The good: We arrived to the city around 11 a.m. and messaged Marta asking if it was possible to check in earlier since the listing said that check-in was a 3 p.m. Marta responded quickly and said that her friend would be dropping off keys shortly at a location close to the rental where I needed to pick them up, so we were able to check-in by 11:30 a.m. The rental was located in a nice and safe neighborhood with lots of bars and restaurants within walking distance. Marta was responsive to all of our concerns and responded in a timely manner.
The bad: The studio/apartment was not cleaned properly prior to our arrival, which was a huge disappointment, especially since we were charged an $80 cleaning fee when we booked the rental. Upon entering the unit, the first thing we noticed was that there was a used nail file on the TV stand and the TV stand was dusty. Second, and most importantly, the bathroom was not cleaned at all. The toilet had many stains and looked like it had not been cleaned in months. The bathtub was also dirty and the bathroom trash had not been thrown out. The kitchen was dirty as well and there were many crumbs on the kitchen counters and the stovetop was also dirty. The fridge was also not clean and had a molding avocado in it. We took plenty pictures and messaged these to Marta, asking that the unit be cleaned ASAP since we were staying there for an entire week. She told me that she couldn't go take care of it herself because she was out of town at the moment and since it was a Saturday, she was not able to get a cleaning crew out to the rental until Monday morning (we arrived on Saturday). On Monday morning, at 9, a cleaner came out to the unit and did a great job at getting everything cleaned. However, we had to stay in the unit until she was done cleaning since there was only one set of keys and the keys are needed in order to lock the unit. Thus, we wasted our morning at the apartment because we could not get ready or leave until the cleaner was done.