Unfortunately, I have to say that this was my worst Airbnb experience so far and I am honestly surprised that this place has so many positive reviews. Me and my wife are not very demanding persons, we used apartment only to sleep there and take a shower, most of the days we was out of it from early morning till late in the evening, but I simply have to write this detailed and mostly negative review here to warn other guests what to expect.
Pedro wasn’t waiting for us when we arrived, but young man who was obviously there to clean, prepare the apartment and wait for us. Two days before out trip we sent message to Pedro to confirm that we will arrive at the apartment between 16:15 and 16:30 h. We arrived exactly at 16:15 and rang on intercom, but nobody was answering. 10-15 minutes later and after our 3rd or 4th ring, somebody finally answered, but only to inform us that we have to wait a little bit more until he finishes cleaning (so, at 16:30h the apartment still wasn’t cleaned and ready, although check-in time was from 15:00h). It took another 15-20 minutes until young man finally opened the door and let us in the building. To summarize: we were left waiting on the street, in the sun, on 35°C, with our luggage, for at least 30 minutes, although we informed host in advance when exactly we are arriving and we appeared exactly at announced time. Even if everything else was perfect, Pedro would deserve and get big minus for this.
Unfortunately, there were other things too that were far from perfect. The apartment is on 4th floor without elevator, which is mentioned under description and we were prepared on this, but the stairway is also very narrow, with very bad, steep and bumpy wooden stairs. You have to literary watch every step and it is very difficult to walk upstairs, especially with luggage in your hands (it is so narrow that you have to walk somehow sideways, it is impossible to carry your suitcase beside you). The building is old and poorly maintained. The apartment is very small, but we were expecting this and it wasn’t a problem. Air conditioner was turned on when we entered and it contained deodorant with very intensive smell which made us sick (we were avoiding to use it at all during our stay, although it was quite hot in Madrid at the beginning of September). As soon as we turned off air conditioner, we understood that this intense deodorant was there on purpose: to camouflage smell of moisture and damp which was present in whole apartment and especially in the bathroom. There were some cleanliness issues also: dishes weren’t clean, so we had to thoroughly wash them again, bedspread was dusty and smelled on moist, so obviously it wasn’t washed for long time, etc. etc.
However, two worst things about apartment were: sound insulation and bed. Bed was so uncomfortable that 2 of us barely managed to sleep at all and we were periodically waking up the whole nights long. Actually, this is not real bed at all, but simple mattress placed on top of another mattress or sponge. It is uneven and beveled, so we constantly had a feeling that we will roll out of it. It would be better if the mattress is just placed directly at the floor. Sound insulation practically does not exist, so we heard neighbors climbing the stairs, opening and shutting the doors almost as loud as they were in our apartment. In one of the neighboring flats tenant had visitors all nights long, so it was very noisy until early morning hours all 6 nights we spent there.
The only really good thing about this apartment is its location, which is actually great. 15 minutes from Atocha train station, 5 minutes from Reina Sofia Museum, 10 minutes from Prado Museum, 15 minutes from Porta del Sol and Plaza Mayor, 20 minutes from Plaza de Oriente …. everything is at walking distance from apartment. We didn’t use metro at all, except to catch bus to Toledo and to the airport when we were leaving.
Sorry Pedro, I wish I could write more positive review, but I think you will have to invest a little bit in the apartment if you want more satisfied guests: first of all in hydro insulation (to fix the problem with bad smell) and new bed (to improve, or better to say, create reasonable level of comfort). I think that you should also take more care about hygiene and especially, to respect your guests’ valuable time and not let them keep waiting in the street when they arrive at agreed time.