We decided to celebrate Christmas in Barcelona and spent 7 days in this apartment with 5 adults and 4 children of various ages. I have a mixed view of our stay - whilst there are things we were happy with, others clearly need to be addressed before this appartment is rented to any further visitors.
The team at Lodging Barcelona provided a good service in general terms. The communication before check-in was good and fluid (both via the airbnb platform and later via WhatsApp) and during our stay we had a number of issues that they helped us with without delay, which was very much appreciated. However, there are several problems with the appartment that clearly need to be solved and which we were not aware prior arrival:
1. There was a significant amount of frost in the fridge, which we had to get rid of before we could make actual use of it
2. The dishwasher is full of rust and the trays inside are basically falling into pieces
3. The balcony door in one of the main bedrooms is broken so you cannot close it properly, letting in cold and noise from the street traffic at night
4. Many of the bed mattresses are rather old (springs) and for some (we had an elderly person) it was really difficult to sleep at night and get some rest
5. Kitchen tools were missing for basic cooking.
The team at Lodging responded well to our requests during our stay (including the missing welcome kit (basic salt, soap, tee towel, etc) which was delivered a day later) and they kindly gave us a 50% discount on the cleaning service due to the place not being up to standards. Whilst we appreciated the gesture, the reality is that having to spend precious time on your family holidays sorting out all of these things is far from ideal.
On the other hand, and to provide a balance assessment, the size, distribution and location of the appartment are really good and we could move around very easily. It is close to the sea front, as well as the old part of the city, and very close to supermarkets.
However, as an overall review, I would not recommend to rent this place until all of these issues have been addressed. The place clearly needs maintenance investment before it can be put out on the rental market again.