I’ve spent perhaps my last night in an Airbnb apartment.
During this, my third Airbnb experience, I stayed in a small apartment in Greenwich Village. The location couldn’t have been better. Macdougal Street near the Comedy Cellar and dozens of restaurants and little shops — including my fave Ben’s Pizzeria. One block from Third Rail, a great coffeehouse that serves Counter Culture coffee. Two blocks from Washington Square Park. Three blocks from the subway.
One of the fun things about travel is the element of surprise. You get lost and end up seeing the sun set behind a row of brownstones. You come across a parade or labor union strike, perfect for taking pictures. Or you happen to sit next to an old friend from home at a play.
I like surprises.
This Airbnb apartment offered one too many surprises. The small curtained shower, located in the kitchen, was not designed for a modest guest. How one would undress discretely in this main room of the apartment to step inside the shower remains a mystery. Still, this wasn’t the end of the world.
The toilet was in the hall — not a hall in the apartment, rather, the hall of the apartment building. A toilet in a tiny locked closet of a room. This wasn’t clear in the ad. It was inconvenient, but again, not the end of the world.
I draw the line at strangers opening my bedroom door. The guy sounded as shocked to see me as I was to hear him gasp. This happened to me at a previous Airbnb apartment, except the bedroom door there had a lock so the guy didn’t get in.
Airbnb is hit or miss in my experience. Some surprises are more acceptable than others.