PLEASE READ: Let me start by saying that Karen's house was accurate to the listing - very easy to check into, matched the pictures, fully stocked and a nice space.
For context, my best friend and I are young professionals working full time from home, nomading around month to month because of the pandemic. Seattle was our spot for the month of March, with the intention of exploring in the evenings and weekends and seeing some friends who moved there after college.
Prior to booking, we had some concerns about a previous review regarding noise complaints and we should not have disregarded it. Karen assuaged us of this concern and passed it off as a rowdy group of travelers who were disrespectful to the house rules. In reality we learned very quickly that the floors between Karen's unit upstairs and the downstairs tenants were extremely thin, resulting in a lot cross noise between the two units. For example, we could distinctly hear their conversations, kitchen activities and tv, and even their workouts. We weren't that sensitive to the day to day noise, and falsely assumed a mutual understanding with the neighbors. Upon being contacted the first time by Karen regarding a complaint by the neighbors around our day to day noise, we made every effort to be mindful of our use of the space and the noise we produced, not limited to whispering and tiptoeing around the house. This did not stop the neighbors from aggressively pounding the ceiling whenever a one off situation occurred, and we were on pins and needles when something like a water bottle fell to the floor or a cabinet closed too loudly. In conversations with Karen about our fears around the neighbors aggression and how we were doing everything in our power to be mindful, Karen said, "if I continue to get complaints I will be forced to alter your reservation and ask you to seek alternative accommodations."
Additionally, our privacy was very much violated during the stay in ways that we are still uncomfortable about. For example, while Karen assured us that the front and backdoor security camera system was in place for our safety, we soon found out she was using it to track when we were coming back at night. Karen threatened with proof of audio and video that had been shared with her by the neighbors that led her to believe we were in violation of her house rules. It was weaponized against us in an effort to incriminate our behavior. Whether or not it was her intention to actively track us, we felt like we were constantly being watched.
We understand that this review is only from our perspective, but we earnestly tried to be respectful and our only intentions of staying in this space were to work and explore Seattle. While the house itself was fine, we felt uncomfortable during the majority of our stay due to the conditions imposed by the neighbors and the lack of empathy from Karen in trying to resolve the disputes.