These are some tradeoffs you need to consider before booking this place. This is a typical NYC apartment. It was small as expected but well designed to sleep 4 with 2 bedrooms. You need to walk up two flights of stairs. The co-host was kind enough to meet and carry our bag up to the apartment. Jamie the host is A+ on communication; prompt and courteous. The location is fantastic. There is a Trader Joes within a minute, a Starbucks across the street and you can walk to transit station in about 7 minutes. The apartment was clean. You are not going to spend much time in the apartment anyway. Sleeping is pretty much the only thing and here is where things got real bad.
The building controls heating/cooling and you have no control on it. The apartment was super warm through the nights. We barely got any sleep all four nights. You can open the windows in one bedroom but that brings a new set of problems: Lot of street noise and one room gets super cold. The other bedroom has a wall on its side, so no use opening the window. There are also a lot of clanking noises going through the night every few minutes and that made sleep almost impossible.
Those familiar with such apartments might not see these as surprises, but if you are not too familiar with old NYC apartments, these surely come across as unpleasant surprises. Should have been disclosed in the listing in my view. There are some small issues like the shower knobs get super hot, almost untouchable and the oven knobs in the kitchen need fixing, but these weren't deal breakers; every apartment will have some small issues.
For me, this was a bad experience, but if you are not so sensitive to temperature or noises and can sleep through, this apartment has a lot going for it. The location is great and the hosts are good people.