For very short term stats (think, less than 5 days) where no communication is required of the Blueground team, and you have no packages planned on getting shipped, I think this spot might be okay. Beyond that, I wouldn’t recommend.
The space is what we expected and the location is very central. I had thought it would be a fun, walkable spot, but all the neighborhoods I preferred (cap hill / Fremont) were just enough out of the way that it required driving and parking, which I didn’t love (I wanted it to be walkable). You’re in the Amazon neighborhood which means you have access to lots of lunch spots/ restaurants, but they are primarily grab and go, so it’s less of an area where I would choose to hangout, personally.
Listing some of the issues we had while staying in this apartment, below.
1. The reaction to the robbery that took place at the apartment was UNDERWHELMING at best. The front desk located my package (which was torn open in the locker room) and shrugged saying “we don’t have a camera and aren’t liable, talk to blueground” then when speaking with multiple people on the BG team about said situation and being told I’d receive a call from management, never received one. When I asked about it again, the team suggested that I call in - which I did numerous times to a phone number which said it was “disconnected”.
On top of that, packages continued to be left in the hallway and there were NUMEROUS times where I saw packages ripped open. Just the overall lack of care of the tenants was disgraceful.
2. Because of the above, I mailed future packages (besides paper towels or things which I hoped wouldn’t be stolen) to the Amazon lockers in the area.
3. Communication - Not only were phone lines disconnected 50% of the time that I tried calling and Airbnb messages delayed to responses in about a day and a half most of the time. (I get that we’re in a pandemic so am understanding of this, but it did make it tricky when my grocery delivery got put in a locker and I had no way to access it and wasn’t sure if I had any way to reach BG.)
We asked before arrival what toiletries would be on hand and were told “toilet paper/ paper towels/ garbage bags… to last about a week”. We knew we’d need to buy these things eventually which wasn’t a big deal, but when we arrived we realized that they were missing. Again, wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but we had one item break when traveling and had no trash bags or paper towels to help. I then called BG who sent house keeping, who brought us coffee, laundry detergent, and dish washing detergent - all of which we didn’t need and ended up having to stuff under the kitchen sink. It was definitely a face palm experience, but we chalked it up to miscommunication amongst BG and housekeeping and tried to remember that they did ATTEMPT to help.
Now again we’re experiencing the same disconnect BG saying “no upcharges for your ESA animal” before we moved in, and, of course, now we’re seeing an upcharge after moving out.
4. The location was OK, and the place was what I expected. Would’ve probably gotten a 4 star review from me had it not been for the communication (or rather LACK of communication from management) and nickel-and-dime-ing from the team (who is currently trying to charge $500+ more in cleaning expenses, 2 weeks following our stay).
It appears that the only people who actually care about the guest experience is the front line customer service folks. Although they often didn’t answer our questions, they at least tried and did call me back at least once, and I’m grateful for that.