We had two major issues during our time at Daniel’s place:
1) My husband and I had planned to live in this Airbnb for six weeks as we tried to wait out the COVID pandemic and find a permanent apartment in NYC (we had just moved for a job when the quarantine began). The host had not left a mail key, which was an issue since we were in quarantine and working from home. We let him know immediately, and he was responsive, saying that he would contact the super for a spare key. We still didn’t have a key more than a week later, so he told us to go ahead and call a locksmith to change the lock and he would reimburse us. We did, and then he said the price was too high (which was a standard locksmith price) and he would only give us $40. We have since escalated the issue to Airbnb for review.
2) We had been noticing weird bits of trash and hearing scratching noises since we arrived, but didn’t think much of it. Then we saw a rat run through the space into the bedroom. We then realized that the “crumbs” we had been sweeping up all over the apartment were actually rat droppings, and we found an opening in the back of the bedroom radiator. Luckily, we discovered this shortly into our trip, and we were able to move to another space. We are very clean people and had been consistently taking out the trash and recycling and not leaving food out (especially since there was not a trash can in the kitchen/living area).
Also, please bear in mind that this place is not conducive to long term visits. The space is over cluttered and there is not much storage, as the host has items in both closets. The sliding glass door is to the balcony is the best feature, but the door does not lock; there are just metal obstacles that you place in the track to jam the door. The metal handle of the door was cracked when we arrived and actually broke and badly scratched my hand a few days in.
That being said, check-in was easy, Daniel was fairly responsive prior to the rat incident, and Daniel had been kind in allowing us to arrive two weeks later than anticipated due to illness. But all in all, this was a horrible and semi-traumatizing Airbnb experience. We have stayed at several others and truly have never had a complaint. We’re easily contented, but this was intolerable.