[Dec. 2024] In Sorrento, southern Italy, where we spent the New Year holidays, we stayed at an Airbnb as usual.
It was the fifth floor apartment in a convenient location, almost right in front of the train station.
The apartment has a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and a dining kitchen at the end of the hall, and it was neat and spacious.
The kitchen is also usable, making it a “livable Airbnb.”
The owner even provided a bottle of limoncello in the fridge, as a kind gesture.
In the end, the only “unlivable Airbnbs” we have experienced so far are in Seregno in Italy, and in Lisbon and in Oporto in Portugal.
I wonder if the situation is improving.
Although we were quite satisfied with the accommodation, we never met the owner face to face.
Instead, the owner made a few nagging requests.
We came to Sorrento hoping for warmth, but in fact it was cold.
So we kept the indoor heating on all the time, but the owner was not happy about this.
The apartment didn’t have city gas, but propane gas!
During the New Year holidays, we were given gas cylinders twice, but this arrangement made it difficult for us to move around.
One morning, we had to spend the morning without heat or hot water while waiting for the cylinders to arrive.
On top of that, he said that the first three cylinders were free, but after that, we had to pay.
This was not written in the Airbnb description.
The comfortable temperature of the room depends on the person, and isn’t it the owner’s basic attitude to make sure that the guest is comfortable?
This stingy attitude has darkened our impression of this Airbnb.
After returning from the holiday, we told this story to an acquaintance from Campania, where Sorrento is located, and to our surprise, she said that everyone in the region is like this.
She said, “Even when it’s cold, my relatives sometimes do not turn on the heating and wear coats inside the house.”
Well, this is another example of “different places, different things,” isn’t it.
