My mom and I traveled to Austin to visit my brother, who actually lives in Bertram, but not some place he could host us both; so we decided to stay in Austin. We wanted to do this as cheaply as possible, so we elected to get some place with a minimum of three beds and a kitchen. 5909 Bohn seemed like a good value, even after all the fees. We paid just over $600 to stay a week. (And with HEB and Whole Paycheck not too far away, all three of us ate like kings for ~$135 for the week.)
First, the bad:
1. When we arrived, the place smelled like a large herbivore had died in it the week before. The stench wasn't quite at the level of making us wretch, but close. Both the front and back HVAC systems were running, evidently trying to air the place out. I had serious misgivings that first night, but by the next day, the smell was gone (or we'd gotten used to it), and my view of the place started to improve. Admittedly, dissmell is known to bias perceptions tremendously.
2. The kitchen could use a better butcher's knife (it would be easier to slice tomatoes with a hammer), but in all, it was adequately stocked. The main issue was that the large burner didn't work at all. I tried removing the element and reinserting it to no avail. I was scared to mess with the other ones, so I just left them in their non-level orientation. It made cooking very difficult, particularly frying. But we were able to generally work around the issues. Oven worked great for baking both potatoes and pastries, so that was the saving grace.
3. Some tweaker dude knocked on the door around 2 AM one morning and when I answered, asked if he could come in and charge his phone. After spending several minutes trying to understand his mumbling, I finally got a look at his phone, which was at 67%, i.e. not in need of a charge. This freaked my family and I out quite a bit. I spent the rest of the trip suspicious of characters shuffling around out front, of which there were many, every single day, and afraid to leave any valuables in the unit whenever we left. Bars on the front window and a steel security door could be helpful.
4. On day one, we found a small roach. Around day five, a very large one showed up. Colleen called the latter a tree roach and said they like to come in when it's wet outside. Whatever it was, it was pretty gross. Of course, I lived in Houston for six months once. I know roaches the size of a Buick are fairly common. Still, thoroughly check your bags before you check out to make sure they're not going home with you.
5. The upstairs neighbors seemed to alternate between scooting a grand piano across the floor and conducting an elephant stampede at midnight nearly every night. Since we had nowhere to be at any particular time and could sleep in, it didn't matter, but if I had been in town on business, it would have frustrated me immensely.
6. The HVAC structure is falling apart, but ultimately performed adequately. There aren't any lights in the rear bedroom, except for a very small lamp on the bookcase.
Okay, now the good:
1. Colleen was amazingly kind and patient. I was too incompetent to figure out how to use the app at check-in and had to call her at 2 AM. I felt terrible, but she was totally cool with it. That one encounter with her is what allowed me to overlook a plethora of deficiencies about the place. It's hard to quantify the value of a kind and helpful host, but it easily adds a star to my rating.
2. The wifi performed adequately. I was able to participate in a video chat with a prospective employer and we watched movies on my Netflix and Amazon accounts every night. I've stayed places in the past where this was not the case.
3. I'm going to say it was an okay value, however given that Extended Stay America in Austin boasts similar rates for a three star room with a kitchenette, I can't say it was a "good" value. Next time I go to Austin, I will definitely investigate other options. I won't say there's a 0% chance of me staying at 5909 Bohm again, but it's fairly close to that, certainly not if I have my 80 year old mother with me. But you never know. If everything else is booked or twice the price, I might consider it, especially if some of the deficiencies in the unit are corrected.
4. There was no contention for parking; in most cases, we were able to park such that our vehicle was visible from the unit.
We went out of our way to sweep up, strip the beds, scrub the kitchen counters, and wash all our dishes, and we checked out a little ahead of schedule, per Colleen's request, which was no problem for us.
If you're trying to do things on the cheap, and Extended Stay America doesn't pan out, and you don't mind a little sketchiness, this can be an okay option. Just check your luggage for cockroaches before you go, and I wouldn't leave valuables in the unit -- or bring children or the elderly. Also, keep in mind this is my first AirBNB experience. It could be the deficiencies we encountered were common. I have no idea.