Hellen Studios

6 days of nightmare: disappointing property and poor hygiene We booked a ground-floor apartment with a garden for 6 people, but upon our arrival, we were assigned a basement without a garden. The only windows were at street level (with a view of mice passing by). The outdoor space reserved for us was detached from the dwelling, lacked lighting (according to the owner, due to a malfunction), and was made unlivable in the evening by the constant passage of guests from the other apartments. The interior turned out to be dirty and completely neglected: Kitchen: not clean, with hair on the stovetop, a broken sink glued together as best as possible, dishes dirty with tomato and cheese, and chipped plates and cups. Furthermore, there were 3 single beds in the kitchen, one of which was completely unusable and adapted as a luggage rack. Bathroom: lacking windows and any ventilation system. The shower holder was broken, and the walls and ceiling were covered in mold. The door, swollen from the humidity, would not close and remained constantly open. Bedroom: consisting of a comfortable double bed and another small bed that was completely unusable (my 12-year-old daughter, weighing 45 kg, as soon as she lay down on it, remained folded inside like a wallet). It is useless to dwell on the dust accumulated everywhere. For a stay of 6 people, the space for clothes was reduced to just one single-door wardrobe and a chest of drawers. The host's management was also terrible: outside our door was a table with a chair where the owner would sit to monitor our movements. Furthermore, during our outings, he would enter the house without any authorization; one day he turned off our water and the next day the gas, and in fact we asked why, and his answer was for safety. We are speechless. For the first two days the entrance lock remained broken, so much so that we had to provide for the repair ourselves. We immediately asked for an alternative, but since it was the middle of August there were no other facilities available and we were forced to stay. I strongly advise Booking to carry out much more in-depth checks before listing certain properties on the platform.

Checked in yesterday. It’s awful 😡 owner never pick d us up from the airport when he said he would, only the cleaner available on check in, didn’t know which studio we were in and doesn’t speak a word of English. Air conditioning not working, room smells of sewers, plug in bathroom sink not working, shower fixings broken, rust on all kitchen appliances, room rammed with old furniture and can hardly move around. Please don’t bother booking

Very disappointing stay. The property was dirty and nothing like the photographs shown on Booking.com. There was no cold water from the kitchen tap, the oven was rusty, and the bathroom was unclean with a mouldy shower curtain. The owner said he would fix the tap but never showed up. Although a few items were replaced during our stay, they were simply swapped like-for-like and did not improve the condition of the apartment. The Wi-Fi was practically non-existent throughout our stay. We were also unhappy that air conditioning and the safety deposit box could only be used for an additional daily charge. To make matters worse, the owner later marked our reservation as a “no show,” making it difficult for us to leave an honest review on Booking.com.