Because future guests are planning to stay here for at least a month, I feel obligated to inform future guests about what they can truthfully expect to experience as opposed to the standard, “Great place. Good location” generic reviews.
I’ll start with the most important note. The noise of the trains that go by the apartment is very underplayed. It’s loud. The apartment is situated at most 50 yards away from the train tracks. It goes by all hours of day and night (I’ve heard it at 2AM, 4AM, and 6 AM) and the conductors lean on the horn because the apartment is situated directly next to a pedestrian cross walk that the train crosses along with Naito Parkway, a fairly large road. The train causes the apartment to lightly shake as it goes by, which can go on for minutes.
The apartment itself is nice. The place was clean, the amenities were generally fine, and things like the Wi-Fi and cable worked great. One issue we had was that the curtains in the rooms let in a lot of light, so we were woken up rather early because the sun was already shining through them.
The washer and dryer broke while we were staying there. It took the host an entire month to replace them, and she eventually filed a claim with Airbnb to try to blame us and salvage the cost. While Donna was polite enough to give us gift cards to a laundromat, it still cost money to transport the clothes back and forth via Lyft/Uber. The new dryer blows hot air into the room while in use, so if you are staying upstairs, that area can get a warmer if you are drying clothes.
We personally had a very big issue with communication. The host was responsive in extreme times of duress, specifically when the entire building's water main broke and it was legitimately raining in the kitchen. The host did refund us for the two days we were without water. However, throughout the entire stay the host would go days without responding to our messages and eventually needed a third party to handle the Airbnb for her.
For geographic location, you really can’t ask for a better place in terms of views and distance to the Pearl and Downtown. However, the complex is located in a lower-income housing area and is close to Union Square train station, which is a bit of a shady area. Would I as a 25-year old male feel safe walking around there at night, sure. Would I let my girlfriend or child wander around there at night? Absolutely not.
When it came time for check out, I repeatedly asked for an itemized list of potential damage claims, and the host ignored my multiple messages and essentially refused to provide a list damage claims she planned to make, only stating she would take it up with Airbnb. Instead I was only informed that she made claims a week later by Airbnb.