LOCATION: This Airbnb is located in Brownsville. It was my first time in New York, and in hindsight I should have done more research. Although Yonaton describes the airbnb as being "nestled in an inviting neighborhood", Brownsville is not the place you want to go as a tourist. A simple internet search will surface a plethora of articles stating that Brownsville is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in New York.
The subway is a 15 minute walk, but it was unsafe as my friends and I received many looks and had names yelled at us from the people living there. On top of that, early one morning, we heard one of the neighbors shrieking for help. When we ordered through doordash, the delivery driver told us to be careful around there. My friends and I, being women, were extremely scared and regret staying here. We ended up having to spend a lot of money on ubers to avoid walking around there.
HOST: Yonaton at first appeared to be very nice, potentially allowing us to check in early. However, when the time came, he was unresponsive. When my friends and I expressed our concerns about our safety on the first night, he was unhelpful and unempathetic. We were hoping that he would be open to working out a partial refund and an early check out so that my girl friends and I could find somewhere safer to stay. He was extremely dismissive of our concerns and told us he will talk to a manager to see if his other airbnb’s are open. Then, he never responds back to me for the rest of our 5 night stay.
AIRBNB itself: On the inside, the airbnb looks nice. After a closer look, you can tell that the remodel’s finishing touches must have been done quickly. Door knobs are crooked, bathroom locks aren’t functional and the upstairs shower head barely works. There were no curtains for any of the windows, including the bedrooms. In the downstairs bedroom, there was a disgusting amount of dead bugs (over 30) caked on the wall. In the upstairs bedroom, there were dirty handprints found on the wall.
When checking in, I recommend going around and checking that all doors and windows are all locked as we found that the door downstairs that leads directly to the outdoors was left unlocked. Also, the front door hardware was loose when we checked in so we had to re-tighten the screws and had to do so a couple more times throughout our stay.
The airbnb states that it can sleep 8. However, there were not enough pillow cases or blankets for 8. We had to go buy these items, which we ended up leaving there since we did not have space in our luggage to lug it back home. Extremely inconvenient since Yonaton knew that we were a group of 8.
The kitchen was well stocked with plates, bowls, cookware, utensils but lacked basic cooking supplies like oil, salt and pepper. We felt that it was inconvenient to have to buy these things for a rental stay.
Considering all of this, I would not recommend this place to those visiting. It is on the cheaper end compared to other airbnbs, but please just spend the extra money to make sure you are safe and to avoid having to work with Yonaton. Every single person, including locals, that we told about our stay in Brownsville expressed their concerns and warned us to be safe. I refuse to believe that Yonaton, who's lived in New York for 10 years, is completely unaware of the risks. I’ve stayed at plenty of airbnbs and most of the time, the hosts are extremely welcoming and treat you like guests. It was obvious Yonaton does not care and will treat you just as a source of income. This experience has changed my friends’ and I’s views on Airbnbs.