I usually abstain from writing reviews unless the experience was really good or really bad—unfortunately this stay was the latter. I also dislike writing anything negative, but I would definitely want to know about someone else having this experience before booking. So this is for you, someone else:
The Good
Credit where credit is due, this place is in a great location and is a decent-sized space for what we needed...and that’s about it.
The Bad
Despite the long check-in instructions about downloading the smartlock app via text link (which I never received), when we arrived to check in, the door was unlocked. Somewhat sketched out, we shook it off and went in to check it out. The bathroom light was on down the hall and we heard the sound of snoring coming from that direction. Once we noticed a foot on the floor sticking out of the doorway, we realized there was A MAN ASLEEP ON THE FLOOR! "Strange-man-snoring-on-the-floor" was an extra quirk that was NOT included on the listing, so we got the f*** out of there.
We then had to spend the next hour trying to get someone, ANYONE from AirBnb to help us (this part doesn't factor into my rating but it's also something I'd want to be aware of). Their idea of help was to immediately let me know that there would be no refunds, and that they'd call me back in an hour (that call didn't come until 2am btw). Their only instruction at the time was to go back into the studio and take a photo of the man!! I don't know about you, but my initial instinct is very much to NOT corner the strange man passed out on the floor, who we assumed was crashing there after finding an unlocked door.
At this point the sun was going down, so after cancelling our dinner reservation my boyfriend decides to go take the picture. Doing this woke the man up, which kicked off a fun "who are you"/"who are YOU" convo. In a twist I didn't see coming...this was our host. Evidently he had gone in after our scheduled checkin time to fix some sort of wobble on the sink? He said everything worked fine and that it was just a minor adjustment, so I still don't really understand why he decided to start working on it after we were scheduled to arrive. He was asleep with a mask on so it seems like he did plan on us arriving while he was still there, but I received zero communication about it. One of the reasons we picked this place was that it was a private studio where we supposedly wouldn't have to interact with others during a pandemic, so I think shooting off a quick message letting us know he might be in there isn't that huge of an ask.
After finding out this was in fact our host, he did a lot of laughing. I was waiting for an apology and it really never came. Even if his concrete nap hadn't resulted in us missing out on plans, maybe it's just me and my millennial guilt, but I feel like every sentence out of my mouth would start and end with "I'm so sorry". His attitude was that it was a funny misunderstanding, and he tried to excuse it by saying that there's a lot of work to be done in between guests and not a lot of time to do it. I'm well aware of this (I think everyone is), but I'm also aware that you can change your host settings to allow for more time in between each reservation. Or, hire a cleaner to help out! It's not the guests' fault that a host bit off more than they could chew.
At this point I was pretty upset about our lost time, but his attitude made it so much more aggravating. It's now 8pm, dark, and the room still isn't ready! He said we needed pillowcases and left us "to discuss" while he grabbed them. When he came back, instead of handing them to us and leaving, I guess he thought it would be more host-like of him to put the pillowcases on himself? So he shows up with the pillowcases in one hand, and the two dogs in the other. After asking if it was cool if he fed & walked the dogs first (umm, what?), we said we could just do it ourselves. We've already wasted so much time waiting around for him, I didn't want to have to wait and have him come back (again). Then for some reason he walks right into the place again with the dogs in tow! Now I love dogs and these were a couple of major cuties, but my boyfriend is super allergic. He took the leashes from our host to bring them back outside, because frankly we didn't know what the hell he was doing at this point. He put down the pillowcases on the table and then said to let him know if we needed anything. And then, finally, we were alone.
The next day the host did send a message apologizing "again" (he never really did in the first place) and said he would leave us some wine if we drank alcohol. He left a tote hanging from the door with a bottle of wine, some cheese & crackers. I appreciated the gesture and was looking forward to this for later, but when we opened it up the crackers were rancid. Checked the expiration date, and sure enough they expired almost 2 years ago—he cleaned out his pantry on us!! This also doesn't factor into my review at all because "non-stale crackers" is not something that I was expecting from the listing, but I think it's a good indicator that the host couldn't care less since New Seasons is like a block away. So if you'd like to stay somewhere that the host couldn't care less,