I really, really wanted to write the kind of glowing review that so many others here have done. Unfortunately I cannot.
The apartment was accurately described and photographed, and surely the location is the grand highlight, but there were certain cleanliness issues in the bathroom that I was genuinely surprised hadn't been seen to since they seemed an easy fix.
The sofa bed in the living room is difficult to sleep on as one side, which serves as the sofa seat, has been worn down into kind of a scoop, and the other side is very firm since it's used as the back of the sofa. So when you lay it out flat, you either have to sleep on the scooped out side, or the hard side. I found it comfortable enough when padded with extra blankets, but I was glad I wasn't sleeping on it for more than two nights. I don't see how two people could sleep on it.
The bedroom facing the street is very noisy, contributed to by the fact that an AC unit was still in the window even though it was late October. This also made the room much cooler than the rest of the apartment, which was very warm with no visible way to control the temp.
The main issue for us was the unresponsiveness of the host. Most of the previous reviews state she does an excellent job, while a few report the kind of experience I had. Now I realize that the communication I did receive from Alison, while certainly polite and informative, was all auto-generated. I sent her several emails through Airbnb (which she claimed in one of her emails to me to check often) and she did not respond directly to any of my questions. It was so disappointing and unlike any of my previous Airbnb experiences, especially in light of the other reviews. My family and I left feeling like we had been just another sale to Alison, rather than like guests who had visited her home. And isn't that what Airbnb should be about?