We stayed in this flat for 3 weeks in July, so we know the space very well. Overall, the #1 positive for this place is its location, but this flat also needs a lot of maintenance from routine wear and tear. We give our July experience a 3/5 rating (average) and we might stay here again but we’d look elsewhere first. This place could be a 4 or 5 out of 5 if it were maintained. Read on for more details.
Location, location, location! The location of this place is THE main reason we would consider staying here again since we want to be in the heart of Eixample. If you are looking for walking distance to the beach, don’t stay here. We have a growing business in Barcelona, so our main goal was to be very centrally located over the 3 weeks of our stay.
Other meaningful positives include: the wifi was very fast and stable on both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz, which was also very important to us since we were on business; all beds have memory foam mattresses, which was important to us since we have memory foam back home - we slept great; the washer-dryer are the more powerful American style, as opposed to the European low power style; the air conditioning units (“splits”) worked great and were in each room.
The overarching theme of the negatives is the general maintenance or design of the flat. This place has very high usage and occupancy rates, and we understand this concept especially for summer in Barcelona. However, the whole place needs to be tightened up. There are loose items and handles everywhere. We kept a list for the owner and passed it along.
There are two big negative items a tenant needs to know, based on our experience. There is a smell to the flat, and we traced it to sewer gas smell coming up from the bathroom sinks. From what we saw, at least 2 of the 3 bathroom sinks do not have curved drain traps, so there is no water threshold to block the sewer gas. We lived with it, but every time we came home, you could immediately smell it since all our windows and doors were kept closed while away. Yes, opening up all the windows and doors resolved it. We do not know if this smell is present in cooler months, but we would expect it to be present in warmer months when the hot air rises.
The second big negative item is the terrace wood flooring. This terrace is great, except for the poor flooring installation. None of the wood floorboards were installed with screws. Instead, they used tongue-and-groove for an installation method which did not hold up against the humidity and heat of Barcelona. There are significant warps in some places, and younger children should not be on the terrace. Although we (as adults) enjoyed sitting on the terrace in the evenings, we think this is a safety issue for anyone. Carlos did say that he is aware of this problem and was planning to fix it in the near future.