Four Really Basic Things Serviced Apartments Need To Improve

Like Uber or Elon Musk, Airbnb was a very exciting and novel thing when it first started. However, as time went on the flaws became obvious, damage had been done but we were stuck with it due to habit and convenience.

While travelling, I often feel a little guilty telling locals we are staying at an Airbnb and thus contributing to their city’s high rent prices and neighbourhoods without neighbours. Whenever the price is close enough, I prefer to stay in hotels yet it is rarely the case and Airbnbs always end up being cheaper.

Staying at an Airbnb that is someone’s home that they rent when they’re away (like I did in these great apartments in Cologne, Munich and Dublin) is arguably the most ethical way to use Airbnb as you’re literally just staying in someone’s home.

However, an increasing number of Airbnbs are being marketed as ‘serviced apartments’ run by businesses that own multiple apartments that are halfway between a bnb and a hotel with possibly the worst of both worlds; no local insights, no personal service and an obvious lack of some pretty simple things that you’ll soon be sending your ‘saved’ money on.

Here are a few examples…

Stop Being Stingy With Toilet Paper

Not a roll in sight at the Sherlock Holmes Museum. It’s like they didn’t want us pooing in their display toilet.

Not a single serviced apartment we stayed at has had enough toilet paper to last the whole trip. It’s like they know how long we are staying and deliberately give us one less roll than what we would need, or, in the case of a place in London, gave us one and a half (yes, half) rolls for five nights. It’s not even fancy toilet paper worth rationing either.

When people go on holiday they want to eat and without getting to graphic it means they will need toilet paper at some point. Don’t be so stingy about it.

Fix Your Showers

Why did I even get this photo.

At least three serviced apartments I’ve stayed in have had a shower that is busted to some degree. With limited time in a location, calling to have it fixed and waiting around for a tradie to fix the shower just won’t fit in my itinerary. I make sure to mention it in the Airbnb review but honestly a fully working shower isn’t too much to ask for.

Additionally, lots of places have provided only one set of towels even though they know there is two of us staying there. If you think that is a nitpick then I challenge you to dry yourself with a towel first used by someone else for a week and then let me know if that’s still your opinion.

Connect Your TV

If my TV in Genoa wasn’t connected I would never have seen this pesto competition which features a guy wearing a pesto hat AND pesto glasses.

This one isn’t such a big deal because realistically I don’t spend much time watching TV while I’m travelling. However, having the TV on for background noise can be very comforting, connect you to the outside world and TV shows that are foreign to you can be hilarious such as this Italian heist movie and pesto making contest complete with pesto hat.

And yet, too many serviced apartments have a TV that is connected to the power outlet and nothing else. Sometimes I’m able to fix it myself but sometimes I’m not which is annoying because I’ve paid for it. Give me the joy of knowing who the hated breakfast show host is in your country by connecting the bloody telly.

Offer Complete Sets Of Things

This is what most service apartments look like. I was posing to see what my family thought of my new shoes.

Finishing up with a bit of a broad one but on no less than three occasions I have stayed in a serviced apartment with an iron but no ironing board. Due to Katie and I shooting our travel project I really did need crisp shirts and often looked for places that said they had an iron. I thought it was obvious that an ironing board would be included but oh what a sweet naive thing I was.

On that same note, places with a coffee pod machine only come with enough pods to last for two days which is annoying because they know how long we’ve booked for and could have planned accordingly. A little butter or olive oil, salt and pepper would be a nice accompaniment to the cooking equipment too.

Ultimately, I don’t really thing serviced apartments deserve that title at all as their only service happens before or after you leave or during an emergency. My preference would be to not stay with a serviced apartments group again as I think they take to great an advantage on their lower price point while negatively impacting their community by taking up housing and contributing to gentrification.

So if you see a non-local in your area buying coffee pods and individual rolls of toilet paper, tell them they’re not welcome until they stay in someone’s home and provide them with additional income they can use to buy video games, graphic novels and chips.