I appreciate Gelen for extending my stay when I needed to the move, overall great stay, I feel like it was a bit overpriced for my experience. Here are a few pros and cons:
1. Very clean, when I arrived it was just as photographed, and they have someone who routinely cleans the bathroom.
2. Nice comfortable bed, the bed was so comfortable when I laid down.
3. Small refrigerator, I loved the fridge in the room. It was great for storing my leftovers and beverages.
4. The family sharing the space is so nice! I think they made my stay more pleasurable, being able to converse and also learn new palabras de español. (lol)
5. I felt safe for the most part, the neighborhood is nice. The LIRR is a way if you don’t drive. If you do, they normally have parking near the train station on the street.
6. The commute isn’t that bad, you can take the LIRR to Penn Station at Jamaica, and get there in an hour or so.
7. I discovered a gem, make sure you visit The Harrison for brunch. They have good food and a nice ambience.
1. Not the privacy I expected, I thought the vibes would give Airbnb, but it’s a small family living in the other rooms. They are super sweet, but I often felt like I was being intrusive having to walk through their family dinner. It’s always constant interaction, I thought this would be somewhat like a getaway so I think that was downside for me personally.
2. They have a toddler, I generally stay up late or come in late from work, and the baby cries a lot. To a point where nobody tells him to quiet down, I had to reach out to Airbnb (and that sort of helped). It can be 3am or 7am, & it’s not a soft cry FYI. I had to sleep with the tv on to kind of drown out the noise. So if you’re like me and you like to sleep in the dark, this might not work. The mother apologized but I was there for a minute and sleeping was a task.
3. No parking, parking is a rat race. Not enough street parking. They only allow one person to park in the driveway, and that’s for the family who already lives there. So you might have to park on the other street, BUT when I did somebody hit my side mirror off, I had to spend $350 to get it replace. Yes $350.
4. Bring air freshener, spray and disinfected wipes, everything is public other than your space.
5. They came and did construction to the ceilings ventilation at 8AM. We were not forewarned and when I text the host, she said she was out of the country (and again I get in from work late), so I went to bed at 5AM and woke up to more noise (this time not the baby).
6. It was just very loud overall. Maybe because they have events in the backyard or because their family is staying upstairs/downstairs, and they convene alot. I just wouldn’t label this booking the most peaceful. Comfortable, clean, pricey, but not peaceful.
Overall Gelen was very flexible with my checkout date and communicative throughout my stay. I hope this helps. Thank you you again!