The laundry is not in the apartment, you have to go outside and around the back to a shared laundry room (we assumed based on the Airbnb listing that it would be in the apartment). The shared laundry is coin-operated. The Airbnb listing said that the apartment had heating and AC. The AC is an appliance in the bedroom. It was cold during our stay, so we did not have a chance to test its efficacy. There was a thermostat on the wall that we assumed corresponded to the heat (it had a "Heat" and "Off" setting) but did absolutely nothing when turned on. We contacted the host and she had a portable heater appliance brought in which (slowly) heated up the bedroom so we weren't miserable after the first miserable night, just inflicted with a freezing cold bathroom and main area. She said that the main heating would be fixed but it was not.
There was a mild smell of dog in the apartment which did not bother us too much.
Checking in to a cold apartment with no heating and then having to go outside on top of that to do our laundry made this stay a huge letdown.
On the upside, the apartment is fairly well-placed near downtown Palo Alto, within easy walking distance of most of the interesting parts. It is certainly possible to walk to the train station, but I would not call that a short walk.
The apartment faces a moderately active street, so if you are sensitive to road sounds you may be slightly uncomfortable.
Check out was pretty early (9am) and we were required to check in before 9pm which I though was pretty early.