AinB Picasso-Corders

There are a lot of pictures on e.g. expedia about this hotel. But none of these were from our room which was less nice than these on the official pictures. The King size bed was a little too small for us and had only one big blanket. The bathroom was superficially clean but black in the corndes (mould?). You definetely need a phone with internet access to open the main door and to use the elevator, which opens directly in your room! You get a link to a mobile website where you can open the doors and use the elevator via toggles! The main door was not easy to open (with a lot of power)! I got 3 numbers, where only the WhatsApp number worked. The responses of my messages were fast. We were one hour too early at the location so the mobile website was still locked! I needed to call the reception so the website was unlocked one hour earlier for us which was good! The location is great if you want to walk around the gothic quarter.

CHECK-IN/OUT: Thankfully I had read the reviews before hand, and knew that check in was not in the same local as the apartment. I got their shuttle service from the airport, which was not worth it. It was 45Euro, and the driver was late and texted the whole time he was driving. It would have be more like 23Euro if I had just grabbed a cab. I was concerned about catching a cab back to the airport at 4am, but shouldn’t have been as there were lots of cabs even at that hour. THE ROOM: The room was relatively clean, but there was mildew in the shower. The air conditioner drain line was clogged and left a huge puddle that made the floor very slippery. They came and fixed it the next day, and replaced all the towels. They provided a day bed for me, no charge, and were very helpful with working out the details of my stay. AMENITIES/BUILDING: They provide just enough towels, and enough toilet paper to last you two days. But when I asked they gave me more towels. I was told at check in that if the elevator was broken there were stairs I could use to get to my 5th floor apartment. I am very thankful that didn’t happen, because the STAIRS ARE GLASS, and you can see down all the way to the bottom. I’m afraid of heights, and glass stairs are very hard to see making them hard to navigate. COCKROACHES: I didn’t see the cockroach until near my last day there, and ended up bringing the bugs home with me. :( I sent them a picture of a cockroach on the wall, and they thanked me and that was all. LOCATION: Location was a top priority for me, and they place was perfect. I was able to walk to all of the Festival de Mercè events, many were just a block or two away. Getting to the metro and Regional train stations was also very convenient.

I've had an excellent experience with AinB at their other property, but the apartment on the 5th floor of this building is a disaster. With heavy rains, we had water dripping from the ceiling in four places. there was water running down the interior courtyard staircase. The heavy rains in November may have been unexpected for Barcelona, but that doesn't excuse the state of the maintenance. Although the office staff is very friendly, I was not notified of a change of apartment until we arrived on the first night. I did receive a full refund.