The property manager for this property asked that we give a 5-star rating and we would like to do so as we have in the past given 5-star reviews for our other AirBnB stays. For this property, in some areas, it truly earns that rating, but in other areas, it does not. Therefore, we have given it a four-star review. To set some context for this review, we rented this unit in August for over thirty days. We paid 90% of the fee upfront and paid the small balance during our stay.
Website Description Accuracy:
This unit was advertised as having air conditioning at the time we booked our stay. It does in two rooms. One bedroom upstairs and the common room upstairs. There is no air conditioning in the bedroom downstairs, the bathroom downstairs or in the upstairs bathroom (which is in the hall between two exterior doors – not really explained in the description). While the property manager did provide an additional fan after one week for downstairs, that area is uninhabitable during the summer months as there is no way to get cold air down there. Additionally, the common area air conditioning unit runs continually at high speed, never shutting off unless you turn it off making it difficult to talk, sleep or work in that space.
This apartment is older than what the pictures depict. It has not been updated in some time. There is a slight smell of gas from the old stove, we often could not get the right water temperature from the faucets (sometimes so hot you couldn’t shower) and you had to hold the drawers in the kitchen when you opened them or they would fall on the floor. The futon in the family room is broken so it could not be used as an additional sleep space, which was problematic due to the lack of air conditioning.
The website stated that the unit would have Wifi and was ideal for working from “home”. This was important to us. It does technically have both but the wifi was not strong enough to accommodate streaming to the TV consistently (there is no cable). As we were one of the few people in the building when we first checked in, the wifi was strong enough to do work on the computer but that was all. Once another guest moved in (the building was pretty much fully occupied our entire stay), the wifi was so bad that we had to use a hotspot from our phones to be on any zoom calls.
Location:
This unit has a prime location and is the only reason we rated it as a four star versus a 3 star. It is a few blocks from Central Park as well as a few blocks in the opposite direction to the Hudson River Walk. It is also close to a number of subway stops including the 72nd (where there is a Trader Joes) and 81st street stations. It is a block away from the Natural History Museum, many restaurants, CVS and more.
Property Management
This unit is managed by some form of management company. We had issues with some of the plumbing fixtures and called the contact for assistance. The manager asked that we be available to let the repair people in and on numerous times, we were bothered at work or had to come back early to let them in. We had asked for an additional set of keys and were promised them but none materialized. We therefore had to find a place to make duplicate keys ourselves. We did ask for an adjustment in our rate due to all the issues mentioned and were denied. We understand the decision, but do want to make sure to clarify some of the website descriptions as they are not quite accurate. We were offered a 15% discount on our next stay.