Staying in NYC comes with some known issues – accommodation is small and expensive across the board. We chose Airbnb because the positives outweigh the negatives, and we like staying in different and interesting areas.
Here at Natalie’s our stay was mostly enjoyable, with some important negative areas to note for improvement.
Positives: East Village is excellent; this place is clean and functional; air conditioning was necessary so even though the room units are directly behind where you sleep, they cancel some noise and give some comfort; noise is not over the top for NYC standards (but you are in a busy area).
Negatives: Maintenance is lacking (see below for toilet) with door handles half falling off (on all doors), bolts coming off chairs, and other areas (robe doors missing or not closing shut); aspects like towels are the size of bath mats just gives a feeling of cheapness, as do the very thin and scratchy doona covers; it is an older apartment block and there are 66 stairs with no elevator so be prepared to get fit (this is not unusual in NYC apartment blocks though); and there is only one set of keys which is difficult for a 2 bedroom stay.
Finally, there were two times where the toilet broke, which is not Natalie’s fault at all initially, but probably required an experienced plumber rather than a handy-person (because it broke again 4 days later). We were told it was not a blockage, but a part needed to be replaced through age / wear and tear. The second time we had to move because apparently no plumber was available on the Sunday which was unfortunate as we were enjoying the East Village, and moving was very inconvenient. Whilst communications ceased in the interim, we note Natalie refunded us for the final 2 nights of our stay after our request which we appreciate.