I'd like to start by mentioning the positives. Justin was a quick communicator. His restaurant recommendations were spot on. We tried almost all of them, and he had a huge list! The location of his apartment was amazing, in the brownstones of West Village, steps away from the coolest bars, restos and coffee shops. We took the subway all the way in from JFK, and the stop was just a short two blocks from the apartment -- so easy. Comfy bed. Good water pressure in the shower. But ultimately, what sold me was the photos. This apartment had the charming touches that would let us live like locals for 6 days. However, it turned out those photos were no longer accurate.
When we entered for the first time, we almost thought the place had been robbed. 90% of the art on the walls was gone, with just the nails and bare spots left behind. So were the coffee tables, a side table, the stools for the kitchen counter, a bookshelf, the cool gold pendant lamp, the plant in front of the window with no curtain. Even the toaster he mentioned in the listing was not there.
The title and his description for his place stresses the word CLEAN, but the rugs weren't vacuumed and dustbunnies were everywhere. I don't think a professional is getting the cleaning fee.
The basics weren't there. We were allotted one towel each, for six days. There was no dish soap. And 1.5 rolls of toilet paper. Justin was kind enough to give us some more toilet paper and hangers when I asked, but he said he hadn't thought the coffee table would be missed.
We didn't have anything to put our drinks on when we sat on the couch. The night we wanted to Netflix and chill, we macgyvered a drawer on a suitcase, to make a table.
It wasn't what I was expecting. It wasn't the pride of hosting that I have experienced at other Airbnb rentals. I wouldn't recommend it to my friends. It's a decent place, but when it was so different from the pictures, it just felt like false advertising.