Fastighetsägarens kommentar: Many thanks for your useful review. I am truly sorry for what's happened. But this is the proof that we are indeed a small family-run place. We are always as accommodating and flexible as possible. Although check-out was at 10 AM, the previous couple occupying your studio did not check out till very late. We asked them politely to leave on time, but to little avail. After they eventually checked out, we found out that this particular couple was impossibly, truly impossibly dirty. This is something entirely out of our control – how can I make sure that my guests are clean people? So, during the two hours in between they checked-out and you checked-in, the cleaning staff truly did miracles to clean and tidy the studio up. We use the state-of-art professional model of the Kirby vacuums, precisely because we take care of the flats as we do with our own home. The flats are spotlessly clean. Always. Please look at the other reviews for a confirmation of this. But the cleaning staff could not have possibly thought that the previous guest had put a chewing-gum beneath the wire-mattress – all the more since she was fighting a crusade with the flat! We were as astonished as you when you reported this. It never happened to us in all these years. Further, if you found a hair, it must have fallen from the cleaning person while desperately and frantically cleaning that mess up – I cannot think of another explanation. Thank you for reporting to us that some appliances needed some fixing, we did it at once. The “small cockroaches” you reported are little and innocuous flying insects getting in through the window. The entire city of Palermo (as well as the whole island of Sicily) is full of them. Whenever we find one we always take care of that. But if one or two got through while you were living in the flat, I am afraid there is little we can possibly do except to take care of them. As you found it unpleasant, we will now fix a net to the window so to avoid this for the future. Lastly, the 'contract' you mention is simply a short-lease agreement. We always strike out the surcharge for water and electricity consumption from it, since it does not apply to short-term lease. I am truly sorry if you found this unwelcome. Best regards, Valeria (Enrico's wife)