A stingy apartment. A stingy, uncaring owner. A stingy, uncaring manager. We have rented dozens of apartments in Paris. This apartment is far and away the worst. What's worse: With few exceptions, the problems require little money and care: One of the reasons we like to rent an apartment rather than stay in a hotel is that it makes it easy to invite friends and relatives in Paris over for drinks. This apartment comes with precisely one wine glass.
There were no filters for the coffee maker. No paper towels. No salt. How much time, money would it cost to have at least starter supplies of things like that? For years, we have owned two short-term rental properties. There are always at least "starter" supplies of such necessities.
In the living/dining room there is a dining table with three chairs. Two of the three chairs are badly broken. And they are not chairs for eating. I am 175 cm tall (5'9"). When I sat on any of those chairs, the table was at the same height as the tops of my shoulders.
The bathroom, like almost all Parisian bathrooms, is small -- not the problem. The problem is that there is no horizontal space. There's less than 4 cm (1.5") of shelf space around the sink -- not nearly enough space for toothbrushes, hair brushes, meds, etc. There's plenty of wall space where it would be easy and cheap to install shelving to provide such space.
The bed is bad. It has two skinny and lumpy little mattresses -- maybe the most expensive upgrade, but it's really necessary. Leaving the bedroom, there's a tiny step (7 cm or 3") at the door. At night, that tiny step is a killer. What makes it more dangerous is that both levels of that step are dull, black. It's almost impossible to see.
The main bedroom light is broken, held together by wire. It slants 30 degrees from vertical. One of the two reading lights is broken. The switch is held together by red plastic tape. The other glows slightly. The only frying pan was dead. Some pots were filthy. The fold-down drain for drying dishes is falling down.There is no full-length mirror.
The owner and manager are selfish with service. The owner stopped responding to questions as soon as he had the money. The manager did not respond to many questions, and responded to others slowly, and incompletely. He confirmed receipt of one message without even reading it. There is no written information at all -- about the induction cooktop, buying supplies, etc.
You can do a whale of a lot better.
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