Paul's place was in a great location for exploring New York and we were very grateful to be so close to the subway. The apartment was bigger than we expected from the photos and both check in and check out were simple and Paul was flexible to fit in around our travel arrangements. He'd also kindly left some bottled water in the fridge which was appreciated after a long journey. The AC also quickly cooled the apartment to a comfortable temperature during the very hot weather but the unit in the bedroom could be a little noisy at times.
Compared to many other Airbnbs we've stayed in the place felt a bit run down with loose tiles in the bathroom and moulding sealant, random wires in places and a tired kitchen. From other Airbnb experiences I would have also expected the apartment to be cleaner as there was dust throughout and the kitchen and bathroom particularly could have done with some more attention.
The bath is quite badly stained so it's hard to tell what is old stains and what is fresher dirt. The tiles surrounding the shower also felt a bit slimey which wasn't great.
In the kitchen, many of the dishes weren't properly clean and the stove also looked dirty so we didn't want to eat any meals there apart from a quick breakfast (although there are so many tasty restaurants around this wasn't an issue for us but would be if you were trying to save money eating in).
The bed was comfortable but the sheets had a lot of holes in them and could easily be replaced to improve this. On the final night of our stay we came back to the apartment to find an enormous cockroach in the bedroom which was horrible and made us really uncomfortable. Whilst this may be an unavoidable problem with the building or the neighbourhood, I didn't expect to spend my stay chasing and catching a cockroach. We got very little sleep that night after that discovery and felt pretty grossed out. If we hadn't been checking out in a few hours anyway I think we would have left early.
Overall I would have said that the place made an ok base to explore the city if you only want a place to sleep with fairly basic expectations of cleanliness but after the cockroach I would not be staying here again and wouldn't want to recommend to a friend on that basis.
Paul was a good and friendly host but some quick, easy improvements could have made the apartment much better and the appearance of a cockroach was a deal breaker for me.