The location is convenient in terms of being close to the highway and the light rail. But beware it is a sketchy neighborhood—the street itself is residential but there are commercial streets around the corner where a girl should not walk alone at night.
Street parking only but I never had trouble finding a spot near the house. And there are no annoying parking rules that force you to move your car.
It’s an old house that has been split up into separate apartment units. The curb appeal is poor from the outside, front and back. I had the “garden view room“—The “garden“ is a small backyard filled with weeds and trash. There‘s low chain link fences around the house with no locks on the gates; as the area is busy with commercial businesses nearby, it looks like anybody could get into the backyard and walk right up to your window. Luckily with some fidgeting I could get the windows locked. I think the home could look much better with some cleaning and landscaping, and security and privacy could be improved with a solid fence with locked gates. But perhaps the Air BnB rental owners don‘t have rights to change anything in the yard.
The inside seems well taken care of: because the house is old, the rooms are small and the foundation is sagging, but there’s updated electrical, new paint, and clean beds. There‘s orderly systems and instructions in place and the kitchen and bathrooms were well stocked.
When I arrived I didn’t get a key to my room door— I realize that’s not Air BnB’s fault as it seems the last occupant took it. Luckily Jessica got them to bring it back the same day. Jessica is very good at communicating which meant a lot and really improved my experience.
Keep in mind this is more a hostel than hotel—space is small, you share things with strangers, and need to lock up your things. And though this neighborhood isn’t downtown St Paul, this feels like the city, not a suburb. What $50 in the nowhere suburbs will get you is very different than what $50 will get you in a city. The place is cheap and sketch and not super comfortable. But for the price and proximity to things I still think it‘s a good value—you get what you pay for.