SCQ homes

It was okay for one night for the price and comfort. Still, the interior felt run-down and unwelcoming, and the kitchen needs work. The heating was the biggest problem: it only came on at night, and even then it didn't always work.

The location is the best part, and the automatic heating did make the room warm at night. The bed was comfortable too, though there wasn't much else to like, and the damp smell stayed the whole time. The apartment was very clean when we first arrived, but a few hours later it smelled like an old, damp house. We had to put up with that for our two days there. I noticed quite a lot of dampness in the corners, and suspect the panel behind the headboard covers much of it. For what we paid, staying somewhere with that damp and odor wasn't acceptable to me. The Booking.com photos made the apartment look much bigger than it was. It was small, especially the bathroom: the toilet was squeezed in with only two or three centimeters between it and the wall and shower screen. Water leaked from the shower tray and pooled on the floor when we showered. The mirror light also didn't work.

The apartment was quiet and peaceful, with a kitchen that had a stove, fridge, microwave, coffee maker, and even a washing machine. That washer is handy if you've just finished the Camino de Santiago. It's a good place to stay in Santiago de Compostela, very close to the historic center. There are lots of restaurants and places to buy souvenirs nearby, as well as supermarkets and bakeries.

We arrived expecting a superior apartment, thinking it would be above the first-floor place we had booked the year before. Instead, it was on another street, in a different building, and on the first floor. It felt claustrophobic and didn't match the high price. There was also a locked door that kept us from using and enjoying part of the apartment. The many photos show different apartments without making clear which is which, so you don't know what you'll get until you arrive. We had booked an entire apartment with Lorena and had been delighted the previous year, but this time we felt cheated. The place didn't match the photos or the price, so we tried to cancel as soon as we arrived and saw it. They refused, kept our money, and put it back up for booking. We ended up with no apartment and no money, and were charged the cancellation fee as well. Lorena kept the full amount, offered no alternative, and didn't refund anything. Booking.com didn't protect us or offer a solution. Be very careful: you could arrive, find the apartment disappointing, be unable to cancel or get your money back, and lose the apartment too.