I have probably stayed at over 100 AirBnb properties over the past few years. I rarely provide reviews.
I was going to slam this property, but upon further reflection doing so is not fair. My experience was mixed. Let’s start with the good aspects:
The property is very new. It is located I a hotel dessert in Minneapolis, a neighborhood with few places to stay. We chose this property because I have relatives in the neighborhood.
For this trip, one of our options was to be stuck several miles away in a suburban hotel overlooking the CostCo parking lot, not a very compelling option. Another option, was to stay in downtown, about two miles away, but our relatives warned us against this.
Minneapolis has exploded in crime and violent crime over the past two years. Because we wanted a safe place a few blocks from our relatives, this AirBnb fit our needs.
The building itself is very secure (locked access, a manager on duty during the day, etc.) and is a very new building. The facility itself is great.
The building also has underground heated parking, which is fantastic in Minneapolis winters.
It is a typical AirBnB rental property, with the usual cheap Ikea furniture. In the overall scheme of things, this is not a big deal.
The apartment itself is quite good, and fully equipped. Whenever I thought, “Gee, I wish that had a … (e.g. breadboard),” I found one a few minutes later.
Those are the good things.
Here are my issues.
My major problem is with Frontdesk, the company that hosts this and other apartments. I find them disingenuous at best, and dishonest at worst. They seem to sweep things under the rug, ignore problems, and “blow off” responses to legitimate requests.
Here is why I say that:
1.	Late and Inadequate Cleaning
This listing states, “Enhanced Cleaned.” That’s nonsense. Here is my experience.
Property check in time is 3:00 PM. I made the mistake of telling the hosts I was arriving on at 7:00 PM. When I went to retrieve the key around 8:00 PM, I ended up meeting the cleaning lady in the elevator, though I did not know it was her until we brought our stuff into the apartment a few minutes later. Her 15 minute cleaning consisted of changing the sheets and restocking the apartment with towels, toilet paper, etc. Enhanced cleaning? I don’t think so. It was cursory at best, and late.
For avoidance of doubt, I have no problem with the cleaning lady. She was handed an impossible task because of poor management.
2.	No Heat
There was no heat in the apartment when we arrived. During our visit, the outdoor temperature varied from -17 to +20. Although it may come to some readers as a shock, it turns out heat is necessary in the winter in Minneapolis. The heat did get restored in the middle of our first night.
3.	Internet did not work. This problem got resolved quickly
4.	Mid-day after our arrival, the elevators were inoperative for several hours. My partner is disabled and we were in a 6th floor apartment. It turns out the building was doing some safety tests, but FrontDesk has never bothered to tell us. When I contacted them, their response was the elevators were, “only out for 20 minutes to do a fire inspection.” I have two comments:
a.	Don’t lie to your customers, especially when they can catch you at it. We were in the building during that time. The elevators were out for several hours.
b.	Better yet, proactively communicate with your customers up front to set expectations. This outage would have been so much easier if we had known about it and could plan around it. It was a small deal that turned into a big deal because of lack of communication and misleading communication.
After these issues, things settled down and we enjoyed our stay.
Despite my negative comments above, my bottom line is positive. I would have given this a five star review if FrontDesk had communicated proactively, and honestly.