BEWARE IF NOT WANTING TO BE QUIET!
The IMPORTANT thing that Paola doesn’t list online (at least she hadn’t when we booked for our April 2019 stay) is that her place has quiet hours starting at 10pm. Even though she doesn’t list this online, there are multiple posted signs inside the apartment saying that the “NEIGHBORS WILL CALL THE COPS IF THEY HEAR NOISE IN THE APARTMENT OR HALLWAY AFTER 10PM, AND YOU WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE.”
We found it extremely deceptive that she didn’t advertise this at all on the listing, and I hope she changes this in the future. We were a quiet group of 3, and the cops were not called on us, but we still felt worried at night… It greatly lessened our comfort level in the apartment, as you can imagine…
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This COULD be a great value, if you are quiet guests. The location is just as good as advertised, and Paola is a decently responsive host (she responded to our messages, and was helpful with our check-in, though she had other issues, which I address below). In my opinion, the beds weren’t very comfortable, and the rest of the apartment wasn’t as comfortable as the pictures make it look, but it’s a cheap place, so the value can be worth it.
But, the main issue of the quiet hours aside, there were a host of other issues with our stay.
1)	~ Loud, music-playing neighbors ~
Ironically with the 10pm quiet hours, Paola’s neighbor immediately below the apartment started playing LIVE experimental jazz music at 12:30am on our first night there, and continued well into the middle of the night past 4am… This included an actual drum kit and booming bass guitar… This made it impossible to sleep and gave us a horrible start to the next 2 days. I wouldn’t believe it myself if I hadn’t experienced it first-hand... When we went down to ask her to stop, she was antagonistic and refused, even with the quiet hours, because “you are tourists, and I don’t have to listen to you”.
Initially, I would only mention this as a warning to future guests and wouldn’t just hold bad neighbors against Paola, but her response to them was unsatisfactory. When we complained to Paola about the egregious noise problems, asking her to deal with the neighbor, her only response was to “send the neighbor a message”, but didn’t persist when she didn’t get a response. So, we had to deal with a SECOND night of horrible jazz that we couldn’t sleep through. It wasn’t till we complained AGAIN that Paola tried hard enough to make sure she actually spoke to the person and got her to stop for our 3rd night, when we could finally sleep…
2)	~ She does not have a full kitchen, as advertised! ~
There is no oven. There is no microwave. She does have a stove, but only 1 of the burners actually works. Hopefully she fixes this for future guests.
3)	~ You should double-check any of her recommendations for places before you go. ~
We went to use the luggage storage she recommended on her list that she left for guests, but there was nothing there… She responded to our message about it that it had closed long ago. We wasted the money of a cab, and stress of having to figure out an alternative on the street with paid data, as opposed to on the comfort of a couch with wifi. All because she didn’t spend the effort to change her instructions and print a new sheet.
So - it’s definitely not a 5-star Airbnb, but if you don’t mind saving money by staying at a cheaper place with great location (easy/cheap cab ride into the center of the city; walking distance from Montjuic and many great tapas places), and don’t mind being quiet at night (under the apparent risk of having the cops called on you and being kicked out…), it’s a worthwhile stay.
Just have your expectations in check and read the other reviews to see what other guests have said.