The positives:
Javier is a super nice guy, and an attentive host. He met me personally for the check-in, and made sure I had keys and everything I needed. Anytime I needed to communicate with him though the Airbnb app, he responded quickly.
Security - I never felt unsafe. The outer door to the apartment has a solid deadbolt, and my room itself has its own door lock, and I had a key to each one. And the building itself has a "modern" feel (it's not ancient anyway). So I never worried about safety for myself or my things.
Common area - there is basically a large common area with a sofa, a TV, a table and chairs, and a kitchen. This area seems fine, maybe because it doesn't get much use (I never saw the guests from the other rooms at all during my 2-night stay).
The negatives:
The overall disappointment for this place is the lack of cleanliness. Specifically, the bathroom. There is one bathroom with a sink, a toilet and a shower. This bathroom is shared among the occupants of the 3 rooms in the unit.
The problems were:
- Mold. You can smell the mold whenever you walk into the bathroom.
- There is mold around the ceiling of the shower and in the corners. There is a shower "pole shelf" in the corner for personal items, and there are a LOT of used bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. Even razors, body washing "scrubbies", things that you would not want to share with other people. It's clear that this shower gets a lot of use, so I'm assuming the occupants of the other 2 rooms are long-term guests and they just leave all of their stuff in the shower for when they need it. One of them even leaves their toothbrush on the sink - not in a container or holder or anything, just out in the open. I couldn't imagine having my toothbrush open on the bathroom sink while other people (strangers) are splashing around in that sink. But it's clear that the shower has not been cleaned in a long time (particularly the corner behind where all the personal items are sitting, which is where the most mold is).
- The toilet leaks from the base. So there were constant puddles of water at various locations around the bathroom floor. When I got up during the night to use the bathroom, I had to have all the lights on in order to be careful where not to step because I didn't want to track the leaked toilet water back to my room. The wooden foot of the sink cabinet is rotted away, apparently because of the constant exposure to the leaked toilet water.
I was only in NYC for the weekend, and I was traveling alone. My business was in Manhattan, but I was really looking to save some money by staying in Queens and Ubering in for the day. And it's true, this place was less expensive. But I can say that if my wife had been with me, she would have taken one look at the bathroom and we would have immediately booked a different place (or a hotel) regardless of the cost difference.
I chose this place mainly because of several positive reviews. If the bathroom was in the same condition for previous guests, I would have wanted to know about it. I hate to write negative things (I have stayed at lots of other Airbnb places, with almost all being positive experiences - you can read my other Airbnb reviews) but I have not had an experience with a lack of cleanliness like this one.