This is a difficult review to give as Hector is a very friendly guy, but as a frequent user of Airbnb I feel I must be transparent with other guests.
We booked to stay for a month, so our review would be different to others. For those on a budget wishing for a shorter stay, Hector’s place is located perfectly to explore Valencia and may be suitable. Also being a DJ he is a social person, often hosting friends at the house or going out late at night. If this aligns with how you like to travel you could have some fun here.
However, we chose to stay only 3 of the 4 weeks we booked, and had Airbnb been more responsive to our messages we would’ve chosen to move sooner.
Before arriving we were told we had to be clean and keep ‘normal’ hours (these weren’t specified) as his housemate had work. These rules seemed to only apply to us, not the host.
We are aware lots of people smoke in Europe. That’s their choice but we would’ve booked elsewhere if we’d realised there was smoking in every room in the house- including the toilet. The description does state ‘smokers welcome’ so perhaps we misinterpreted what this meant. If you have asthma, it’s worth noting this place isn’t for you.
The light switch in our room didn’t work and the place is pretty dark. Hector did provide a lamp. It’s also very hot in Valencia in summer and the place is old so has no air conditioning or fans. We had the doors closed to avoid the smoke (and for privacy) so this didn’t allow the breeze to come through, though there was a breeze from the balcony doors on an evening.
Everywhere in Spain is loud, it’s a fact of life there and something you must get used to. This apartment is no exception. You can hear much of the neighbours activity. The doors are frosted glass and make an incredibly loud bang when allow to slam shut, which happened with incredibly frequency morning and night.
The place was quite dirty, even upon our arrival, which was just after the cleaner had been. And was only cleaned once every two weeks.
The kitchen is small but semi-equipped. If you are the sort of traveller who prefers to cook at home this place is ok. But be aware there is no normal oven and the plates and bowls all had cracks with food remnants in them. Some new (albeit cheap) crockery wouldn’t go astray.
The shower floods the floor, this is near impossible to avoid for a shower longer than 1 minute. If you have long hair washing it can be very problematic. We know this is probably very hard to fix, but it made things difficult. The shower also became blocked in our stay (it seems all Valencian plumbing is questionable though) Hector agreed to have this looked at.
Hector allowed us to use the washing machine regularly and provided us with a drying rack, this was helpful.
Hector and his housemate gave us recommendations for local places to check out. This was also helpful.
I wish I could fill this review with more positivity, but it really was a very difficult and at times upsetting experience. We had very little sleep for three weeks and as we work as we travel, this was greatly impacted. All of this was discussed with Hector after our departure and he was very apologetic, agreeing to work on our suggestions for a better guest experience.