Had a mixed experience with this Airbnb unit. The apartment itself is quite good, although they really should remove the "brand new" from the title, as the apartment was renovated a long time ago (I'm guessing 20 years). Regardless, the apartment does deliver in terms of functionality and most important aspects and basics of living.
The kitchen is kind of minimal and the bathroom is basic, but both are totally fine for short term stays. The double bed is great and linen/towels were great as well. Sofas and kitchen table are kind of basic, and they should get a decent coffee table for the sofa (the two plastic ones are so rickety you won't risk placing anything on top). The AC units are efficient in keeping the apartment cool, and there's no funky smells or anything like that.
The apartment was somewhat quiet during my stay. The windows do isolate some of the sound from the street, but do pack in earplugs unless you are a very sounds sleeper. There's quite a bit of traffic and night life on Calle Alamos, so on weekends you'll be part of the party whether you like it or not :) Again, I believe this is the case in most of Malaga center, so it's more of a feature in this area.
The location is perhaps the biggest asset of this unit. The apartmentis located right next to the historical center, with a lot of great options for restaurants, cafes, groceries etc. services. Counting from the street level, the apartment is located on the fourth floor which allows for nice views over the top of the adjacent building. You'll even see the cathedral tower which is a nice view indeed for a central location like this. All three windows are actually openable balconies, which allows you to see the street life from above.
My main gripe on this stay was with the managing team. Maybe it's a combination of cultural approach to customer service and language barrier in English that the communication was really not very smooth at all. I have nothing personal against them and honestly I think they did the best they could in the situation, but it just wasn't managed very well. Here's a few points on that:
The customer service is open Monday-Sunday from 8-19 which is decent, but there seems to be no emergency contact outside of these hours. Furthermore they only really communicate with you through Airbnb chat. There's a phone number, but the issues I had with the apartment were responded over phone by "write us in the chat, we can't help you over the phone". Makes me wonder why they have the phone line at all? They did respond within one hour or so in the chat, so it works relatively good during their office hours. Good luck if anything happens outside of those office hours though :)
Having stayed in this unit, I really appreciate being in direct contact with the owner of the unit, or at least a person who attends the unit on demand at any times. It's great to have a direct contact number for any kinds of issues with a quick response time - most Airbnbs I've stayed in do have this.
During my stay, one of the AC units started leaking water while being used. The water outlet hose was not installed, so it only makes sense this would happen. The guidance was to place a pot underneath, which I did. I suspect you'll have the same issue, which is ok if you don't mind keeping pots on your apartment floor. They didn't attend to the issue during my stay, but I could still use the AC unit with the pot in place.
The toilet flush also broke midway through my stay. After some negotiations they agreed to send in a plumber. He was friendly and efficient and I got to practice my technical Spanish as well. The plumber did a quick fix on the toilet, after which the top lid was off but the toilet was flushing again. I hope the next tenant gets a fully functioning toilet.
I don't want to sound too picky but these are small things that contribute to the overall experience. For a short stay this was alright, but I would still have an eye out for other units in the area that perhaps have gotten better reviews on the management.
Overall a three star experience, but going forward the management can make it at least one more star with small positive changes to their operations. The apartment itself is nice and has a lot of potential for the eventual next renovation as well.