Sarah was a very nice host. The bedroom was clean and the bed was very comfortable. The distance to the subway is 4 minutes by foot and the ride to Times Square is only 10 minutes with the express subway. We never felt insecure in the neighborhood so please forget about the Harlem Story’s. These are so 1990. It was my third stay in Harlem and every time was great.
The problem is that the walls of the apartment are very thin, so you hear all the noise. Whether the conversations of the neighbours, the barking dog and crying baby of them or if someone in the apartment turns on the stove or is making any other noise.
Since Sarah works in the evening and comes home late at night, you really hear every step when she prepares something to eat then. We bought ear plugs, so it was okay. We therefore really recommend that anyone who does not sleep like a stone should take ear plugs. We were around Helloween and Sarah had a very tight schedule so we barely saw her. It was absolutely no problem for us because we like being independent. Unfortunately, you also saw the absence in the cleanliness of the bathroom and the kitchen. There are dust and dirt in the corners. I do not want to say that it was absolutely bad, but it was not really clean either.
The fact that Sarah works at night you should be very considerate in the morning, so it is better to get the breakfast away from home, otherwise she will notice everything and her sleep will be interrupted and since you are good guests you don‘t want that to happen ;-)
You have to live out of the suitcase. It would be great to have a little rack or closet in the room to store the luggage. Also a small mirror on the wall would be perfect, so one could get ready in the bathroom and the other in the bedroom. But these are only little suggestions no real big problems.
Considering the price for a New York accommodation, I'd like to point out that you can not expect a 5 star hotel but a solid place to stay if you're in NYC all day.
Therefore the following points:
Price: 5 out of 5 points
Cleanliness: 2,5 out of 5 points
Noise: 1,5 out of 5 points
Host: 4 out of 5 points
Neighborhood: 4,5 out of 5 points
Equipment: 2,5 out of 5 points
Total: 3,5 out of 5 points