Terrible experience. Unethical host and uninhabitable apartment. I cannot emphasize enough what a mistake it wouls be to stay in the apartment or book with this host:
From the moment I checked in I was hit with a smell that was a combination of years of smoking indoors and rotting garbage. I tried to air it out but because the apartment is directly on the parking lot I had to close the (broken) window at night and was confronted with a full night of the smell which was so nauseating I did not sleep at all. To make matters worse, the air vents sound like you are in the back of an airplane but unfortunately cannot be turned off and do not bring any respite to the smell. I left the apartment the next morning and contacted the host to work it out together. She claimed she was not familiar with either issue and would work on getting them resolved immediately. I should have escalated this to airbnb but I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt which led to her leading me on for days- all of which I had to book a new accommodation each night- until eventually I gave up. I stayed there one horrible night but she charged me for five nights after some negotiation as she intended to charge for the full trip had I not escalated. The worst part is not how much effort was spent dealing with her (basically lost the first days of the trip until I cut it for a loss) or the loss of money, but really that a person is so eager to make an extra few hundred dollars that they don’t care about other people. This experience leaves me with a gross feeling and hopefully it doesn’t repeat with anyone else.