Learn from my experience. Please avoid booking here at all costs or stay here at your own peril. I left twenty minutes after arriving and the host refused to refund my money !
Unfortunately I had a terrible experience when I arrived here. This is a long review as I want to detail what happened to me in case it happens to someone else.
The person who met me which was not the person to whose name the Airbnb listing was registered was very, very poor at communication and had a very disconcerting and hostile reaction to me.
To start, before I made the booking I asked how many people were in the property and who would I be sharing the flat with. I asked for an example of whether it was with other travellers or a room in the hosts apartment. The response came that it was private information. I took that to mean that my question was misunderstood. I required a months accommodation and there was little else available at short notice as my previous arrangements had fallen through. With some trepidation I took the risk and made the booking, it had two good reviews and the pictures looked reasonable.
When I arrived I was met by a person. He didn’t introduce himself. He showed me to the location which was different to the address given but only by a short distance. When we entered the building my heart sank. It was very down at heel and dark. The pictures in the listing were accurate but the whole feel of the apartment was ominous. There were six other rooms in the apartment. Six fellow travellers I presume, which I deducted after I arrived.
The room he showed me into was the one in the picture. That was a relief. However I had failed to notice in the listing that there was no air conditioning. I asked the man who showed me in if there was another room with air conditioning as the room was stiflingly hot. He said that there was but it wouldn’t be possible to move. I asked if I could have a second fan as the one in the room was very weak and at this he bristled and began to become hostile towards me. I asked him who else was staying here and he told me that was private information again. He claimed that I called him a liar about the air conditioning and I told him I wasn’t calling him a liar that I had made a mistake and thought the room had air conditioning.
I can’t really explain this, it was completely surreal but he told me that I was a troublesome person and that he found me threatening and that he was going to call the police. He said he thought I would damage the property and said I was yelling at him. None of this is true. I can’t exactly put my finger on how it escalated to this but it quickly reached a point where reasoning with the man was not possible. He refused to give me a key and or a refund. I quickly left thinking that this was the kinda reception that did not bode well.
On reflection if I was to say what happened, I think that he became defensive when I asked if he could tell me who else was staying here and my request for another fan. Barcelona is a super hub for tourists. He would no doubt sell that room very quickly again. He already had my money so he had nothing to lose.
I contacted Airbnb once I left. After a couple of hours they had resolved the situation with the host. He did not refund the monies but Airbnb insurance refunded most of it to me. They also offered me some credit to use to make another booking for that night but it was too late by the time they got back to me and I had to make other arrangements out of my own pocket. If it happened a couple of hours earlier in the day it might have been possible to use it.
In conclusion, the people who have this listing should not be trusted. They didn’t care that I had nowhere to stay and they didn’t communicate with me once I left. I use Airbnb as a host also and I would never dream of treating people like this. It was an awful experience and I still can’t quite believe what happened. It really bothers me that they kept my money. I tried to contact the named host, Santos after I left but he didn’t respond. However Airbnb were really helpful . I left the listing at about 7 pm and a couple of hours later they gave me the reassurance that I would get my money back . It was too late to use the credit they offered me as it had to be used that night. But all in all I would be happy to use Airbnb again as a guest.