My first experience with Airbnb in this apartment in Manhattan turned out to be a nightmare. As the host had told us, he or she (we never got to know their gender) would not be at the apt when we arrived. Instead, we were given the keys and some info on the location of the room and the shared bathroom, by a friend of the host. Although the apt was not as shown in the pictures, but a little dirtier and with the walls really bad painted, we did not care. The building is very old and the rugs look disgusting, but we did not care either.... until we spent the first 2 nights and we realised we were not alone. The room was heavily infested with bed bugs. Out of the 4 nights payed, we could not sleep for 2 whole nights, I had to get medications for rashes that developed from the bites and I had our clothes and baggage sterilized because these bugs travel with you once you get them.

Other issues with the apartment:

The headless photo mounted on the page for the apartment also prevented any easy identification of the person owning or managing it.

The photos advertising the apartment did not correspond to the apartment.

I would strongly advise you not to rent this apartment, specially if you suffer from any allergies or if you wish to sleep.
The worst part of the story, the bugs feed on blood and we had killed one and the stain stayed in the wall. When we came back from one of our tours, the stain was not there any more, which may mean that the host cleaned it and, hence, that he or she knew that the room was full of bed bugs.

I spent a lot of money on medications and lotions to get the rashes out of my whole body (even my face). Be safe, don't go there. Pictures of the bites available upon request!