Although Marcelo was traveling at the time we made the booking, he responded quickly and and addressed my concern that since he allows smoking, there might be a smell in the apartment. He assured me they would take care of that, and in fact there was no trace of previous smokers in the house. He also arranged for us to get the keys from the doorman and all went smoothly.
The apartment is beautiful, light filled and spacious. We loved lingering her in the mornings to enjoy our coffee and returning at night with groceries bought at the nearby Mercadona, a normal supermarket paired with fish, cheese, meat and fruit market stalls. This is not a touristy area, but is a 10-20 minute walk to the Atocha station and the main museums, plus a quick three metro stop ride to Puerta del Sol.
The apartment looks exactly like the pictures and is even larger than we had imagined. We highly recommend it.