We were planning our first trip to NY for our Kid's Spring Break vacation. We stayed at this property for 6 days and encountered many issues and I would not recommend staying at this property until these issues are addressed.
1-Bait and Switch we were looking to stay in Manhattan and searched for properties that could accommodate 4 adults and 4 kids close to Central Park. This property met our search criteria and we made the reservation. When the reservation was completed we received an email stating that "there is a glitch with AirBnB and the property appears in ideal location close to Central Park" then we found out that the property is actually across the river in Brooklyn. In order to convince us to keep the reservation, the owner sent multiple emails stating why it is convenient to stay at their property. This violates every business rule and we should have trusted our instinct and avoided this property.
2-the property states that it accommodates 12 people and I do not understand how is this possible. there are two rooms with two small queen size beds that are acceptable and one room with a full-size fold-out bed that when opened would leave you no space to maneuver and getting in the bed. Then the rest had to sleep on air mattresses in the living room. The capacity of the place is misrepresented.
3-the condition of the property was acceptable for being built in the '50s, it has had some cosmetic remodels but it is an older and smaller townhouse. There is one small bathroom with a bathtub. There is one bathroom on the lower level where you can not comfortably sit on the toilet without hitting your knees on the side walls. The shower in one of the rooms appears to have been added at a later time and measures about 3x3 feet. The space is very cramped for 8 people and I can not imagine 12 people staying at this property beyond a couple of hours.
4-safety. Apparently, the state or the city had passed a regulation that older properties had to be inspected for gas lines every 3 years. The owner had failed to respond to the notices and our gas was shut off by the utility company for the last 2.5 days of our stay. This accounted for 30% of our stay and we did not have hot water, access to a stovetop and or oven for cooking and or warming up food, or a heater. None of us was able to take a shower for 2.5 days of our stay and this made our stay unbearable. To make the matters worse, the son of the owner who was in charge of attending to us, stated to raise the heat to make it warm inside so taking a cold shower becomes refreshing. Not only that was a disrespectful suggestion, this idea was not possible since there was no heat. After our departure, we proposed $500 to be refunded to us for our inconvenience, which was less than one night of stay but we did not receive any funds.
5-location. the property is adjacent to the subway track where trains pass every 5-20 minutes 24h a day. At our party, three people were annoyed by the above and 5 others had no issue. The owner provides you with disposable earplugs for your stay. The neighborhood is in a middle-class area of Brooklyn and there are many restaurants in very close proximity to the property. That was the highlight of our stay and we really enjoyed the Greek restaurants where the service and the food were amazing. Also, it is located a block away from the subway station that takes you to Manhattan.
6-Cleanliness. The property was clean and you are provided with Shampoo and body wash but on day two we ran out of toilet paper and there were no extra ones and had to purchase our own. They had no extra rolls available.
In conclusion please be very careful when making a reservation, confirm the address is correct and reflects Brooklyn and not NY as the physical address of the property and make sure that all the inspections are uptodate so the city does not turn off your gas, water or electricity during your stay, as they did with us.