A Partment

A star is still too much! The photos of the provider on the Internet do not correspond to the actual condition of the apartment. Unfortunately, I was so bona fide and booked this apartment despite the many bad reviews. I can only recommend everyone not to book this apartment, already upon entering the apartment we noticed an unpleasant smell and the complete floor stuck. Since we had an appointment right after our arrival, we just wanted to change, my wife sat down on the edge of the bed to change shoes, whereupon the bed collapsed. When we came back after 3h it smelled extremely of chlorine when entering the apartment, on the sink was a bottle of extremely aggressive pipe cleaner and in the sink a smelly broth (when we first entered the apartment this was not yet, obviously during our absence someone in the apartment was to clear the blocked drain of the sink). As a result, I tried to contact the landlord several times, without success. Unfortunately, we did not find any other accommodation. So we put the mattresses on the floor and slept there as well, which was only possible with an open window and closed intermediate door to the kitchenette and toilet due to the harmful chlorine stench. The kitchenette was not usable because in the sink stood the smelly pipe cleaner broth and nothing expired (on our departure after 2 days by the way still). In addition, the kettle and microwave were broken, TV also broken. No pot to boil water, equipment of the kitchenette, dishes miserable and partly dirty. Conclusion: Never again... I've never seen such a stinking, filthy, worn-out place. By the way, the landlord has still not contacted me and just pretends to be dead.

My wife and had booked 2 nights accommodation with booking.com for A-Partments and to be honest I missed checking the reviews. We booked the place for the address as it was listed on booking.com next to the river and the address that is listed is Holzgasse 16, Altstadt-Sued, Cologne but this is a TRUE lie. We walked from the train station to this address to find out that the address was different and so was the apartment. To put this in perspective it would be like booking a flight to Cologne but the flight takes you to Berlin. I truely don’t know how this is legal, in the fine print they state that the address might change but this is hidden by booking.com and A-Partments. We called the number that was provided and were given a strong lecture about how to read emails and to read it throughly before calling and asking questions. It is deceiving as the booking confirmation states the supposed address and confirmation, then you receive another very poorly written email which is hard to read with a different address. The guy was very rude to myself and my wife. So after $16 taxi ride we end up at the new apartment address and now we needed to find a key box that is not at the building. We could not find the key box and had to ask a shop owner where to find this box. No one will check you in our out, it’s more like a airbnb not a hotel booking which should not be listed on booking.com. Once we got inside the building we noticed a very large hole in the hallway wall which went straight into the bathroom. Anyone could look into this large hole and see us showering, sitting on the toilet at any time. We tried to but something in the hole but my wife got a small shock of electricity which is so dangerous. We called the contact for the apartment again and he was rude and started yelling at us, he said what do you expect for the price and hung up on us. We then called booking.com and after a few hours of us sending them photos, then sitting and waiting for their decision they then said that they would offer us a $15 discount for the stay. The manger or owner told us that this was not a problem and to deal with it (please see photos that we have included) Now that booking.com and the manger we’re not going to help we moved on with our first day 4 hours later. We had to cover up the hole with a towel so that no one could peep through at us if they walked by. We were only given one key that would open and close the doors, and the front door to the apartment had no door knob on the out side. If the door closes you get locked out, and that’s exactly what happened on the second day. We called the owner and he said that we needed to pay a fee if we want the door opened. He explained that this was in the terms and conditions that he sends after you make the booking not before you make the booking. At this point I cancelled my credit card as he was going to charge us, as we were held at ransom. I informed him that we have canceled our cards and he would not get a cent. We called the police as he now had all of our belongings inside this apartment and would hand them back. The police called the owner who said to the police that he will be over in 45 minutes to 1 hour and for us to wait outside the building and he will meet us at this location. This person never arrived to meet us, so after 1 and a half hours later we called the police as we need some medication that was in our bags. The police arrived and called the owner and he now changed his story and said that one of his partners was on the way but he was coming from another city. The business was doing this intentionally to destroy our stay. After 4 hours we called the guy again and informed him at the police told us more information, after asking a few more questions we had worked out that they had been into the apartment opened it and placed a new key in the key box and didn’t inform us as they just wanted us to wait outside all day long. 4 hours later we finally got back into our place that we paid for, all I can say is to STAY AWAY from this place. Once hell fills up this is where the overflow will go. booking.com did nothing at all, and my advice is never book a place with them because not all places are hotels. You will get no help!

First and foremost, customer support was all but nonexistent.We were very shock to be paying a very dirty and filthy apartment. The white "feathered-ceiling-lampshade" had become GREY. I suggest to put your comforter on the top of the sofá before sitting on it because you don't know what kind of bacteria you will get. There is no bedsheet only pillows and two small comforter. So please bring your own. No bath towels, only hand towels so BRING YOUR OWN. The toilet bowl has never receive and thorough cleaning because there is a brownish-stain around it (which of course with the power of bleach it will be easily removed). The bathroom light with white diffuser has dead insects inside it. The laminated information card has never been clean! Full of stains... Seriously? Please don't pick it up, anyway you will not need it. Don't even let me start with the kitchenette! How is it possible that the plates that are supposedly clean inside the cupboard are sticky and oily!?!?!?! OH MY GOD! This is by far the worst of the worst that I have encountered so far.