Long story short: I ended up cancelling my stay and moving to a hotel due to a safety issue.
There were two major problems with this stay
1) the host contacted me hours before they stay saying that the hot water was not working, but offered a credit for each day the hot water was not working. I agreed to this and understood that if a hot water heater fails, there’s not much you can do about that except wait. You’ll notice that a recent review before mine mentions the hot water issue as well.
2) on my first morning, I kept noticing this mildew type smell, and I woke up this strong headache. I almost never get a headache, so this was odd. I eventually found the smell was coming from the AC unit in the wall. I pulled off the lid to find that the entire unit was covered in black mold. This was especially dangerous because the unit fan is over the bed frame, so you’re directly under the fan, and, there is no circulation in this enclosed, less than 300 square foot space. I arrived on an 85 degree hot Texas day, so that unit runs constantly. I don’t have to explain why breathing in black mold is dangerous, but I was pretty shocked to see this level of negligence.
I ended up contacting AirBNB directly, knowing that between the hot water issue+mold issue, I had no plans to stay in this space. I requested AirBNB to cancel my stay, and issue a refund, which they did.
There are, however, some positives:
1) the hosts communicate fast! That’s really nice.
2) the location is awesome. Less than a block or so away from everything. This was my primary reason for booking this location.
3) it’s a great space for one, maybe two people. It does have everything you would need for an extended stay.
I’m both an AirBNB user and host, so I’m writing this note with the understanding that it’s not always easy to be a host, and things sometimes go wrong. When you stay with AirBNB, you accept that you’ll find a hair, or something will not be perfect. It’s not a hotel. But, there are certain standards that have to be met. This location failed to meet those standards multiple times. I think this could be a great future stay for guests, if some improvements were made.