I almost never write negative reviews, but this stay turned to be a HUGE TROUBLE. Beware of MOLD and a very AGGRESSIVE COMMUNICATION of the host.
I’ve arrived late night to the apartment, and the next morning I’ve noticed that the entire ceiling is covered with a black mold. I’ve reached out to them right away, and their first responses were friendly, until they started being defensive and blaming me that this mold grew overnight as a result of me keeping the A/C turned off. First of all, I’ve never turned the A/C off (!!). Secondly, the mold was so widely spread that I would say it must have taken a few weeks to reach this level. They started telling me that somebody came into my apartment in the morning to inspect the situation and saw that A/C was turned off - it is A LIE, because I was there during the entire time, and nobody came in (also they should give me a notice before sending anyone up to enter and inspect the apartment). So, after blaming me, they offered to move me to another apartment in the same building. I went there to check that other apartment, and the air vent was full of a black mold on it, inside it and also on the wall around the air vent. Then, after waiting for a while, they told me that it is dust, and that they cleaned it. Yes, there was some dust too, bust even that dust had black mold on it too (mold grows on the dust). I’m very familiar with the biology of mold, and I know that it takes professional remediation to safely and fully clean it. Simply wiping it off from the vent surface or the wall doesn’t remove the roots of the issue, and wiping itself makes mold spores and mycotoxins spread all over the environment of the apartment even more. It’s extremely hazardous for health when inhaled and can cause serious health damage (I studied it and seen many patients who suffered from exposure to such black mold), so writing this comment I hope to bring some more awareness and protect other guests from exposing themselves to toxic environments.
The worst part of it was when I refused to stay at the second apartment, simply because I didn’t want to expose myself more to this mold (even if they wiped it, or painted it on top - the spores and mycotoxins are still in the air of the apartment). When I asked for a refund, their communication switched and became very aggressive - they said that I’m a fraud, I’m threatening them, and using a criminal manner m. I was quite shocked, as I’ve never experienced anything like this before, such rudeness and aggression from the host, that it cannot be ignored and I had to write this long review. I’ve kept my communication polite and tried to solve everything nicely through the entire issue. But thanks for the Airbnb support team, who went through my conversation history with the host, saw the photos of the mold, stayed very objective while evaluating the situation, helped me to check out, get refunded and leave this place earlier.
AVOID the trouble dealing with inappropriate treatment of the host and also protect your HEALTH!