Honest review: If you’re a single traveler with no car, then this is a wonderful studio apartment in a wonderful location.
However, if you’re traveling with someone and have an expensive car to protect overnight, then you probably want to book your stay elsewhere.
I had no idea this apartment did not come with on-site parking (I just assumed it would come with parking since every single hotel and AirBB I’ve ever stayed in over the years have always come with a secure parking spot). I wish the host had made this fact more apparent in the upper section of the description, instead of deep down at the bottom in the sub-notes, just as a fair warning to people with lots of luggage (and those who know that car-jackings and crime are on the rise in Minneapolis, particularly around this campus neighborhood).
Finding parking (especially at night) became a stressful daily task (my husband and I stayed for an entire week), and we felt really lucky that we never got a parking ticket or got mugged walking 4 or 5 blocks late-night from the parking spot to the apartment. I grew up in this neighborhood and am very aware of local news as I still have family in the area, so I know I’m not being paranoid about the rising crime level—-it is not something to play around with.
Had I known about the parking situation, I would have booked my stay elsewhere to begin with. AirBB would not let me cancel so last minute, so we had to make it work, often having to rearrange our daily schedules just to dance around the various parking signs/time limits.
The studio itself was clean and cozy and we were grateful for that. However, the last night of our stay, my husband literally fell off the bed while sleeping. I’m not even kidding here—I heard a huge “thud” and it was his entire body that had fallen off the bed onto the floor (never happened to us before in any other bed). The bed itself I think was twin size(?) and technically fit the both of us, but it was hardly big enough even for our 2 petite-sized bodies). We laughed it off, but just as a fair warning: this bed was made for one person, no more.
The kitchenette came in really nice and handy. I’m glad we had our own pans with us, since all the ones in the kitchen are Teflon and super scratched up (it becomes a health hazard to prepare food with scratched up Teflon). The bathroom was immaculate. The washer/dryer were a lifesaver.
The neighbors are all college students and were surprisingly quiet (although it’s summer time, so most are away). We did have to break up a domestic violence situation between an aggressively fighting boyfriend/girlfriend one afternoon and notify management, but other than that, it was really quiet and peaceful.
The check-in itself was way more difficult than necessary. I had to drive around the block several times since the “entrance” on the AirBB instructions photo didn’t seem to match up with what I was seeing from the car…so that was super confusing.
Finally when I got into the building, it took me forever to find the correct apartment. Nowhere in the check-in instructions did it explain clearly that I was to take the SECOND ELEVATOR ALL THE WAY TO THE BACK OF THE BUILDING to find the room. This meant that I intuitively took the first elevator in the lobby (there was NO indication whatsoever that there was more than one elevator in the building that would take you to an entirely separate section of the structure).
It took me what felt like an eternity to hike around (with very heavy luggage) what turned out to be the “wrong” 3rd floor section, never finding the room number I was given. I had to flag down the janitor to help me figure out where the heck I was supposed to go. Keep in mind it was 11pm, raining and thundering outside, parking spot several blocks away, and I was going to be late picking up my husband from the airport due to this confusing check-in experience. To say I was “upset” by the situation is a total understatement, but by the time I was guided to the CORRECT section of the building (to the CORRECT 3rd floor), I was comforted by the cleanliness and coziness of the studio apartment. Kasa was really good about handling my feedback that night (thank you).
All in all a decent experience, but would have been better if the instructions had been more clear and if the parking situation had been more transparent.