Overall, I wasn’t satisfied with the stay which I had expressed from the beginning. First and foremost, the communication was not good.
Wally had said in advance that I could arrange the check-in time with Lenka. Since no number was given to me, upon my arrival in Barcelona I called “the host” via the Airbnb app button. There was no answer so I politely introduced myself as the next Airbnb guest via text mentioning the pre-arranged 8:30pm check-in. The number was Wally’s and not Lenka’s. Wally, instead of giving me Lenka’s number and a warm welcome, gave me a response that felt hostile that began with “As I told you…” That caught me totally off guard as the reviews I read mentioned how smoothly the communication went with Wally. I told him that he never gave me Lenka’s number and he said that I was right, and shared Lenka’s number. I was on my way to drop off the luggages before check-in at the time of this exchange. And when I arrived at the address, I realised I also had not been informed of which of the 6 buttons at the main entrance I had to buzz to reach the cleaning team inside. So I then had to message Wally again to ask this myself, and his response was “(number)”. I felt like there weren’t good, clear information given to me from the host.
By the way, be mindful that you have to carry the luggage up the steep staircase to have them to keep it for you until check-in and I think the storage room was either at 4th or 5th floor. I would have appreciated to have been forewarned to know what to expect because I could have chosen a different option, such as leaving the luggage at the hotel I just checked out instead.
I tried to communicate with Lenka to see if I could adjust the check-in time, since the day was an extremely hot and humid day, and she didn’t answer for more than 3 hours. (After waiting for an hour and a half, I texted Wally to let him know of the communication issue, and his response, after one hour was, “Hey look, we are not a hotel.”
I responded by saying how I do not expect him to give services like a hotel, but to at least keep his word that he’d accommodate flexible check-in times.
When I expressed how I thought the host was annoyed and frustrated with me when I absolutely didn’t do ANYTHING but make enquiry about necessary information, he denied of himself doing any wrong doing, did not acknowledge or apologise for his attitude other than himself responding late, and told me to relax.
The Airbnb unit is of decent size and is simply furnished. However, there are black mould on the shower head and black marks from the mould residue on silicone caulking. And most importantly, the bedding seemed unchanged. The sheet underneath looked fresh, clean and wrinkle-free but the duvet cover on top had visible creases on the areas most rubbed against when sleeping, especially the upper edge. There was hair found also. I brought this to Lenka and Wally’s attention and they immediately got defensive, saying that cannot be possible. Corresponding via text was difficult so I called Lenka but she declined my call reason being she’s at work. Housekeeping came and when the lady called Lenka in front of me, Lenka straight away picked up her phone. That wasn’t very nice. Also, the “new” covers the housekeeping lady brought for me was in its packaging which had never been washed so I refused to have the bedding changed at all. And after Lenka speaking with housekeeping last, there were no follow ups with me at all to see if everything went well or if the bed was now freshly made.
Other small things that did not make our stay better was hearing very loud footsteps and chats from neighbouring guests upstairs and across the hall.
Mostly due to uncommunicative host and vague instructions I would not recommend.