This was me and my friend's first experience on Airbnb. I wish I could say it was a good one...
My friend and I drove from Germany, stayed overnight in France and arrived in Madrid about 10pm. Between road conditions and traffic we had no idea about our arrival time. (It REALLY is a long drive!!)
The communications with Juan Carlos leading up to our time spent at the flat seemed ok, until the last couple of days where he started to become combative and demanding of our specific arrival time. We repeatedly explained that we were unsure of our exact time. I was completely stressed out and miserable about it by the time we arrived. Juan Carlos in person seemed nice enough. He carried our bags up the tiny/narrow 3 flights of stairs to the tiny flat at the back of the modest building.
The flat seemed very modest, but adequate for 2 quiet, mature women and 1 tiny dog. We had been reassured by Juan that there were 3 BEDs. Please know that by "beds" he means TINY IKEA chairs which can be unfolded to flat. Perfect for anyone UNDER 10. Not good for adults. My friend and I were left with having to SHARE an uncomfortable twin bed for 6 days. We each felt too bad to make the other sleep on the tiny furniture.
The shower was SO TINY without shelves so if you drop something you don't have room to bend over to pick it up. I kept hearing yelps of pain from every time my friend turned around in the shower and hitting the temperature lever shooting drastically hot or freezing water on her.
The refrigerator kept the food / drinks at perfect room-temperater. The pots and pans were in drastic need of replacement. The stove was perfect for burning whatever you longed to cook.
We really had a miserable time in this TINY flat. (I mean SO tiny the entire flat would fit into my BEDROOM of my modest condo.) 3 TINY windows. Very little light. I will say it was quiet, when you consider the super sketchy characters loitering1/2 block away. There were several easy to walk to grocery stores very close and the metro was also a quick walk. The best part of the place was a very cute /fun jazz bar/club/restaurant at the end of the block.
When we left we followed all directions of THROUGHLY cleaning the place and removing all garbage. Since Juan Carlos had us take in and fold his previous guest's linens, and we paid a 25 Euro cleaning charge, we felt free to go. Juan Carlos contacted me after we left to complain about the state we left the place. I wish I had taken photos of the place when we left because I had a sneaking suspicion I was going to hear more complaints from him. All in all, a HUGE disappointment all wrapped up into a TINY flat.