I’m really sad to write this but this is the first bad experience with Airbnb. I’ll start with some positives:
1) the rooms fit the five of us just fine
2) Bristol is a lovely little town and it’s a good in between for Providence, Newport, and Narragansett.
3) The decor is fitting for an older house
4) the host was able to install AC right on time for our stay for one of my friends who is currently pregnant and needed it.
5) host gave us some good suggestions for restaurants in the area.
Now for the negatives:
It started the moment my group walked in. We found used towels on the floor and a dried up cigarette on a shelf. There is a film of dust on the cooking equipment like the pans and the dishes were gross. Okay, not the greatest thing ever but we were tired as we arrived late for check in and wanted to sleep.
We really got to see the depths of disrepair the next morning. The cold water is busted and boiling hot water comes out and the hot water is hot; it burned my friend and caught all of us off guard. This problem goes for both the showers and the sinks. Drains did not drain well; only 3-4 outlets worked in the entire place. One of the electric sockets was hanging out of the wall. The kitchen outlets did not work either. We had to boil water in the bathroom because it had a working outlet there and we had to shuffle the entire kitchen so we could plug in the toaster to another outlet (ironically the loose one worked for this). The entrance door has 3 locks - one deadbolt with a keypad, but one deadbolt was more like the one you use to close a public restroom door and the third one didn’t even work. We ended up using a chair to secure the door knob and make us feel better about the door. Also, none of the windows lock and screens were not usable so you really couldn’t open the windows.
The worst part of this whole experience was the host interactions:
First time was about the cleanliness issue with the cigarette and no one addressed it.
Second time I needed the host was when a drunk person attempted to enter the apartment in the middle of the night while the group was playing a board game. I texted the host and got no response. I ended up calling a squad car to the place to make sure the person was gone and to help calm my friends down. In the morning I got a “I’m sorry that happened” text and some questions asking about who I think it was (whether it was another tenant or someone random). Factoring in the weakness in the locks and the fact that none of the windows lock, this situation turned frightening in a split second. Had we had more faith in the door and the overall security of the apartment, we wouldn’t have been as afraid.
Third time was when the handyman was supposed to come over and fix the outlets. The handyman never showed up and he went to the wrong unit. All I got was a text saying there was miscommunication. No apology. What bothers me the most is that the host didn’t even try to call us the morning following the attempted entry. If it were me, I would have at the very least called to ask if the guest were okay and see if there is anything they needed and profusely apologize.
I am so sad that my nine year record of having amazing experiences through this app came to an end here. I have reported this to the Support team and I hope this place can improve because Bristol is a really lovely New England town that is centrally located.