We enjoyed our stay at Stella's place. I will, however, place an asterisk to the 5 stars on this one (read full review for details).
I spent almost a decade living in Astoria, the neighbourhood the space is located in, so I know the size of the space and the private bathroom were great value for the price, hence the 5 stars.
PROs:
- private bathroom (hard to find in the area for a room in a shared space)
- value for price
- location (mind you - the 8 mins or so from Times Square advertised in the listing seems a bit misleading). It's a quick 2 min walk to the local subway stop, then you have a 10-15 min ride to Times Square, so it's more like 15 mins which is still excellent for NYC. I'm not sure why the host thought halving the estimate is a good idea. Perhaps tourists who don't know the city have unreasonable expectations?...Also, keep in mind for Astoria, Queens this is not the most central location. The best restaurants are 10-20 mins walk from there, on Broadway and 30th ave, and Ditmars if you want authentic Greek food.
- private balcony - also rare for the area and the city in general.
- shared kitchen space - decently equipped to make a quick breakfast with your own supplies.
- safe area
- communicative and responsive host
- easy contactless check-in - we received detailed instructions that had everything we needed to check-in easily after a late flight.
- fast Wi-fi
CONs:
- scanty amenities - as other reviewers mentioned, you're better off carrying your own. I also recommend if there's more than 1 of you booking it, to request enough towels. We stayed there with my husband, booked 2 months in advance and there was only 1 towel for the 2 of us. We had to ask for another, which the host left the next day while were away.
- cleanliness - I was surprised to read other reviewers comments about how clean the space was. This was not my impression. The sheets on the bed were clean, but I couldn't say so about the floor, and the dusty window sills and mirror. Having lived in Astoria for years, I know it's very hard to keep dust off of your apartment. Literally 2 days after you clean there is dust everywhere (it's near 3 major highways and an airport, so it's to be expected). However, I couldn't tell sufficient effort was made to keep the space Airbnb-clean.. Based on my prior Airbnb experiences (and I travel a lot), this space's cleanliness was below average.
Not a deal-breaker, and overall I felt the space was still a good value for the size, privacy and location. Perhaps the host will take note and improve her guests' experiences in the long-run. I would say, I'd probably book again if I have the opportunity.