Its a nice flat overall. Close to manhattan with easy access to subway/trains/JFK. However, the host wasn’t particularly good at replying messages before our arrival, when we enquired the possibility of dropping luggage before checkin (we arrived in JFK at 11am but check in is 3pm). Interestingly, when we informed him that the size of party became 5 rather than 4 (which means a slightly higher price than what’s originally paid for), we received response shortly after regarding how to settle the extra fees.
There’re a few things that were not mentioned in the listing. For example, the sewage system is quite old in the house. Hence you cannot throw toilet paper in the toilet (a small basket is provided though) as it will clogged the toilet (which involves extra costs for plumber). It might not seem to be a big issue now, but given how surprisingly difficult it was to find nice public restroom in New York, this is slightly inconvenient. In addition, the host required us to cleaning all the dishes as there will be additional cleaning fees ($40). While I do understand where he’s coming from, $40 for cleaning dishes (probably less than 20 dishes) seems more like a penalty rather than fair fee.
All of the above information was only received on the day we arrived at the flat, which we all abided to so there wasn’t really an issue/dispute with the host. However, personally I would like to know these things beforehand, so thought its worth posting here.
Again, for what you’re paying for, it’s a pretty decent flat.