The room is as described, beautiful old building, best neighborhood and bed is good quality, but I had a very unpleasant experience with the host.
Our first night, there was a loud unbearable noise outside the room on terrace, a humming and vibrating coming from a large electronic AC box which was so loud I couldn't sleep and also so loud it made me go outside in middle of the night twice to try find what it was and to try turn it off. Rambling in the dark as to not disturb others I got an electric shock from the box. We didn't sleep til after 2am and at 7.30am there were people outside room sliding a ladder off the roof and making a racket with it on terrace. The forced lack of sleep wasn't the worst thing, the main unpleasant experience came from when I messaged the host in the morning to ask if the noise from electronic box was normal because I couldn't sleep and didn't want another night of the same, especially as my partner had a long flight the next morning.
His response was a little shocking and toxic in my opinion, he got defensive, dismissive and what I felt was very manipulative.
First of all his reply was over 5 hours late when every other message was replied to promptly. When he did reply we continued in an unpleasant and toxic dialogue where he said
"Everyone in the house is equal distance to the AC unit and there is zero complaints. So I don't think if there is noise it is something beyond normal" (false first because our room was the only one on the top floor, same level as AC unit, toxic secondly for devalidating my own personal experience)
"You are welcome to turn it off if you like" (I never had any ac on, and got an electric shock when trying to turn the noise off outside at source)
"I also will not offer a discount because if your problem is real then a discount doesn't fix it you will have the same problem of not being comfortable nothing changes" (I never, asked for a discount, not once...only if the noise was normal. The "if your problem is real" is a clear red flag for me for manipulative and controlling behaviour and the assumption I asked about the noise because i wanted a discount felt insulting.)
"No it's clear your a very emotional guy"(my messages were very rational another subtle form of manipulation insinuating I was being irrational)
"I was shocked actually by the aggressive reply"(My messages were far from aggressive, again implying I'm not being rational or calm when I was)
After 30 mins of unpleasant dialogue where he questioned the noise I referred to and delved into a petty manipulative game of words, he finally said
"If you don't want a refund, what do you want"
I told him I wanted to know if noise was normal
He continued...
"And if it is"
And after 40mins of this dialogue which felt, dismissive, devalidating and an interrogation of my own experience, he finally said.
"Ok it's normal"
So from first message I sent in morning to last message was over 6 hours and it took 40mins of manipulative dialogue for him to finally admit noise was normal, after denying to know what I was talking about.
If he would have said this at the very beginning, there would have been no issue, but his egoic defensive messages meant I wasted over 40mins having to validate myself and my difficulty to sleep because of the noise, while on holiday. By this time it was too late to change to another place.
This is the first time I've had such an unpleasant dialogue with any Airbnb host and it was not a nice experience.
On a micro level this is classic victim blaming, devalidating the others experience saying others didn't say anything "if your problem is real" etc. Its very subtle but I've dealt with many people like this before and its clear egotistical, controlling and manipulative behaviour.
I write this as a warning to others who might be sensitive to this sort of behaviour, if these sorts of people activate something in you and there is any issue with room, you may also have to deal with him and it may also be a very unpleasant experience for you. And when on a nice trip in a beautiful city with your partner, thats the last thing you need.
And also if you are disturbed by electronic boxes humming and vibrating at night it may not be the best place, as he eventually confirmed after 40mins of texting that it was normal for it to make so much noise.
Writing reviews we have an obligation to others to be honest and to warn of certain things that may be unpleasant for each other. I write this with that intention only.