READ THIS !!
I've never felt more unwelcome in an AirBNB. When I booked, and when I asked the host a few questions about check-in prior to arrival, her responses were curt. I thought it odd, but not really a big deal or requirement to be "friendly" even though all the hosts in my experience have been. My "looking forward to it" and "thanks" were not reciprocated. The communication got worse when it came to the matter of the parking permit (below).
On first look, the apartment is a great price for the space offered, but maybe this is why the host provides the bare minimum in terms of "perks" - for example, one-ply toilet paper, barely working Keurig, do your own laundry, etc. The redeeming quality of the listing is the proximity to downtown Newport. Very close.
The listing included parking that would be available once I checked in and grabbed the parking permit, but there was no permit. At 3pm, my check in time, I messaged the host, called, called again, and messaged again - the host was unresponsive until after 5pm.
Parking was an important amenity, as street parking in Newport overnight is a real challenge, particularly when I was staying for three nights. Upon check-in, the house rules in the apartment also noted that the parking permit would be on the kitchen counter. It was not there.
What was in the kitchen was a parking ticket, about three days old, from a prior guest at the apartment. It took me two AirBNB messages and two phone calls to the Host (over a period of a couple hours) for the Host to finally respond via AirBNB messaging to tell me that there were no parking permits.
At that time she suggested that I park illegally overnight without a permit - she would reimburse me for the "first" ticket. I responded that I was not comfortable with that, as I was not going to take on that obligation with my car - and what about the other two nights I would be staying? The host then mentioned that the last 3 guests had no problems with getting ticketing parking on the street. 1 - not true, since there was a parking ticket left behind in the kitchen at the apartment; and 2 - if there were three guests that parked without an available permit, the listing should've definitely been updated.
The host did not do a good job here of accurately describing what was available, and put me in the position of having to defend why I should get what I paid for! An hour into our messaging conversation (while I'm still trying to park somewhere), after I pleaded, the host finally agreed to reimburse me for parking costs during my stay. There was no apology, no acknowledgment of the confusion, and fighting for what was promised (paid parking) became exhausting and I'm still not sure why. There was no appreciation from the host whatsoever of the inconvenience. Again, very unwelcoming just moments into check-in.
The other thing that was off-putting about the apartment were a few less than clean spaces that made the rest of the apartment more suspect. For example, hair in dishwasher; the washer and dryer in a small laundry room off the side of the master bedroom. The house rules required that I start my dirty towels in the wash before checking out (never heard of that before, but fine). When I went into the laundry room, there were dirty washcloths on top, wet sheets in the washer, and towels, rugs, etc in the dryer. The wet sheets had been sitting for at least the three days I'd been in the apartment and had a slight odor. Needless to say, I didn't put anything else in the wash. These things may not directly be the host's fault, but similar to the experience as a whole, it just showed a lack of care.