There are a few pros and cons to this listing that I would have appreciated knowing in advance of our stay.
Pros:
- Location is excellent. The entire city feels very accessible and there are grocery stores and pharmacies nearby for any of your traveling needs.
- The space is fairly functional. It's nice that there is a desk in the living room and that the living area and bedroom are separated by a corridor.
- Alvaro is very responsive on the app. Be aware that you will not interact with him; the person/people you will meet will be staff who work for and communicate directly with him. They will check you in and out and help you store your luggage if needed.
- Early check-in and luggage storage after check-out are both available. This was incredibly helpful!
Cons:
- The apartment was not very clean, particularly the bathroom. We found what looked like a few specks of blood on one of the bathroom walls and some caked-on orange substance on a wall in the shower. Not appealing. Also, several of the dishes in the cupboards were dirty and had old food caked on to them.
- There is very little hot water available; more specifically, there is not enough for two people to take approximately 7 minute showers at a hot temperature, or even for one person to take a 10-minute shower. We asked about this but the staff member who came to the apartment simply said that the water should stay hot and there was no way it was running out that quickly. Given there was nothing else that we could do, we adapted by turning off the shower when we weren't actively in the stream and only running the water to rinse off. This way, both of us could have showers that were moderately hot. Once the hot water is used up, it takes several hours to return to full strength again. It is located in the apartment and has indicator lights that show you the heating process. This was a challenging part of the stay--who doesn't love a hot shower?!
- There were very little amenities provided in terms of the small things that really contribute to a stay. For example, we had to buy our own coffee and coffee filters, there were no dish sponges or dishwasher liquid available. We bought laundry detergent since we had to do laundry during our stay, and left that and the coffee/filters behind--hopefully they will benefit the next guest!
All in all, it was an okay stay thanks to the pros, but we would not stay here again on a return trip to Madrid because of the cons.