Overview. Unit configuration is classic brownstone 12 foot wide by maybe 60 foot + length with 2 floors, and internal staircase (so maybe 1400 to 1500 sq ft, which felt spacious). First floor (which is ground floor of building) has bedroom fronting the street. Then small galley kitchen on right side and stairs to basement on left side, small bathroom (with shower), then living room with table for 4. Downstairs - which is basement of building- front to back is an open room with bunk beds, hallway with 1/2 bathroom, and bedroom on backside with locked egress door to common yard area which is unused.
Noise
There is a bit of noise on both street side and rear side as building is adjacent to ground floor restaurant with rear exterior patio seating. During our stay noise abated around 11pm and with fans running noise levels were just fine for sleeping. There was no morning noise on front or back during our stay.
Kitchen
There is a small oven and microwave which we didn’t use. The stove top is gas and works well. The refrigerator is bottom freezer 24 inch I think and ample for our stay. There were pots and pans and utensils and we didn’t notice anything lacking. NYC has the best coffee so didn’t use the 2 machines.
Living room
Sofa is a sectional with pillows for a back. Fine for short stays but wouldn’t want to spend an entire day lounging.
1st floor Bedroom
Bed was comfortable. Room was maybe 12 x 14. No closet or any place for hanging clothes or to set up luggage.
Basement bunk bed area
Didn’t use. a Bit dark but looks spacious and comfortable. There is a clothes rack for hanging clothes.
Basement Hallway bathroom.
1/2 bath. Downstairs bedroom guests had to climb stairs to shower.
Basement bedroom
Bed was comfortable. There was a clothes hanging rack. Room was pretty cold but had 2 wall units which we didn’t turn on.
There was a decent amount of noise until restaurant closed.
Smell
A prior guest mentioned the smell. When we arrived there was a glade plugin in every room. This worked OK. However I personally do not like glade plugins. After unplugging a few, I noticed an odor but couldn’t tell what it was (it didn’t seem like from foods). Out of 3 guests - 1 found it mildly bothersome, 1 found it noticeable but not offensive, and the teenager didn’t mention it. The odor was more pronounced in the basement area.
Neighborhood.
I don’t know if this is by design by AirBNB - or the property owner- but I felt intentionally misled as the general house location on the map was showing between 1st and 2nd Avenue - BUT the unit is located between Avenue A and Avenue B. I know a few blocks in NYC isn’t a huge deal, but there is absolutely no reason not to accurately disclose the location of the unit in a densely populated city other than for pricing. Shame on AirBNB for not geofencing the address and shame on the owner for not responding at all to me when I asked for the avenue and cross street AFTER booking - and I had to be surprised with actual address.
FYI - below are excerpts from house rules. The noise one is interesting (given the adjacent restaurant was rocking until 11pm on Saturday night) and I had to send an extra $68 per night for #14 below.
1. No unregistered guests can occupy the premises at any time, for any duration. Breaking this rule will be subject to our additional guest charge and the reservation may be canceled without refund.
5. Quiet hours are after 9pm. We use noise monitors to enforce this rule.
14. NYC and NYS law requires Hosts to collect a 14.75% lodging tax which the Guest must submit prior to check-in via the Airbnb Resolution Center in order to receive check-in instructions.