The location of this apartment is prime, the kitchen is great, and the family of the host was very nice. Linens were nice. The interior of the apartment looks exactly like the pictures.
The downsides are that the entrance to the apartment is in an alley. That alley is locked after 8pm and the gate is HORRIBLE. I legitimately was locked outside looking like a fool for 15 minutes before I gave up and texted the owner’s family to come open it and then he even had trouble opening it. After that I made a point to not be out past close, which was really inconvenient, but I didn’t want to deal with the gate again.
That same alley is a trash collection point for for businesses and other apartments, which is kind of gross.
While I understand that this isn’t against VRBO’s policies, but with VRBO advertising a whole home every time, I really didn’t like having to walk through a shared space that belonged to the owner’s family to get to the apartment. I also understand they were trying to be hospitable, but I’m relatively introverted, so I cared how often the owner’s family interacted with me, but other people won’t I’m sure.
I also thought having a picture of the owner with his wife and kids in front of one of the beds was awkward and kind of weird.
The owner was willing to allow me to invite a friend to stay over a few nights, but after the friend was there and saw that they would have to walk past a wall of windows that looked into the living room of the owner’s family, they said they didn’t want to. Owner’s family also asked me about my relationship status with my friend, which I found intrusive.