I am a frequent traveler to Barcelona and have stayed in multiple Airbnb's and hotels in the city. I am familiar with the typical standard apartment and enjoy staying in different locations to experience more of the city each time I visit.
This apartment is in an older building with elevator, had basic amenities and was further from the metro stops than anticipated (note that it is uphill from the closet stop). Sadly, we have several other unexpected issues develop that caused some aggravation during our stay. In particular:
- the A/C units are not in the bedrooms. with the bedroom doors closed there is no ventilation other than windows.
- the second bathroom has a good size shower but everything else is tiny. There is space for a full size sink, but they installed a tiny bar size sink instead. The main bathroom is modern and quite nice. (Note the second bathroom was missing a floor mat, and even though I requested one and the host was in the apartment twice during our stay, he did not bring one).
- the washing machine was non-functional as it was missing the door. our host explained that the management company knew of the issue and was in the process of replacing it; however, this occurred during "summer" and was still not yet fixed (our stay was at beginning of October). As having a functional washing machine was a key feature for our stay, we were very disappointed to see this since we had no time during our stay to even visit the public laundry downstairs in the same building (which otherwise would have been quite convenient). After some heated words about this issue, during which our host accused me of complaining for no good reason, he calmed down and offered to have his cleaning crew wash our clothes for us. This was a generous offer and we appreciated it; however, the experience left a very bad taste.
- operation of the WiFi system was explained to us by the host, yet he did not tell us we required a different password for the D-Link unit near the bedrooms. We discovered this ourselves by looking at the D-Link unit for the password.
- there is no documentation in the apartment for anything. no info on where to dispose trash. no info on the operation of the WiFi system. no info on local restaurants, hospitals, taxis, groceries, or any other typical info included by a considerate host.
During the first night I was woken at 4am by an intermittent mechanical noise. When I reported this to the host via WhatsApp he replied "its the first time I hear that", then when we visited later the day (while I was out) he texted me "no noise", "just a bird outside", and implied he has perfect hearing. This is not the response of an experienced host trying to resolve a problem, but a very defensive host blaming the customer for a problem. When I returned that evening I discovered that the noise was from the A/C units (and only starts some time after they are operable, and since they were off during his visit he did not hear the noise).
In general, the apartment was fine, though very basic. Communication with Mario, the host, was quite difficult as he was defensive and combative, blaming me for complaining about everything. In all the Airbnb rentals I've experienced, this was the worst overall experience.