tl;dr Between the second-hand smoke smell, the rundown apartment, the noisy neighbouring 24 hour car wash and the distance from midtown and lower Manhattan, I don't think this was a value for money booking.

Bia is a pretty hospitable and friendly host. On the first day she was quick to offer me a cold drink and even try to organise some free entertainment for me and my friends. She also didn't make a fuss when I accidentally checked in an hour early.

However, there are a few tricky house rules like
1. Guests shouldn't wash dishes (which would be fine except it meant that I couldn't use all the utensils I wanted because Bia said it was too much for her to clean. I got the feeling that Bia didn't want me cooking in her kitchen)
2. No towels in the bathroom (which was annoying because I don't often think to carry towels to the bathroom)

I could have asked for more clarification on these but I didn't because I was only staying a short time and happy enough to obey these rules while there. It would have been nice had these rules and their rationale been written on the description.

The apartment is next to a 24 hour car wash which actually operates around the clock. I was often awoke by it's workers yelling things at each other, or by customers cranking their car stereoes.

The neighbourhood felt a little rough and takes a night or two to get used to. Being able to speak a little bit of Spanish will help a lot. It tends to take a half hour or more to get to midtown. Longer if you want to get to lower Manhattan.

The building is pretty tired and rundown. The apartment itself is relatively clean with the exception that the kitchen, living area and bathroom strongly smelling like second-hand smoke. The bedroom will also start smelling like smoke if you leave the bedroom door open long enough.

The bed is relatively comfortable. The room is equipped with a massive TV which I unfortunately didn't have time to use.