We traveled to NYC to work from here for a month as a change of scenery. We stayed for 3 weeks in another Airbnb in Upper West Side and stayed in this apartment in Lower East Side for one week. Below is the summary:
PROS:
- Host: Gabriella was very friendly, great communicator and gave us a ton of great recommendations.
- If you are one person, don’t like to cook, stay for 2-3 days and are looking for a place to just sleep while you are out all day, this apartment is 4 star!
- Location: The location is great! Close to lots of restaurants and bars
- Artwork: The apartment is cozy and is decorated with lots of great art.
CONS:
- If you are looking to spend lots of time at the apartment or work from here all day, expect to do some basic cooking of any meal during your stay, staying for a week or more, are tall, are two people or more, this apartment is 2 star at best!
- No privacy: We found it super odd that the 3 windows right by the shower and next to the kitchen and living room didn’t have curtains so at all times you are looking into neighbors living room and other rooms and they can see you, especially coming out of shower!
- Kitchen: There is very limited surface area in the kitchen for cooking, no teapot or coffee maker, no sharp knives and overall no set up for basic cooking at home
- Bathroom/Shower: It is super tiny! There is barely space for one person and if you are tall, you cant even brush your teeth or wash your face without bending half way as the sink is super tiny and low.
- Hot water: The tank for hot water is small too so we had to take very quick showers for the two of us as the hot water would run out very quickly.
- Apartment layout: This one bedroom is actually converted to more of a loft, so it is one long corridor: kitchen (far left) to living room(far right) with bed (in the middle). The bedroom is where the living room suppose to be and living room is the bedroom so your bed is right by the kitchen. If you make breakfast you need to walk straight from one side to another to eat your food as there’s no sitting area anywhere between kitchen to living room with bed in the middle.
- No washer/Dryer: dragging your dirty clothes to be washed in some laundromat blocks away is never pleasant (yet seem to be common in lower east side)
- No TV: If you are into watching things
In a nutshell our 2 bedroom airbnb in Upper West side was only $30 more per night (twice the size than here) was a solid 5 star!So it comes down to the value. For what we paid, and our intention for the trip, this place didn’t work!
Also by no means this review is to discredit Gabriella or her place, this is just our experience given our length of time and our expectations so YOU may have a different experience but just know what you are getting into!
Despite above, thanks Gabriella for hosting us!