Unfortunately, this turned out to be the worst experience I've ever had in an Airbnb. To be fair, I will lay out the positives first:
- Dan is responsive over both Airbnb and text messages
- The unit is modern, and the decor looks great
- The entertainment system is modern
Here's why I have to give this stay a 1-star rating:
- The pictures are misleading. The unit appears to have a wide open floor plan and high ceilings, but in reality it's a very long and skinny apartment. This wouldn't normally be a big deal, but do not expect an awe-inspiring unit.
- The unit is also advertised as a Penthouse. Penthouses are supposed to be the top floors. This unit is on the 4th floor. Normally, I wouldn't complain about the height of a unit either.
- However, there is absolutely no sound proofing in the unit. You can literally hear people talking on the street level. What's more is that ambulances and police cars drive by the unit close to once an hour. Try sleeping when you hear sirens every hour of the night.
- I had asked Dan about sleeping conditions prior to making my reservation because I am admittedly a light sleeper, and he had said the unit is not any noisier than typical NYC neighborhoods. I have to beg to differ as I've stayed in many hotels across dozens of trips to NY without dealing with this constant noise.
- When I stayed, the unit was $1500 a night. This is absolutely not worth that price. You would be better suited renting out a suite at a hotel for much nicer amenities, service, etc. Even without the noise this is probably at best a $800/night stay.
- Dan told me this was 1400+ square feet. Later, I pulled up the floor plan and realized he was counting the communal elevator AND stairwells. There's nowhere close to 1400 of usable space here. It's closer to 1000 square feet.
- The unit is advertised as having 1000 Mbps Internet. Not the case. I struggled with the WiFi for the first several days. Admittedly, after switching to 2.4 to 5Ghz the Internet was usable, but it was nowhere near blazing fast. During my work video calls, I had to turn off the video for multiple meetings.
- Here's the worst part. I had complained to Dan about the noise, and he had initially offered to change my reservation and stated that someone else wanted to move in earlier. I told him I would gladly do this and asked him for updates over several days. While we hadn't confirmed an exact move out date, the correspondence was all around him contacting Airbnb to shorten my reservation and get the new guest in earlier. I ended up booking a hotel based on our discussion to leave one week earlier than my originally intended stay. Then Dan decided to back out. It turns out that the new guest no longer needed to check in early, so Dan decided not to honor our discussion.
- He would not make any concessions even though unit was making me absolutely miserable. I literally was only sleeping 2-3 hours a night because of the noise. He also was not empathetic to the fact that I had already booked another reservation based on him setting expectations that I could move out early. This meant I was literally paying for two places at the same time.
- In the end I had to cancel the remainder of my trip and was charged a 50% per night cancellation fee. As a result, my per night cost basis for this stay was over $2,000 a night.
To be honest, I am very surprised that the other reviewers have not complained about this unit before. The building is modern and nice, but it is not a place to stay if you expect to get any rest. If you're just here to party for a weekend in Lower East Side, this might be a great place to stay. If you want to have a more diverse visit or use it for a business trip (as I did), then this is absolutely not the right place to book.