This would have been a 5 star stay, if not for the air conditioning issue!
Hosts:
Nadia and Concha were both lovely, very friendly and attentive, flexible when my train was delayed by an hour and a half, and had plenty of great suggestions about where to eat in town (some closed due to pandemic or vacation... too bad!).
Apartment:
The apartment was in a great location, in an area surrounded by shops (not bars) so mostly quiet at night (except on weekends). The wifi worked well for remote work. It was easy to walk to shops, the central market, grocery stores, beach, restaurants, transportation hubs etc. Good water pressure and hot water in the shower, and there's lots of light during the day! I was there for almost 2 weeks, and the washer was great, and the cooking facilities enough for a short stay (no oven, but I wasn't cooking much anyway).
AC:
The problem I had was that the air conditioning didn't work when I arrived, although I didn't realize until it started to heat up a couple of days later. It took too long to do the repair (5 days, 4 nights). On the good side, Nadia and Concha were communicative about what was going on and apologetic. On the bad side, there was no other apartment available, no other solution but just wait it out with temperatures reaching 40 C/102 F. The apartment was essentially too hot to be in, yet I needed to continue doing remote work so was forced to look for other solutions. This was all very disruptive over a number of days. I discussed a partial refund with Nadia, and after I checked out I made the request which was denied and somehow became angry and personal, blaming me for not telling them sooner. I'm really not sure how this happened. The situation was poorly handled, both because the repair took a long time and because there was no responsibility taken for the inconvenience and disruption caused. I don't have a problem paying full price for full service, but a basic amenity was lacking for a long period of time, and to me, that's just business. Nothing personal needs to it.
The strange thing is, I totally would have gone back again to stay at the place, but now I'm left with a really bitter taste.