If I could title this review, it would be "from a rocky start to a terrible ending." I've never left an Airbnb review with less than 4 stars, but this experience earns a solid 1.
Tldr: we waited for an hour to check-in, the place was dirty, and our laptop was stolen.
Check-in: we had sent the host our flight info and let them know that we were planning on taking public transportation. They responded that based on our arrival time and their understanding of the train system, we would arrive at 8pm. I told them that I would keep them updated throughout our travel day so that we could meet at the correct time. I texted when we landed and got on the train, letting them know that their estimate looked incorrect and we would arrive in about an hour (as opposed to the 2 hours they had estimated). No response. I texted them when we were 15 minutes out. No response. We arrived and I called - and the host asked which location we were trying to check into. She said she would be there within 20 minutes...she arrived 52 minutes later. She said that we had arrived earlier than we said we would (which is unfair because she estimated our arrival time based on how long she thought the train would take) and I understand that her other check-in was late, but the lack of communication and contingency planning was frustrating.
The space: in summary, not worth what we paid. The space was generally dusty, like the kind of place where you walk around and can feel the dust collecting on your feet. The bathroom was the least clean part of the space - there was toothpaste on the soap dispenser and sink when we arrived. The double bed was uncomfortable and we could feel the springs in the mattress. There were no dressers available for us to unpack, just a makeshift clothesline hanging from the ceiling. There was a mess of things under the bed, which wasn't a good look. Oh also, the toilet stopped working in the middle of our stay and the host couldn't fix it until mid-morning the next day so we had to run to a cafe when we needed to use the restroom.
The location: unideal. The street it's on is not clean, but it is in a pretty central location and is walking distance from the Arc de Triomf subway station - this was the only redeeming factor of the whole stay. The apartment is on the 3rd floor and the stairs in the building are strangely narrow. Expect to struggle your way up with luggage.
And the real kicker: *we had our Macbook Pro stolen out of the Airbnb*. We arrived home after being gone for 3 hours for dinner on our very last night. We had packed up our suitcases since we had an early flight, and I noticed that my suitcase looked uncharacteristically messy given that I had just repacked it: some of the clothes were perpendicular to how I pack and my shoes had been moved. Strange. 5 minutes later, my husband realized that his Macbook Pro and charger were gone. He's extremely obsessive about his laptop and checks whether the door is locked about 7 times before he leaves + the door was locked when we got home. Whoever took the laptop had keys to the apartment. When we reached out to the host to ask whether they knew if anyone had access, their response was "anyone who stayed in the place in the last 6-9 months could have just made a copy of their keys since we don't change the locks." I get that and don't expect hosts to change their locks every time, but the lack of action and reassurance was just unacceptable and, honestly, suspicious. We are certain his laptop was stolen and not misplaced (something the host suggested over the phone) because the last activity shown on his Mac was in the Airbnb 7 minutes into our dinner reservation about a half mile away.
So in summary: book a different place. I'm really bitter.