Westgate Apartments

The night noise was constant. Neighbours and other people in the building seemed to be up all night, yelling, shifting heavy furniture and jumping around. At 3am I was wide awake in disbelief. Wax earplugs from Boots barely helped, so I checked out a day early and stayed elsewhere for my last night. I desperately needed sleep before the long drive home. There was a Changing Lives sign in the hallway. I looked it up and found it’s a charity housing people recovering from homelessness and addiction. It’s a good cause, but Airbnb guests should be told, since it might affect their decision. I’ve worked with a team reaching out to similarly vulnerable people, but as a woman alone at night I still felt intimidated by some people I met in the corridors. It’s different being there on your own. The Airbnb photos were misleading: they showed a different apartment in the same building, with a nicer view. The place was dingy and smelled bad, possibly of stale cigarette smoke and general uncleanliness. The toilet was filthy and the sofa disgustingly stained. The bed linen and towels were clean, and the bathroom would have been nice if the toilet had been clean. The water was hot, and the host was polite and helpful. Several listed items were missing when I arrived: hangers, an iron, a hairdryer, fire extinguisher, smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm and first aid kit. I borrowed a hairdryer from my daughter. The next morning I raised the missing amenities with the host and asked at least for smoke and CO alarms that evening, because there was a boiler in the bedroom and I didn’t feel safe. He replied quickly. He said a previous guest must have taken the hangers, and replaced them. I was told the hairdryer and iron were available on request. The smoke alarm was in the ground floor entrance, which wouldn’t help if a fire started in the first floor flat. The old one on the bedroom ceiling had been ripped out. The host did install a CO alarm after I insisted.

We put key workers in this accommodation, and it was filthy. The owner initially denied it, then offered to clean, which we declined. We asked for a full refund and got an offer of only 50%. Absolutely appalling, especially during Covid-19 restrictions.

The mattresses were the most uncomfortable we’ve slept on, and the bed frames squeaked loudly. There was food between the sofa cushions, no washing-up sponge, and the tea towel was stained and dirty. The bathroom had mould between the shower tiles, and both bathroom and kitchen extractors were thick with dust and dirt. A stale cigarette smell came through the bathroom extractor. The price we were charged felt like a complete rip-off. The place hadn’t been properly cleaned in months, maybe years. Every surface, utensil, pot, pan and appliance was dirty. There were prescription drugs in the fridge door, hair in the beds and bloodstains on the sheets. Doors had holes where they’d been punched or kicked, the electrics by the boiler were loose, and the smoke detector hung from the ceiling by its wire. If the owner replies saying we should have mentioned these things during our stay so they could fix them, don’t bother. Reviews keep mentioning the lack of cleanliness, so clearly they don’t care. Disgusting. Avoid it.

The host seemed lovely, and the flat was basic but relatively clean, though it needed a deep clean. There were fake tan marks on the wall and just little blinds instead of curtains. We paid a bit over £40 each for five of us, which felt steep, even for a city centre on a weekend. Netflix on the TV was a nice touch, but we couldn’t sleep at all. We’d been told the other apartments were empty, but a large group of young men and women were in one. At 4am they blasted extremely loud music through a huge subwoofer. The already rickety bunk bed and both bedrooms shook and vibrated until just after 6am. As a young woman, I didn’t feel able to go to their room and ask them to stop. We tried calling the number we’d been given for the owner, but no one answered. We got no sleep.