Extraordinarily nice apartment with a few quirks to be aware of before booking. The apartment itself was just renovated down to the studs. Everything is brand new and fixtures, appliances and finishes are all high end. Huge closets. It's as if the place were renovated for sale rather than short-term rental. Radiant floor heat in bathrooms, TVs in every room, blazing fast wifi, great beds, quality linens. The host representative was also extremely responsive. Location in the city also great for tourism. Multiple metro and bus stops as well as easy walking proximity to Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor, Malasaña and other spots.
This would be a flat five-star rating but for the following quirks. The apartment is on the street level of a narrow street with tiny sidewalks. It looks like it might have been a retail space or entryway before conversion. As a result, the apartment doesn't get a lot of natural light and is very exposed to street noise. If somebody walks down the street talking, it's like they are in the room with you. We stayed Saturday to Friday and the noise was only a major issue on Saturday, when folks were hanging out in the street (spillover from the club a couple doors down street) until after 3:00 AM. If you sleep in the back bedroom with door closed, you don't hear anything, so this is manageable if you don't need the front bedroom.
The other issue is that management was only willing to provide a single key. If you expect to do any activity separately from your travel companion or companions, this can be a real inconvenience, as it was in our case.