New York is an expensive place to stay with Airbnb. Also a lot of the best properties are booked up a long way ahead. Bearing that in mind Desiree's apartment seems better value than many we looked at. When we walked in the initial impression was good. Its a nice bright space that looks similar to the photos but there are some negatives which might not effect everyone. The flat has a well equipped kitchen, nice bathroom and the beds are comfortable. One of the key factors in booking Desiree's place was to be able to use the kitchen and washing machine as we had our 17 month old son with us, so i need to prepare his food and wash his clothes. I also like to sometimes cook in the evening as we can't go out to eat. The problem was that neither oven or washing machine worked properly. I was told that the oven was "temperamental" after i said it wasn't working - meaning i had to throw away the first meal i'd prepared. To be fair Desiree quickly supplied a small table top oven via a friend, but it was a big compromise that meant cooking was much less straight forward than it should have been. I'd never had booked somewhere with this type of oven. I tried the washing machine 3 times on "delicate" setting, but each time the clothes came out half dry, half wet and not washed. We found the manual online and i seemed to be doing everything right. Despite the fact the clothes weren't washed, my husbands t-shirt came out with a red mark on it which can't be removed. The machine is pretty old and dirty, the drier even more so. Again this was not what i thought i was getting When we stayed it was pretty hot, as NYC tends to be June - September and the "air con" units just aren't up to the job. They are very noisy and more like fans than a proper cooling system. The one in the main bedroom was particularly annoying as it constantly switches itself off and on, which disturbed my sons and my sleep. We had avoid booking anywhere that didn't have Air-con but what we ended up with was not sufficient and nothing like the aircon you get in a hotel. Obviously New york is a busy noisy city but this particularly noisy part of town and a very busy street. One block over each direction is far less hectic. There's lots of construction going on all over the place, diggers and bulldozers are everywhere. At one point there was 2 lots of hydraulic drilling happening directly opposite. Theres no sound proofing or double glazing, but it depends if youre a light sleeper whether this would bother you. Other gripes is the doorbell wasn't working, so ordering take away food was a bit of a hassle and meant one of us had to stand outside as the delivery companies didn't...