Cosmo Apartments Passeig de Gràcia

In short, a terrible experience. I stayed two nights, and only after booking on Booking.com did I realize they don’t make it clear that you have to collect the keys yourself from a place 10 minutes away by taxi. It’s a huge inconvenience for travelers, so don’t choose it just for the location. After reading the comments, it seems they’ve been doing this with no intention of changing. They also make you sign a contract saying you can’t leave any food waste behind. Isn’t making yourself at home and cooking part of why people book Airbnb? If they don’t want to deal with food waste, they shouldn’t offer apartments.

The price was hard to beat for what we got. The flat was quiet, spotless, and had everything we needed nearby, with staff reachable on WhatsApp most of the time. I left a few things behind, and they helped arrange to have them sent home by mail. I’d definitely recommend the apartment, even though check-in happened somewhere else.

The worst part was being told to travel across the city to collect the key. We also had to take out our own rubbish, with a penalty from the deposit if we didn't. In the middle of the night, neither card key worked. Staff blamed us for keeping them near a phone, which we hadn't done, kept insisting it was our fault, and told us to come to them. That trip took an hour. The service was awful.

We only learned at the door, after seeing other very angry guests there, that we had to collect our key card from the head office 4 km away. There'd been no warning or check-in instructions at all. Easily the worst check-in.