Casa Maribel

I’m writing this to spare someone else the same experience. The message I got about arriving after 2 pm was confusing, with broken English about “come 1800 eating.” When I showed up around 2, I found out I was expected to wait outside until 6 in roughly 40°C heat. The explanation about the air conditioning was some 🤨BS story. I’m hardy and love the outdoors, but I’d avoid this unless you’re desperate for a last-minute place. People shouldn’t mistake goodwill for an opening to take advantage.

Great.

The rooms, toilet, and bathroom were all really clean and nice, and the host was quick to respond and always online. It’s in a great spot, quiet and away from the crowds, with tasty, cheaper food around. Downtown takes 15-20 minutes by bus or you can take the metro. My one real downside was the owner smoking indoors, the cigarette smell is strong. Manuel, maybe try a vape or iqos 🥲. I was happy with my stay overall.

The apartment smelled of smoke, including my room, and there was no kitchen access despite it being advertised. I felt uneasy and asked about it. The owner got annoyed and said I could cancel, but the policy meant I’d lose the night’s money. I asked him to change it so I could get a refund. He said he’d do it right away and told me to leave, but I didn’t trust him. When I insisted he make the change while I watched, he tried to slam the door, pushed my suitcase into me, then shoved me against the wall. My arm hit a concrete edge. It hurt badly, and by evening my forearm was swollen and bruised. I said I was calling the police, then he shut the door. I was shocked and scared he might hurt me again. I’m very petite and he’s big and heavyset. This started soon after I booked through Booking.com, when I got a WhatsApp saying €100 would be taken from my card and returned if I left a good review. That made me suspicious. When I arrived about an hour later, I found a strange old man and the smoky apartment. He said Booking had to refund me, which wasn’t true, and the police seemed to believe him. They were nice, but wouldn’t let me go upstairs with them. They didn’t seem familiar with Booking’s system and seemed keen to finish quickly. Afterward I rang neighbors’ doorbells. One man answered, believed me, and stayed with me until police came. He said the man upstairs was crazy, had scammed many tourists, and that he’d been involved in arguments with him before. I was sobbing and asking for help, so I was grateful he stayed. The police said reporting the injury wouldn’t help much unless I went to hospital first, and it could take a long time if I was traveling back soon. They told me to contact Booking.com and ask for the money, and said they’d only file a fraud report if that didn’t work, so not until the next day. I explained the owner could change the cancellation terms directly and that I wanted proof of the Booking.com connection, but they said they couldn’t do anything, apologized, and left. Please don’t go there. His Booking.com reviews are the best, which makes sense if he’s pressuring people to leave good reviews to get their €100 deposit back. I was assaulted. The next day I went to a clinic in Malaga to have my injuries documented, and also went to the police. They weren’t very helpful. I’m used to things being different in Germany, and I’m sure he even paid the officers that day, since they wanted to leave so quickly.