Here's the things that were good. The apartment size and layout, along with cleanliness were good. The kitchen was well fitted out with cutlery, crockery, cookware and appliances. Internet was good. From there, the sofa bed was more comfortable than the real bed - that never happens! In the main bed you could feel springs throughout and overall, it provided a really bad sleep. We were provided with two toilet rolls for two of us for four days. The quality of the toilet rolls was apalling. Essentially, the paper disintegrated upon contact. We had used the first roll witin 4 hours, just with normal toilet use. There were barely any sheets per roll. First morning there, we had to go and buy our own. The were no condiments or anything else in the kitchen. Life would have been made just that little nicer with salt, pepper and a few simple things. It's all about the small things when you stay somewhere, and the small things at this apartment were not considered.
Finally, there's the app. What a joke. This app is designed to make the lives of the Ola people better, and make the lives of the guests a nightmare. So, before leaving Australia, I had to complete all persona details online, including passport numbers, photos with passport, dates of birth, etc. for all staying. Then, in the week before going, we're asked to set up the app and, wait for it, put all those details in again. Why, really? You had the details and could have preloaded the app, but no. Then, you get to the apartments with little information up front. we got a call about 10 minutes before arriving asking when we would be there. I said 10 minutes. I asked the woman if she was waiting there for me and she said yes. So, we get there and there's no-one waiting. There's no idea about how to get into the apartment. I have to call, get instructions over the phone and with great difficulty, get the first door open. The second door (inside) will not open using the key in the app come hell or high water. At this point, another family arrive and they can get through the second door, so they let us in. Then we're given the name of the apartment, but no details of where to find it. Call again, get details. I also got the details for the other family, who also had only a name of an apartment.
From there, we get upstairs to our apartment and not only will the app not work, it logged me out and won't log in again. To this point it's taken us about 20 minutes to not be able to get into the apartment and I was pretty upset. I had to call again, explain what was going on, then be patronised and treated like I was a 2 year old or an idiot, neither of which is true. Instructions provided were for things I'd already done and told them I'd already done. After 10 minutes on the phone and getting nowhere, the door suddenly opened. The app decided to work, but I had not touched it in the previous 5 minutes, so there is no explanation as to why it suddenly worked. Oh, I got my 20yo tech savvy son to download the app on his phone and try using that as the key, but it also wouldn't work on his phone.
I then had to walk across to the office and get digital keys for the rooms. I also had to ask for the wifi password and was given it at the main office. I asked where I would have found it otherwise, and was told it was in my contract. I went back and re-read the contract, because I didn't recall seeing it and of course, it wasn't there.
During our 4 day stay, we encountered 4 other groups of guests trying to get in and having exactly the same problems as us. This was as we were leaving or arriving, so there could have been more.
What does this tell us? It wasn't just me. It's many people and all the time it takes Ola to respond to these phonecalls can't be good.
Ola, you have to do better. The app does not work well. It requests information already held and, once in Spain, relies on you having your mobile phone number from the country you live in. As it happens, I did, but there are many people who when they travel they pick up a local sim card. What happens then?
So, whilst the apartment was acceptable for what it was, the checkin process was apalling.
Oh, also, there's a requriement to remove all garbage from the apartment prior to departure, but no instructions of how to do that. There are big bins across Barcelona in the streets for people to use, but there are none of those in the Gothic quarter, where we were staying. I had to write and receive instructions, which told me either to put the garbage on the street after 8.00pm (which was fine, except for the day of checkout), or use one of the large bins in the street. Given there were none in my area and we were checking out, the expectation was that we carry our garbage with us until we find a bin. Not great, and not handy when carrying luggage for departure.