‘Communication is key’ as the saying goes could not really be said for this endeavour. Before leaving for our trip to NY city to stay in someone’s apartment we didn’t know, it’s safe to say we were slightly apprehensive to find our message double checking all was in place for our stay had been completely ignored (us brits are persevering, so we sent another one which we finally got a reply to.) To then arrive after delays and general exhaustion anyone would feel after a long haul flight, to a disgruntled looking lady who made us feel like we had really put her out arriving at such an untimely hour (yes we know 3am isn’t ideal but when you put $700 in someone’s hand for 3 and a half days of their apartment you’d expect at least a glimmer of welcoming in their eyes?) so to then be given a glass of tap water which wasn’t even offered we had to ask for may I add you can say we felt slightly peeved. No offer of fresh towels once in those three days and the essence of stale washing up that had been left for us to wake up to in her kitchen in the morning was pretty disappointing as well to be completely honest. We had pretty much 0 contact with her until we left which was fine we’re not expecting her to constantly check in on us but it was almost awkward when we did see her. On our departure after double checking it was okay to leave just after midday we were met with “oh, okay I didn’t realise” yes you’ve got it, she didn’t actually feel very happy about us staying that extra hour in her room which was quite clearly unoccupied, so we quickly gathered our belongings and made our way back feeling very let down and unhappy with what we had paid a lot of money for. Location was fab that was about the only positive to take from the trip in that respect.