SUMMARY: Good stay, inside does not match outside, critter issues
I do not write negative/neutral reviews lightly; I understand the importance of being able to get great reviews in an industry such as Airbnb. Rather than magnify the negatives, let me just share our experience, as-is.
We were immediately attracted to the pictures on the listing, as it was clean, open and inviting, and looked very cozy for our romantic getaway. Upon confirmation, we received the pre-trip message with all of the details, and it included a picture of the outside. We envisioned that the outside would match the inside somewhat - modern, colorful, progressive area, etc. We immediately became concerned but decided to go ahead with the reservation (how bad could it be?)
Upon arrival, we found the duplex in a very seasoned, established neighborhood, and adjusted our expectations accordingly; it wasn't (too) bad. Once it got dark, we noticed that there was no lighting outside except for the front door lights. My concerns about safety/security returned, thinking about the rash of Catalytic Converters going on. To ease my mind, we simply backed our vehicle in at night as close to the garage door as possible, to make any unscrupulous activity like that more difficult.
On the first night, all of the activity began at about 10 pm. We'd turned in for the night, and it literally sounded like someone was in the unit with us, doing work on the house. Loud bangs, scraping noises, chewing noises. Everywhere. In the bathroom, in the ceiling, in the kitchen area - everywhere. I didn't register at first what it was, so I figured it was someone next door and tried to go to sleep.
Speaking of sleep, I struggled to find comfort on the mattresses & pillows. It felt like a pallet on the floor; there was SOME softness, but then you felt an immediate hardness under it. Back to the critters. By the third night, it was so loud that it literally woke us up. My wife thought someone had gotten in and told me to get my gun and see what it was. I got up to check it out, and in the bathroom, under the bathtub, I heard scratching/clawing/chewing sounds (See https://tinyurl.com/AustinAirbnbCritters ). Then they were in the wall next to the bedroom. Of course, she was mortified and wanted to cut our trip short and just go ahead and leave, but I assured her that I didn't see any entry points for them to get INTO the unit with us.
I also attempted to wash the towels and washcloths, because although the unit can house six people, there were only enough bath towels for 2-4 people, for maybe two nights. We were there three nights, and both bathed morning & before bed, so we needed one more day of supplies. There was no washing detergent (that may not be customary, but previous Airbnbs we stayed at supplied all of that). So, we went to get some washing detergent, only to discover that the washing machine didn't work. It kept stopping with an error code '4C' blinking on the front. So, we hand-washed a couple of washcloths and ended up having to share the last big towel to dry off before heading home.
Again, it troubles me to write reviews of this nature, but in all honesty, if this were my property, I would take it offline until those critter issues were completely taken care of, and make sure to disclose some external pictures in the gallery so that people aren't caught off-guard and can make an informed decision as to whether they want to proceed with the rental or not. The other consideration is that this property appears to be company-managed FOR someone, so you may end up dealing with a management company rather than the individuals themselves.