Decent little nook for a short stay in Brooklyn. My partner and I took a short trip together (he from Austin, I from London) and were looking for a crashpad for a few days. The apartment is basic but it's charming and has pretty much what you would need for a few nights' stay. It has air conditioning and a great shower which were both great during the summer heat.
Check-in was easy and convenient as it used a self-service lockbox to retrieve the keys. However the hosts were minimally communicative/responsive; I didn't get any welcome or even thank you message after booking, and they were very slow to respond to messages I sent with updates about our arrival (since our flight was cancelled) and questions about amenities of the apartment. Once they did respond they were friendly and informative enough, but I would expect responses within a few hours not the next day. For people who are okay with hands-off hosts this might be fine, but personally I like Airbnb because of the personal touch and feeling reassured that I have some support when I'm in a foreign unfamiliar place.
The neighbourhood around Utica / Church is bustling and has a lot of West Indies food spots -- we had some amazing vegan Jamaican food at Nanni Health Food Store (enjoyable not just for vegans!).
Getting around Brooklyn and travelling to Manhattan was straight forward once we knew the way but we were surprised by how long it took to get places (to get to Prospect Park took us almost an hour and it didn't seem that far on the map, but maybe it's all subjective depending what you're used to). We soon became familiar with taking the B46 bus just a block from the apartment, which takes you to Eastern Parkway where you can get the Subway to various places. The apartment's location is okay but not the most convenient -- if you're planning on going back and forth to Manhattan keep in mind you may need to factor in over an hour each way, and even exploring Brooklyn you may want to check in advance depending on what you want to visit during your stay. We definitely didn't get as much in as we had wanted. Of course this is not anything to do with the apartment, but something to consider for folks who may not be as familiar with getting around New York.
Some things to note about the apartment:
1. The apartment door only has the one lock, and the handle/keyplate on the inside seemed to be held on with sellotape which was a bit disconcerting. The door seemed to lock just fine but more security- or safety-conscious people might not be comfortable with this.
2. Being in a lively part of Brooklyn it was quite noisy, with the sound of sirens and street noise coming through the closed windows quite easily. This wasn't a problem for us and it didn't prevent us sleeping but for light sleepers it might be something to keep in mind.
3. The linens provided were very basic: there were only a couple of towels and a couple of facecloths (which may not be ideal in the middle of summer when you might need extra showers after exploring the city all day), there were no dishcloths or teatowels in the kitchen (we had to use one of the facecloths to dry glasses/dishes which was not great), and there was only the one thin sheet on the bed (and an uncomfortable-looking synthetic sheet on the sofa bed) and no quilt or blanket. Even though it was summer I would have expected some spares or extra linens in case we got cold or wanted the comfort of an extra (if you have a partner who steals the sheets for example!)
4. The lid of the garbage can in the kitchen did not close so I had to weigh it down with a book as I was worried about cockroaches. This may have been a temporary thing but something to note if you plan on eating in the flat.
Overall the apartment was good enough for a couple of nights as a roof over our head and was decent value for money, but I probably wouldn't stay here again.