I visited Madrid with my brother for relaxing vacation. Our hosts, Sara and Victoria, are kind and have a very clean apartment. When we arrived we were shown all the amenities available to us. The WiFi quality was good and allowed us to keep in contact with friends and family while we were there.
However, there are some things about the room that aren’t made clear in the description.
-There is no air conditioning in the room. There is one in the living room, but I never saw it turned on. There is a ceiling fan in the bedroom, but it does not work. Nights were very hot and not having any cooling other than the window was not ideal, especially as mosquitos would come in through the mesh-less window.
-The room description says it has 2 beds. What is not said is that the 2 twin size beds cannot be separated. We were told that moving one of the beds from its original location will damage the paint. I understand this, but believe we should have been notified in advance.
-There was no lock on the door to our room and the hosts went into our room twice while we were away. Nothing was taken.
-We were told to be quiet, but the neighbors are not. People can be heard laughing and talking loudly at 3am. This combined with the heat and insects made sleep difficult
-No showers are allowed after midnight. This was not listed in the room description.
-There’s a man in the apartment that isn’t mentioned in the description. I saw him in the morning, which was fine as I’d expect such nice people to have friends. But he was there again at 1am in the morning and stayed the night. He was sociable, but smokes indoors. He politely blows the smoke out of a window, but the smell is still strong. As a result, I would not recommended this room for people with asthma or breathing issues.
Overall I consider my time with Sara and Victoria as a great cultural experience. By living with them I gained an understating of life in Madrid that I could not have gained staying in a hotel. With that said, as this was a vacation, I would have appreciated more freedom in my living space, and definitely a functional fan or air conditioner.