I was excited for this NYC trip, been 25y since I'd been, but this air b-n-b left much to be desired. Before arrival, host Dianne seemed very eager and friendly to accommodate my family. She answered my multiple questions with great detail each time. At times there was a delay in her responses (via email). And at one point she emailed me stating I still owed her money for our lodging, which I didn't because I had paid for it in full. So I rummaged through my emails to find my receipts to show I had indeed paid the entire bill. She later emailed me back stating Trip Advisor had given her wrong information.....coincidence?!?! Our train was delayed 3x prior to our arrival, and Dianne was patient in waiting for us to arrive at her apartment. When we arrived, she was very nice, and friendly upon our arrival, and gave us a brief tour of the apartment, and stated to reach out to her if we had any issues, or additional questions. We noticed upon our arrival that the entire apartment building smelt of weed/marijuana, and cigarettes. That was a smell that was constant throughout our stay, luckily, it was outside of the actual apartment walls. And the elevator didn't work 80% of the time during our stay. The apartment itself was a typical, small space in the Harlem borough of NYC, which surprised me because it's advertised as a FAMILY, friendly apartment to be utilized by families staying in NYC over a holiday. The kitchen had signs taped on the frig of Dianne's rules of how to go about using her apartment, etc, along with her WIFI code, cell #, etc. Her signage talked about not leaving food out on the counter for fear of bugs, which immediately made us wonder did she have a prior insect problem. Because why would you state that unless you had issues with bugs from past experiences?!?! We did see some kind of small-winged bug the very first night of our stay crawl across the counter, before we ever brought any groceries into the apartment.....not sure if this was coincidence, or what?!? There was no stopper for the kitchen sink for me to do dishes....but it's advertised as a family-friendly rental...and when I rent an entire apartment space, I go into the venture assuming I can use all appliances, household items, and furniture, etc. I go figuring I can live in it like I do in my own space at home (and I always have dishes to do at home). I also didn't notice any smoke detectors throughout the apartment. Isn't it a safety hazard not to have them?!? There were multiple "NO Eating" signs throughout the apartment, and stated on her directions listed on the frig as well. The majority of the hardwood floors were sticky. I had to have my littles stay in booties for the entire visit.....but it's advertised as "family-friendly"?!?! There were multiple wall outlets taped up, not sure if they were damaged, or she just didn't want them used?!? Very dim lighting throughout the apartment, no overhead lighting in the rooms, and only one with a fan. The windows were barred, and there were instructions to not open the windows at all unless there's an emergency.....but it's advertised as "family-friendly".......in my family, we like to open our curtains & blinds, and let light in! But that was not allowed here. The extra "clean" sheets in the smaller of the two bedrooms, were sprawled on the floor of the closet in that room. And we were told the cleaning lady "Maria" would come through during our stay to tidy, change out towels, sheets (if needed), etc, yet we never saw evidence of her even once.......Dianne left us 1 towel per person (there's 5 of us) for a 5 day stay. The tub also didn't have a stopper or a mat to be able to take a bath. Well my two youngest are 5yo and 8yo, and they still enjoy baths at their ages....but that was not possible at this apartment. But this place is advertised as "family-friendly"?!?! The positive about the bathroom was that it did have extremely hot water and great water pressure! Paint splatter covered the bathroom walls and looked as if there had been previous water damage on the bathroom ceiling, which had merely been painted over......many of the door jams throughout the apartment looked as if they had been hammered in also ?!?! The power strip in the living room was severely overloaded because it sparked when my oldest daughter attempted to plug in her cell phone charger. The Netflix froze up every time it was used, and the WIFI was not great either. And for most of our stay, we were not actually at the apartment, we were out and about.....so the minimal we were there, neither worked great. The second day we did venture to a nearby grocery store for a few basics, and so everything we bought was brand new, and unopened.........but later that day when we had to venture out, we returned to all of the groceries we had bought and either placed on the counter, or set over in the dish drain were all placed in the frig by Dianne with a note on her dry erase board that she had to do this, as she was "in the neighborhood" (which shortened the life on my produce). These items included brand new boxes of cereal, sugar, and we had some produce sitting in the dish drain, like bananas and cuties. None of which had been opened, much less consumed yet. I can understand if these were opened items, but they were not. They were all brand new from the grocery store. Overall, the apartment could use a BIG deep cleaning. Prior to our stay Dianne had ask if we wanted her "chef" to come cook for us on Thanksgiving.....I ask for a quote, and was given a couple different quotes, only to finally settle on $245 for 5 people for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Dianne said choose the turkey or ham or both, two sides, two appetizers, a salad or soup, corn bread or rolls, wine or drinks, and what we wanted for desert. So I ask each member of my family what ONE item they wanted, and what we came up with was: turkey AND a small ham, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, macaroni and cheese, salad, iced tea and water and I ask for either pumpkin pie or a berry cobbler, whichever was easiest was fine by us. When we got back to apartment for the Thanksgiving meal, we came back to turkey, ham, rolls, salad, cranberry sauce, green beans, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, store-bought iced tea and some kind of pecan-desert (with a note saying berries couldn't be found at the store). Interestingly enough, when my husband and I were at the grocery store, there was an abundance of berries?!? So overall what was provided was extra sides, but a completely different desert that only 1 of the 5 of us could eat, and our macaroni and cheese was missing (which was requested by 3 of the 5 of us), and the two appetizers were missing. So yes, thanks for the extras, however, THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS FAMILY ASK FOR! I guess I was asking too much for the hefty price tag of $245 holiday or no holiday (which I could have shopped myself, cooked for all 5 of us for a fraction of what I was charged). It was not communicated that there would be extra charges for any/all part of the meal because it was a holiday. Dianne made a point of this after the fact, but I was not told beforehand. I was encouraged by 2 of my family members to let Dianne know about this (mainly because this WAS NOT a reasonably-priced meal), and so I did, through a text. This was about 3p on actual Thursday, and I didn't get a response back from her until sometime Friday afternoon (over 24h later), after the fact. She responded telling me she was ill on Thursday and had shut her cell phone off for the day?!?! So I guess it was good it wasn't an "emergency", because she was off the grid and could not be contacted. She then responded telling me she was sorry for the missing items, but her chef went out of his way to make us extra sides, and she emphasized the fact of him "going out of his way". So here's my deal with this.....AGAIN, THANKS for the extras, BUT I DID NOT REQUEST THEM, so that's on you. I ask for a simple (well I thought so anyhow) Thanksgiving meal, and didn't get everything my family members requested, much less a desert all could eat (and may have been a good idea to ask if any of us had a nut allergy, because this desert had them covering the top)! It just would have been a more positive experience to get what I was requesting since I paid $245 cash up front for this meal for my family.......the one positive thing about the meal was that the ham was awesome (turkey not so much, as it was dry). After the text I sent Dianne regarding the Thanksgiving meal, I got the impression she was ready for us to leave from that point on. She left a note on her dry erase board asking us about when we were checking out on our departure date one day while we were gone from the apartment, she "bombed" my texts sending me multiple texts asking when we were checking out, she had Trip Advisor call me twice AND email me, in which I responded back via email to them. And she kept inquiring of my itinerary (which I'm certain I'm not obligated to disclose such details), etc. When she texted about my departure hinting to me that we can check out early (which I didn't plan on), I responded with the time we would be checking out of her apartment on check out day. On the actual day of our departure she showed up to the apartment with another male individual 15m prior to her actual check out time stated on the actual rental-rules for her apartment. And she was very business-like on check out day, short answers, and a quick, "Ill send you your check-out receipt via email in a day or so after I actually inspect the apartment, and get you officially checked out", which I have YET to receive may I add. She was an extreme different lady from check in day to check out day. So overall, I DEFINITELY wouldn't go as far as categorizing this apartment as "family-friendly", and I think if you were just going and needed a space to merely sleep each night and not cook, this apartment would be ok. But if you are looking for "family-friendly" and a space you can actually "live in", like you would your own home, THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU WANT TO BOOK!
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