The apartment is lovely, well decorated, quiet and in a great location. The area (chueca) has heaps of cool bars, restaurants and shopping boutiques and walking distance to the centre. There are a couple of underground car parks a short walk from the apartment for 25-30 Euro per 24 hours. The bedrooms are spacious with great closet space. The beds are comfortable and the kitchen is well appointment with dishwasher and washing machine.
However, unfortunately the apartment had not been cleaned. This meant we spent the first night of our time in Madrid cleaning and attending to the apartment. This included having to defrost the fridge and freezer to be able to use it and mop up a flooded bathroom due to a drain blocked with hair(details below). We contacted the host who responded initially letting us know he would discuss the issues with the manager but we have not had a reply for over two weeks.
- The bathroom was dirty, with hair, soap and scum in the shower and basin and again the floor had not been cleaned. The catch in the shower drain had not been emptied for some time, it was full of hair, this led to the shower filling with water and the bathroom flooding with water after 10 seconds of being in the shower.
- The kitchen was also unclean, the dishes and glasses were dirty.
- the apartment had a very musty smell.
- the fridge and freezer door had been left open for a period of time resulting in the fridge and freezer freezing over and we were unable to use the fridge or freezer as the ice was preventing the door from being closed or from being able to open the drawers in the freezer. We contacted the host as soon as we realised and he sent a technician out to the apartment. The technician viewed the fridge, turned it off and told us to leave the door open to the fridge and then close it in the morning when the ice had melted and turn the fridge back on. After 15 mins the ice in the fridge and freezer began to melt and big blocks off it were falling out of the fridge onto the kitchen floor. It could not just be left, it needed to be properly defrosted by hand or water would have filled the kitchen.
- As a result of the above, we spent the first night in the apartment mopping up the flooded bathroom with towels and then defrosting the fridge and freezer and mopping up the water in the kitchen. We were also not able to use the fridge until 11am the following day when all the ice had melted, the fridge door was able to be shut and the fridge cooled down enough. We then had to do a load of washing for the towels we had to use and hang them out.
- There was also no toilet paper.