I just… don’t know where to begin.
The amount of shame, anger, and embarrassment I feel after booking this room is overwhelming. I booked Sayra’s stay for a month with the intent of using it as a springboard to find a more permanent place during my move to NYC. Instead of finding a calm oasis from the busy streets of New York, I felt like I entered hell.
The room I stayed in was cute, I’ll give her that. It had old charm that I love. The bed was a thin mattress that was rather uncomfortable, but I could manage for one month. The condition of the rest of the apartment itself was deplorable. I still feel uncomfortable writing this because Sayra was kind and welcoming, but I cannot, in good conscience, allow someone else to live in the the conditions I endured for 5 days.
The bathroom is COVERED in black mold. The once white bathtub and shower walls are stained black and gray from years of mold overgrowth and lack of cleaning. I even attempted to scrub parts of the shower myself, but to no avail. The bathroom reeks of the sickly sour smell of mold, mildew, and wetness. The air in the apartment is thick, wet, and heavy. Old towels hang next to the sink, reeking of mildew. Each night I washed my face or showered, my body felt dirtier than it had before. Every time you step out of the shower, you step on little cat little pebbles, which is disgusting for so many reasons.
Raja’s litter box (located in the bathroom) is another issue. Over just a few days, the smell became unbearable to the point where I would gag, nearly vomiting every time I came within 10 feet of it. It got to the point where I could not brush my teeth, pee, or use the kitchen without nearly vomiting in my mouth. I wish I was exaggerating.
When I brought it up to her, she did not seem concerned. Out of desperation, I cleaned the box out myself. I discovered weeks worth of old litter clumped at the bottom of the box AND in a trash can next to it. I scrubbed and washed the litter box with my bare hands - something I would never dream of having to doing during my stay or at any time ever in general. It was VERY obvious that the litter box was rarely, if ever, taken care of properly.
Not only was the litter box disgusting, but the cat continued to make messes near or outside of the litter box. He defecated on a rug the first night I was there and it was left, in a bag, in the bathroom for 5 days. She claimed he was sick, but I genuinely believe the cat was using the bathroom outside of his box out of retaliation for the state of his litter box. Having grown up with and owning cats myself, I am very familiar with their temperaments and behavior.
Other things to note:
- The amount of water damage in the apartment is cause for alarm. The damp air and musty smell throughout the unit is indicative of a much larger, more insidious issue lurking behind the walls. There is a large hole with black, decaying drywall hanging from the ceiling in the pantry; the crumbling matter falls on the boxes of food on a shelf below.
- There is mold growing in a humidifier in the living room.
- The front apartment door apparently to remain unlocked because Sayra feels it is too cumbersome to unlock (I’m sorry, what?).
- Upon my arrival, there was rotting food left in a bowl in the center of the kitchen table.
The fact I stayed here for 5 days blows my mind. I spent the majority of my time outside the home trying to plot my next move whilst trying to entertain myself with some friends and juggling the stresses of searching for a job and an apartment. After day 5, I called Airbnb CRYING, begging and pleading for them to help me find emergency last-second housing and for a refund. Considering my lack of unlimited finances, I couldn’t afford to book something last minute in the most expensive city in the United States.
After long conversations and multiple emails (with sufficient proof) with Airbnb agents, my case was considered “high priority,” meaning that my claims were so serious, Airbnb had no choice but to immediately terminate my stay.
That same night, I rushed home, packed my belongings, and shuttled them by Uber to a luggage holding facility across town at 3am. The next morning, after sleeping roughly 2 hours, I collected the rest of my things along with myself, and sat in a park for hours trying to find accommodations for the next few nights. I am so angry that Sayra willingly allowed me to live in a place so disgusting, vile, and unfit for human occupancy - even for one moment. This stay tainted what was supposed to be such an exciting life-changing moment for me. Instead of enjoying my first few days in NYC, I was scrubbing feces out of a litter box and crying in Central Park.
I’m not sure if this listing will be up for long, or if she will continue to rent out her room, but if you are reading this: BEWARE. The previous glowing reviews are not reflective of what you will find in the unit. I don’t know how she could POSSIBLY have received these reviews unless these individuals rented a completely different apartment. Genuinely, if your only option is her place or the street, I would probably pick the street.