Apartamentos Balisse

Our week-long stay, starting August 6th, was ruined. From the first day, the air conditioning wouldn’t switch off, and for several nights we had to sleep under blankets in a room below 10°C, in the middle of summer. A week later there was still no fix. There was no hot water either. We got rude, disrespectful replies instead of help, and were accused of lying. One staff member came into our room without permission after we’d clearly said no. We paid €2,000 for the hotel, and this was completely unacceptable. Other hotels let you adjust or turn off the air conditioning yourself. We all got sick and had to buy medication.

Our stay was terrible, and we’d never recommend this place. We paid a high price for the largest, most expensive apartment, with the big terrace, but a flight cancellation cut our seven nights down to five. Even in that shorter time, we ran into a lot of problems that seemed easy to fix. The terrace didn’t feel private. On the second evening, workmen came onto the roof at 8 PM without warning. Cleaners also came at random times each day, disrupting our plans. On the last morning, while we were having breakfast, a cleaner sprayed window cleaner and swept the floor. Four or five men were on the roof on and off while we tried to enjoy our “private” space, again with no notice or thought for our convenience. We left the workmen on the roof, but the door was left unlocked, and when we came back, guests from another apartment were using our terrace. The owner blamed us for not locking the door. We said we’d locked it every time we left, only to find it unlocked on our return, but got no reply. The amenities didn’t match what we expected either. The sun loungers had no soft mattresses like the ones shown in the pictures, and the clothes rack was broken when we came back from the beach and wanted to dry our towels. The air conditioning kept blowing cold air even when switched off, leaving the apartment freezing, so we had to use the heating at night. The air extraction system was so noisy we had to switch it off at the circuit breaker to sleep. The description included an iron, but there wasn’t one when we arrived. We asked for it the first evening and, after repeated reminders over two days, two different people delivered two irons. Management was dismissive and blamed us for the problems. We asked for a partial refund and were told it depended on us leaving a positive review first. That felt like an attempt to silence honest feedback, and it made it seem that money mattered more than guest satisfaction. This was the first truly terrible stay we’d had in years of traveling, especially for such expensive accommodation. It also left us wondering whether positive reviews were genuine or influenced by small refunds to keep them positive.

The apartment was spotless and fully equipped, with fast, good internet and all the kitchenware we needed. We had quick, good contact with the host during our wonderful stay in Castelldefels. It was very noisy, though. We could hear both the neighbours and the upstairs neighbours, including children running. Finding evening parking can also be a real problem because the whole neighbourhood fills up. Even so, I’d definitely like to come back.

We stayed for five days in these lovely apartments, which had everything we needed. They’re very central for bars and restaurants, and close to the beach. I’d highly recommend them. Have a great stay there, Elaine, Philip.