As a semi-frequent traveler, I've stayed in many Airbnbs and I usually don't leave a long review, but for this place since it had no reviews and I had some fair issues during my stay that I wanted to address, I decided to leave one here for sake of the renting company and anyone else who decides to stay here.
Pros:
- This apartment was in a good location next to a lot of restaurants, the metro and the beach
- Supermarket (LIDL) was located right downstairs, very convenient
- Has an elevator
- The balcony view is nice compared to other places that I've stayed at
- Bathroom was nice and clean
- Had a working bell with video footage that you could see
Cons:
- Mostly used toilet roll was provided not a big deal but not much of an amenity at that point since we used it up quickly
- No dryer, so be sure to pick a time it won't snow/rain to do hang laundry
- When I first arrived, the place smelled pretty musty, definitely had to open the window and turn on the fan I brought with me to air out the place for like 30 minutes.
- Place could have been much cleaner; I'm not sure who used to stay in the place but it seems like it hadn't have been occupied for quite awhile because there was a lot of dust on the floor and on some of the furniture, mainly the couch. When I slapped the couch, there were big balls of dust that came out of it, had to do it a few times to get all of it out.
- Speaking of the couch (futon-style) , it seemed to be quite old or a badly designed one; the couch cushions themselves were a bit uncomfortable and drooping at the front ends. My girlfriend and I had to constantly re-adjust the couch because the cushions kept moving, again not really sure if because it got of a lot of usage or by design.
- There were some utensils that were not very clean and the toaster especially wasn't clean; it's normal to see breadcrumbs and such at the bottom which is fine, but this toaster seemed to have been encrusted with like pancake batter or something from the last person that used it. We didn't end up using it at all because we didn't want to clean that up in addition to the other cleaning we did prior.
- We kind of wished there was a smaller coffee table or something in front of the living space where the TV was; we ended up using a sort of stand that was in the corner that acted as our table. If that was supposed to be the table from the get go, it's definitely too small for 2 people to put things on.
- We were told not to be noisy for the neighbors, fair enough we are pretty quiet anyway. However, the walls are very thin and you can hear pretty much everything going on at all times in the surrounding apartments. The very first night we were there, the tenant next to us was having a party until early in the morning. Not sure if it was a person renting or someone who actually lived there but hearing noises throughout the day and night were very common. In the early morning (7-8am), the neighbors were pretty loud in the hallway and hearing the person upstairs use the restroom was our alarm clock most mornings. If you're a light sleeper, please keep this in mind
- The bedroom's layout in general was good in terms of closet space and size, however the bed was a bit smaller than expected for a place expecting a party of 2 people. The pillows were HORRIBLE...like I can sleep on a super flat pillow no problem, but these pillows didn't even fit in the pillow cases at all. They were longer pillows folded in the pillow cases and were the wrong size for the cover. The pillows themselves weren't all that great, seemed to be either overused or just an "empty" style of pillow. My girlfriend and I ended up having to use some towels/blankets/couch pillows for our heads to add additional support
In general, the stay was pretty average. It was good enough to stay for the 30 days but not as comfortable and inviting as I thought the experience would be. I've been in other Airbnbs across Barcelona for around the same price point that were a much better experience overall. I've left this review for the host to see and want them to improve upon some of the criticisms I had so that future tenants will have a better experience going forward.