent a lot of money to have to hunt for a spot each night when I thought it was on premises. There is a spot for a VERY small car and the host would be blocking you in anyways. I felt deceived on this. I paid more for this place because it said parking on premises. Instead I ended up walking around the park late at night from rehearsal. Also fun is the parking game you must play every weekday from 8:30-10am for street cleaning. You can risk being double parked or ticketed OR get up every day early after being at rehearsal and work til midnight the night before.
Safety: the neighborhood seems sort of safe for the most part but my first night some guy was screaming about God coming for him and then he laid down on the ground next to my car. I watched him to make sure he was ok then ran to the place. The second night I was thankfully being dropped off in an Uber — the driver waited with me because some guy obviously on drugs was rubbing himself on the gate to the apartment. I think it’s a safe enough neighborhood but within walking distance of some very bad areas and definitely not safe for a single female to be parking around a park at night and walking to the space.
it’s a basement— and not like I’ve seen basement rooms done before. There are pipes hanging down low enough for you to hit your head. I felt like I was constantly crouching. I was uncomfortable the entire time using the kitchen because of this. They did add padding to the pipes so at least when I whacked my head every day the blow was softened. Once the lights are out it is SO dark it is impossible to tell what time it is. There were centipedes— which means more bugs somewhere else.