We stayed at Ben and Giorgia's apartment for a week.

Location
The location of the apartment is perfect if you want to do classic New York sightseeing: The L train which goes directly to Downtown Manhattan is right around the corner. I can't tell you much about the surroundings of the apartment since we spent all of our time in Manhattan.

Room and apartment
The apartment is in the basement of the building. It has 3 bedrooms, a living room/kitchen area, a bathroom and a backyard. Due to it being in the basement, it's comparatively dark because there's not much daylight. It can also be quite chilly in parts of the apartment in winter because the whole living room/kitchen area is heated by a small gas heater that doesn't distribute its heat all that well. Note that we're spoilt when it comes to heat because we have heated floors in our apartment at home – so we might be a bit more demanding than the average person.
We stayed in the small (office) room mentioned in the description – which is small (I'd say ~2.5x3.5m) but comfortable. The bed is unusually high which might not be everyone's cup of tea – but the good thing is that you can put your luggage underneath so it doesn't take up your scarce space. The room has its own little heater, too.
The bathroom is sufficiently big for two people being in there together if need be.

People
Unfortunately, both Ben and Giorgia spent the holidays in Italy so we didn't get to meet them in person. Ben wrote a long email with arrival information and also shot a comprehensive and helpful little video for us, explaining some details about the apartment (e.g. how the heaters work, how to properly lock the doors etc.). Ben's sister Amy was available as a contact person for emergencies and any assistance we needed – which, fortunately, wasn't much.
So we can't tell you much about them in person but what we can say is this: We found it amazing that they let us (and three girls from Sweden) stay in their apartment without getting to know us at all and that they arranged things really professionally (fresh sheets and towels, free soap & shampoo, a city guide etc.). You can tell that they've been hosting people for a while and that they love it – which makes for a really great Airbnb experience.

Food
There's a list with restaurant recommendations pinned to the wall in the room. We didn't get to try much because we were usually really tired and also not that hungry in the evenings. Read about three places worth mentioning here: http://pastie.org/private/9xhxmifbx4zuvabkwdhpdg

All in all: Thanks Ben and Giorgia for having us and trusting us with your apartment. We hope to visit NYC again at some point in the future and maybe we can spend it at your place again (and finally get to meet you in person)!