I cannot say enough great things about this place, and J.J.
I stayed here for an alumni weekend at Brown, and I had my young cousin with me who was visiting the university from the UK. We both loved the apartment, and kept remarking throughout our stay how amazing the place is and how much we were enjoying staying there. Now for a little more detail. But honestly, the TL;DR version: stay here.
Let’s start from the top: check-in. Easy, all the information we needed was provided with plenty of time, and we had zero problems getting to the location, into the building, and into the unit. The lock is a combination pad, so you don’t have to lug around and accidentally lose or take with you any keys.
Layout and amenities. The apartment is charming, well furnished, and well stocked. The kitchen has everything. In fact, it is better stocked than my own kitchen at home (eh hem). Dishes, cups, glasses, utensils, pots and pans, tea, coffee, spices, dish towels, appliances; you name it, it’s there. We cooked at home a couple of nights, and wanted for nothing. We cooked chicken, and there is a meat thermometer too — which, as you know, is helpful to cook chicken properly without drying it out. We also found a few basics in the fridge: half ‘n half, butter, yogurt, condiments. There are also three different types of coffee makers.
The bathroom is, like the rest of the apartment, sparkling clean, with an old-timey tub (in great shape), soft towels, and all sorts of basic toiletries are provided, including two of those poofy wash things. There is also a magnifying mirror, a rare amenity in Airbnbs.
The living room is spacious and well lit, with a long, comfortable couch and a comfy easy chair and tv with Sling service. Lots of great books, board games, including Scrabble (my cousin’s favorite - favourite for him, he’s British).
There are two bedrooms, the beds are very comfortable, both rooms have blackout curtains, great pillows and lots of them. We slept like babies (not the colicky kind).
The back yard is spacious and has a bbq (we didn’t use it, but we could have!) and benches to sit on. As guests, we were welcome to use the back yard at our convenience. It also makes for a very nice view from one side of the unit, rather than having to look into someone else’s house.
Extra touches. We were greeted by fresh flowers in all the rooms, a bottle of wine, and a bottle of sparkling water. Also, a couple of days into our stay, J.J. left us two scrumptious pastries from a local bakery. We got a nice hand-written welcome note, as well as a message written in Scrabble magnets on the fridge. Lots of charging stations all through the unit, which was greatly appreciated as older buildings are often short on power outlets, and like most people these days, between us we had about half a dozen devices to charge daily.
Parking is available downstairs, which was useful because we had a car.
The location is excellent. East side of Providence, a half mile from Whole Foods and a number of local spots, and within a few minutes’ drive from Brown University.
Last but not least, J.J., our hostess: kind, responsive, and clearly a lovely person. Also, she and her husband Mark have a dog, so obviously they are awesome people. Both Mark and J.J. were very understanding of my cousin’s fear of dogs, so if dogs are not your thing, you need not worry.
If we could give this place more stars, we would. Thanks, J.J.!