I had an extremely bad experience at Kevin's apartment. I've stayed at dozens of great Airbnbs over the past 10 years, and while not every place was perfect, this is the first negative review I've had to write.
My stay started off okay. The best part is the location: it's on a great street, not too far from the subway. The checkin instructions were a bit unclear, but Kevin was responsive to my questions by text.
When I got inside, I noticed a pretty bad mold odor throughout the apartment. There were also little things that made it seem like the host wasn't very attentive: the kitchen trash can had no trash bag; the water filter had no filter; the bottom of the tub was dirty. I planned to take a bath, but there was a black sludge on the underside of the shower mat, so I decided against it. I took a shower instead, and the tub filled up with filthy water despite the drain being unplugged.
When I went to bed, I noticed there was no comforter on the bed at all, just a thin top sheet. It was a cold, windy night. There was also no thermostat, even though the listing says that heating is an amenity. I didn't sleep well because I was so cold.
To his credit, Kevin delivered a comforter to the apartment the next day while I was out. However, it was even colder the next night, and there still wasn't any heating. (He said it is centrally controlled by the building - I would suggest putting a space heater in the apartment if that is the case.)
The next day I requested a late checkout because I hadn't slept well again due to the cold. Kevin said we could "call it even" since he delivered a comforter despite that not being a "listed amenity." (Um, thanks?) I took a shower before leaving, and the tub filled up with brown water again. On my way out, the shower curtain rod fell down because it wasn't installed properly. I put it back up to the best of my ability and checked out of the unit.
Kevin then sent a message demanding that I pay $150, blaming me for the clogged shower drain and the dirty shower curtain (it had fallen in the dirty water when the rod fell). I told him that these things were broken already but he continued to demand payment. Thankfully, I called up Airbnb Support and they agreed the host was being unreasonable, and told me I didn't need to pay this extra fee.
This apartment seemed too good to be true in terms of price and location, and it turns out it was.