Overall, the stay was okay. It would be hard to beat it for location, especially on your first trip to Manhattan. It also has really fast internet if you need to get work done. It’s also quiet within the block (very quiet neighbors) although the city’s sirens still inevitably get through. Lola and Dina were generally good with communication, too.
Otherwise, like another reviewer noted, there were some issues with bugs, stairs, the smell of weed in the hallway and apartment (obviously not ideal if you’re traveling with children), and we were asked to tell other people in the block that we were friends of the hosts. We had the supervisor come in to check something with the tub right after we checked in - the appointment was a prior arrangement. We didn’t mind telling him we were friends of Lola’s, and we didn’t see or hear from any other neighbors again during our stay (even when we left at ‘busy’ times), but it’s good to note that not everyone would be comfortable with doing that. We also had a few, fairly stark incidents of uncleanliness, and the window behind the bed could absolutely do with some curtains or blinds.
I don’t mean to nitpick and make the space sound awful - it’s not, and you can do a lot worse. This was just our first real negative experience with AirBnb and we hope this honest feedback makes for more positive experiences for future guests.