The booking had been made early in March, and the host had been informed of the approximate time of our arrival in advance, by email.
However, when my colleague arrived, on the afternoon of the 25th March, in the pouring rain, he found that the host was not at the flat. He attempted to call her, but she did not answer the phone, and he was unable to leave voicemail as the service was full. He then messaged me, (I had just landed in Newark) and I attempted to contact her, and sent an sms.
Finally, by contacting a friend who also rents through Air BnB, we were able to contact the host, who arrived at about 19.30. By this time, we had been waiting in the rain for two hours.
On entering the flat, we discovered that it had not been cleaned, and that the bedclothes had not been changed. The refrigerator only had some diet coke.
The host apologised profusely, and we left her to clean the flat while we went to find some food.
The following morning the toilet blocked. Again, we were unable to contact her on the number she had provided, but realised that she in fact lived in the neighbouring flat!
My colleague had had to use the towels provide in the flat to clean the mess in the bathroom. We left for work, and she promised to have everything clean by the time we came back. That evening I found that she had left one of the dirty towels festering in the bathtub. Not only that, but she had not supplied fresh towels for the other bedroom.
The evening of the 29th we returned to find a greyish powder in the bathtub (see image). It turned out to be some chemical cleaning product which had not been rinsed. Late that night, my friend had an infestation of ants in his room. Fortunately, we were leaving the following morning.
In addition to this catalogue of disasters, the flat was shabby, with an unprotected light fitting and a rusted, disused heater in the bathroom. (See images) It was poorly equipped, the coffee percolator needed to be balanced on a chair to reach the plug socket, and although the sheets had been changed in one room, we suspect that the single bed had not been changed.
I have used Air BnB on many occasions, and in general have been pleased with the standards of the apartments, the helpfulness of the hosts, and the easy of using the service. This experience has left a bitter taste. I realise that the location of the property is highly desirable, but the apartment and attention were severely sub-standard. Frankly, had we been able to leave, we would have done, but having a heavy work schedule and a tight budget meant that we felt obliged to stay and out up with the indignities.