Remember when AirBnB first started it was just people letting you come stay at their house for super cheap? When did it turn into a business, designed to get as much money out of you, but offering all fancy and new surroundings deep cleaned by professionals to perfection? I’m torn because the latter is what I’ve become accustomed to, so at first I was completely turned off by the state of this rental. Maybe I missed the secret code for “party house” by not noticing the abundance of twin beds stuffed into each room. I booked a last minute stay for my visiting nephew and my elderly mother. I didn’t realize how much I paid (IN FEES especially) until later, and it was about 5 times more than this stay was worth. I relied too much on the fact that Farhad is promoted as superhost, but looking back none of the reviews gave honest reports about the state of the house. It’s more of a tear-down than a rehab, but again, I have to check my privilege, because…did I die? Become infested with bedbugs or attacked by cockroaches? No. Was I able to take a hot shower and cook a meal? Was I right in the middle of a cool neighborhood with free parking? Yes!
I did not get a good nights sleep ( the beds are hard, there’s a bar across the street with music raging til 2am, a houseless person camped in the front yard at 11pm and had to be asked to leave). I have no idea what a $150 cleaning fee is used for at this place because it is in serious need of deep cleaning. With that said, if I had only paid a couple hundred bucks for this stay (which I would equate to crashing at the dude’s house I used to smoke weed at in high school) then I probably would have not complained as much. Good on Farhad though, for getting a piece of that capitalist pie that AirBnb has become. And shame on me, for how uppity my arse has become.