My friends and I stayed at Andrea’s place in Miami for New Years weekend. Overall Andrea’s place was not what we expected. The location was great but other than that, we were disappointed.

I’ll start with the positive. Andrea was super responsive leading up to the trip. She left clear instructions for how to access her unit. It was also nice that she has key pad entry so we didn’t have to worry about keeping up with a key or coordinating our individual comings and goings.

Her location is great. It’s just shy of a 20 minute walk to the beach. There are stores, restaurants, and bars in the area. We essentially walked to most places except for when we went out outside of Miami Beach. Her place was also pretty clean and looks like it does in the pics. Finally, I personally enjoyed the little outdoor seating area and spent time reading/drinking wine out there a bit.

On to the bad and the ugly. When we arrived at her unit, we immediately noticed that key amenities were missing or in short supply. There was an ironing board but no iron and dish soap but nothing to wash dishes with. There were no trash bags. The soap dispenser in the bathroom had 3 pumps of soap left and there was a single roll of toilet paper for 3 people for 5 days...There were scant supplies of basics in the kitchen (lack of oven mitts and cooking utensils) which made cooking impossible. My friends spent the entire afternoon of the first day of our vacation running around to stores picking up these basic supplies.

For the couch (which is advertised as a bed for the 3rd guest) had no bedding or sleeping pillows (just decorative ones). There was a single little sad see-through blanket in a closet and two pillowcases (but as stated above no pillows for the couch). Luckily we packed some extra bedding. During the middle of the night, half of the bed collapsed. My friend looked under the bed and saw that one of the post holding up the bed had clearly been broken and just propped back up. The mattress on the bed is thin as was the bedding on the bed.

We also had a fourth person stay for two of our five nights. Given that the place sleeps three, I brought an air mattress for our additional guest. However, we also paid Andrea extra money for the additional guest but were not supplied any additional towels, bedding or any general amenities for a fourth guest making it unclear why additional money was needed.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for us was when we tried to use the shower and the hot water wasn’t working. After reaching out to Andrea and Airbnb (who had subpar customer service but that’s another story), we were told we needed to flip a switch next to the stove...those instructions should’ve been included in an email or left as a note.

Other issues to note:

This isn’t Andrea’s fault but something about the construction of the unit allows you to hear every creak. We could hear every step her upstaisr neighbors made (it was super loud). I’m used to the noise that comes with apartment living but even I was frustrated. There was also a lot of construction in the morning. I eventually bought ear plugs so that I could sleep through the night.

There’s no WiFi. We’re almost certain this was added to the listing after we booked because we would’ve notice and likely not have booked if we saw this before.

If you’re expecting any additional amenities like the ones you receive at hotels or other Airbnbs (like shampoo, conditioner, perhaps a beach towel you can borrow, etc..), this isn’t the place for you.

Overall, Andrea’s place is a good if you’re in your early 20s and you’re going to Miami to party the entire time after which you passed out and you don’t care about bathing, throwing out trash, washing your hands, etc...But my friends and I are professionals in our early 30s and expect certain basic “comforts” like hand soap...

First of all, Andre is a responsive host and easy to communicate with; however, her apartment is lacking many basic things and not well maintained/cleaned. When we checked in bathroom was in terrible condition (especially the bath tub), used towels were hanging on the shower door, no toilet tissue and soap was provided. We had to go out at night to buy all the necessary supplies. Bed sheets were obviously from the previous guest and had many hairs on it. In addition, there was only one plush throw considered as a blanket; we bought a blanket for ourselves. Drawers and floors were also full of hair. There was a leftover smoothie like drink in the fridge. The list goes on.. There was definitely a cleaning issue. The host offered to clean the place but the cleaning lady didn't show up. In addition, the kitchen had very few and poor quality utensils. Eventually, we decided not to stay in the place any longer and switch to another Airbnb in the middle of our vacation, which was the best decision ever. We expected a good quality place at its price point but the result was very disappointing. The other place we stayed was very close to the beach with top notch furniture, resort style bathroom, full kitchen and amenities and $40 cheaper than Andre's place. Hope she will improve her place and make sure that it is properly cleaned and ready for the guests.

worth it. close to everything. almost rented a car, but it was a lot cheaper to uber.

We had a good stay. Not a 5star hotel, but nice location. Apt is on ground floor, but we felt safe.