I wasn't sure what to expect with my first airbnb experience, and even though this was ultimately not a terrible experience I was left feeling very let down. The professional looking pics and description of a newly renovated flat is completely untrue as the place is really old, and the pics were clearly taken a while back.
I'm not sure if it's a standard, but all the bed covers and towels are old and grey with overwashing and even though we were assured by the owner that everything was clean, I asked that bedding be replaced as some of the bed covers had stains.
For a flat built to accommodate 8 people (we were 7 people and a baby), we only had 2 cereal bowls and when we requested more we were only given 1 more. We also requested extra mugs and an iron and those were provided promptly the next morning. The kitchen utensils are old and we had pots without lids and items that needed a lot of cleaning before we could use them.
On the positives, the place is cleaned daily for free and towels are replaced every 2nd day. The staff at the front desk are very friendly and the lady who checked us in was great with her suggestions and explanations.
The owner, Joan, assisted us with extra pillows as the single pillow provided was pretty flat. He was also very willing to show us key points of interest and also happily arranged a flamenco show for us by calling and reserving our tickets. He also assisted by arranging a taxi for our final departure to the airport. We checked out in the morning by 8.30 and were told our bags would be brought down for us but we had to bring them down ourselves when we arrived in the afternoon as the staff were not told of this instruction and they seemed a bit agitated that we would impact the next reservation.
We requested to fetch our bags by 5pm as we had late flights out but the bags could only be held until 3.30pm as the staff are only on site from 9-3.
The flat is close to the Vallcarca and Lesseps stations which takes you easily to all points of interest in Barcelona, and is also located very close to Parc Guell.
It's a decent location if you don't mind the above, but I will not stay here again as the pictures and description are very deceiving and it just felt grungy.