Appartement des Bergères - Welkeys

We have traveled in various European cities prior to this stay in the 9th of Paris. We are not intimidated by flights of stairs, no elevators, small rooms and are generally easy to please. We adapt to each country's unique layouts of apartments because we understand space limitations of older, converted buildings and often think they offer innovative ideas. We have adapted these ideas to our own home. This is not the case with this apartment. I will say whoever did the tile work in the upstairs shower/sink room and kitchenette did a great job- it was beautifully done. The rest of the construction was marginal and questionable. The toilet itself is separate and downstairs under the stairs so if you're a nocturnal visitor to the toilet, you will have to fully awaken in order to manage the spiral stairs down to the toilet (or pee in the shower upstairs - as i encouraged my husband to do, but he wouldn't!). I think this should be mentioned in the listing description as it might be inconvenient for some. The other problem was the bottom of the stairs - they extend out from the stairwell into the middle of the downstairs and you have to make sure not to stumble on them going in and out of the toilet room. There was grime at the base of the shower door, hair in the various corners of the stairwell on molding and two bloody fingerprints in the toilet room on the wall. Lastly, it lacked creature comforts that help travelers, like hooks in the bathroom, flat spaces for backpacks/luggage, and extra towels. We had one hand towel, and two bath towels. Apart from the apartment itself, contact with the Welkey's rep was a source of annoyance- if I had a question and used our whatsapp convo to ask it, it might go unanswered. If they had a question of me, it was almost as if they expected an immediate answer and at one time, I got an HELLO? and even a phone call from the rep when I didn't answer within a couple minutes. More concerning, there was a suspicious link from Swikly in the same whatsapp convo asking for me to enter my credit card to guarantee the room, which was declined immediately by my card when i tried a few times - stupidly (thank you for having my back, Chase Sapphire). After i double checked all my payments were through VRBO, I ignored it. I would not recommend this location unless you are really chill - the cost wasn't even that cheap so it's not a deal. Buyer Beware.

We loved being in this neighborhood - very lively, lots to do within walking range. The flat is basic but has everything you need.