The location of the apartment is excellent. The pool and parking are great. The unit appears clean. It is a bit of a maze but the directions provided are very helpful.
Unfortunately I slept poorly as the walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling and light streams in from the patio. I had to get an eye mask. I also do not recommend the unit if you are staying with someone who does not go to bed at the same time. Due to the barn doors and the open walls you can hear everything. A latch on the doors would be nice.
I enjoy hanging out and not just going out while on vacation. The couch is the most uncomfortable I have sat on in recent memory. The cushions slide off or sink into the area where the sofa bed is stored. I was regularly adjusting them and never comfortable.
Between the poor sleep (the bed was uncomfortable to me as well but this may be personal preference) and uncomfortable living room I contemplated leaving a night early but ended up staying for the kids.
That last full day, tired from two nights of poor sleep, while sitting by the pool I see a message from the host asking me to launder the towels and strip the beds. I have never been asked to do this in a rental before let alone after paying a $150 cleaning fee. You will also need to do the dishes (fine and normal) and take the trash to the trash chute (I have usually been asked to just bag trash). The trash concierge mentioned in the listing does not exist. When I questioned the extra tasks in light of the cleaning fee the host literally never responded. I felt icky after I realized the last guests were the ones deciding how to launder the towels. Many hosts ask guests not to strip beds so that they can do cleanliness checks. In fact, Airbnb’s website recommends against asking guests to do these tasks if you are charging a significant cleaning fee. The dishwasher was missing the plate that labels the different wash cycles. I hope I pressed the correct wash button and not rinse or something like that. I wonder what setting the last guests used.
With check in at 5 and check out at 10, 7 hours is plenty to turn over an apartment without having guests do laundry and strip linens. This was also not part of the listing.
I left stressed. On the way home I worried I hadn’t turned on the dishwasher or washing machine correctly… I was glad to be out of there.
The host asks to compare the value to a 3 star hotel when rating and asks to message her instead of write about anything negative. Hotels have blackout blinds and don’t have you do housekeeping among other things. They’ll provide as many clean towels as you need. They tidy daily and remove trash. You can’t compare these two accommodations.