Pros: provided extra towels and gave late check out.
Cons: For the price we paid, it definitely was not worth it. First morning, we were woken up by very loud drilling noises. These noises subsided on day 2, but you can hear people talking on the street and footsteps on the daily. Did not open the curtains because anyone walking by could look in. The main door opens into one of the bedrooms, which is strange and uncomfortable. If you are into shabby chic (emphasis on ‘shabby’), maybe this might be for you. Although I’ve luckily had experiences to the contrary, rarely do most hosts give quality items for guest use (let’s be real). From my standpoint, furniture was a bit worn, the carpet didn’t seem clean and we were travelling when covid19 was already getting quite intense in Australia. Sofa was soft, lumpy and worn. Mattresses were uncomfortable (but maybe it was because of our backs). If you aren’t particular about mattress quality, then this shouldn’t be an issue. As one of the previous reviews says, the shower water gets everywhere on the bathroom floor. Bathroom seems quite makeshift. The apt gets quite stuffy and musty when it’s rainy and humid. There is aircon, but it isn’t always running smoothly. However, the biggest issue I had was the lack of WiFi for the majority of my stay and how the host handled this issue. WiFi is critical for my work and during a time of crisis and pandemic (layoffs imminent), being able to have working internet is absolutely necessary. If I pay you for the amenities listed, I expect to get what I paid for. I do not expect to have more of my time wasted with both the absence of amenities that were paid for and excuses. The host basically did a run around and gave me a 2$ expired SIM card (the setting up of which proved to be an extremely futile exercise), pulled the baby card as a way to deflect (everyone is having their own personal issues in 2020 and honestly, it’s not like I would pull the ‘covid 19-I-could-lose-my-job’ card to try to get out of paying you).
The host said he was on the phone with the ISP and that it was necessary that I set up the expired sim with him. The setting up of the SIM card could have been done online. The SIM card he gave me was expired and something he probably had lying around
somewhere. I tried setting it up online, took photos of the expiration date to show the host, and the best he could do was say: “Apologies we were not expecting or prepared for this.” Unbelievable. When he felt he couldn’t offer me a resolution despite all the blahblahblah, he proposed that I go talk to Airbnb to try to find alternative accommodation with WiFi, which was more of a covert way of seeming to offer me an alternative, but really just shrugging off all responsibility and putting the guest in a corner. How does: 1. Being on the phone with Airbnb during Covid 19 trying to sort out alternative accommodation when there are thousands of people trying to get a refund strike you as a good idea? Talking to Airbnb would have taken up more of my time (which was already wasted going back and forth in the rain with my laptop trying to find a cafe with working internet so that I could make my conference calls), 2. Moving into alternative accommodation would have taken up more of my time and I told the host I had work deadlines and he proposed that I move? That’s how you handle this issue? For the rate we were charged, there were hardly
any essential amenities that we could have used: internet also meant no tv. The host did not offer to refund even a small part of my booking sum out of professionalism or integrity. Not at all satisfied with my stay here. Fast to reply, but responses lack substance. House of cards.