Bonavista Apartments - Virreina — Hotel in Barcelona

We booked two rooms for our family of 8. Somehow, the machine for the keys “malfunctioned” (we still don’t know how this is even possible) and gave us one wrong key (for a different room). We were obviously fully unaware of this. We left our things and went to have dinner. When we came back, we encountered Victor (the guy in charge of the check in) in the lobby, who then proceeded to tell us (in an absolutely horrible manner) that we had purposely entered the wrong room, that the machine had not malfunctioned and rather that it had been OUR fault (although he was unable to give an explanation to how or why we could’ve been able to do this) and that we should’ve just known that our reservation was for a different room (?). He then told us that since he had been unable to get in contact with us for under ONE hour, he had taken ALL of our things out of the room, thrown them in the hallway, and forced us out of the apartment. Not only is this fully illegal, but it is also extremely humiliating. He did this in the lobby, in front of the other family. We proceeded to try to explain that we had previously stayed here before, that we liked the place and that we didn’t even have a single reason to try and enter a different room, and rather that it had all been a misunderstanding and we had absolutely NO problem whatsoever moving to a different room. However, Victor was impossible to reason with (he even said that he would not waste his time discussing with us), and continued to speak to us in a violent manner. When we got upstairs, we found all of our luggage (open) thrown on the hallway, our passports and wallets included, our phones and chargers thrown as well, and EVEN my grandfather’s heart rate monitor and respiratory aid OPENED and thrown, forcing my grandpa to struggle to find all the loose cables and get them back in the case. Not only was this experience humiliating and dangerous, but NEVER in our lives have we encountered someone so rude and violent in an airbnb/hotel experience before. When my mom said “Why are you treating us like thieves?” He answered “you are thieves”. He laughed at us when we tried to explain, and told us that “it was all our fault”. He even told the other clients in front of us that “we had purposely gone into their room”, insinuating that we were trying to rob them. I would like to clarify again that the problem was never changing rooms: rather the horrible attitude and mistreatment that we received for a mistake that wasn’t ours. As I said, we have stayed here before and we’ve never had any issues, as we have always been good hosts. The treatment we received was hurtful, insulting, and illegal. We will NEVER be returning and will be making an official...

The good:

The apartment is located in the Gracia neighborhood with many restaurants, cafes and shops around and with easy access to public transport. It is well equipped and looks like it has been recently renovated.

The bad: The sofa bed mattress is very thin and uncomfortable, you can feel the metal frame while laying on it.

The ugly: Our room was infested with bedbugs. We contacted the management and kindly requested that they inspected the apartment and change all the bed sheets. They initially appeared to show concern and requested some photos, (which we didn’t have when we first contacted them), but they agreed to check the apartment anyway. Later that day they wrote back telling us that they’ve inspected the apartment and did not find any evidence of bedbugs, but said they will change the sheets anyway just in case. When we came back to the apartment, the beds were made but the sheets had not been changed, we found a dead bedbug and blood stains on them. During the night, after going to the bathroom, I checked the sofa bed and also found live bedbugs on it. I was obviously disgusted and extremely angry about this so I wrote a detailed email with attached pictures and videos to which I received no reply whatsoever. When I informed them about our check out, I mentioned the un-replied email and my disappointment about their lack of customer service and empathy. I received a reply later that day with a non-apology and an elaborate story about how my email with the photos and videos was conveniently sent to the spam folder. I’d like to point out that during my communications with the management company they always tried to appear polite but they never accepted any responsibility, they explained how the apartments supposedly get regular pest treatments and how they use bedbug proof linens etc. We were told by one member of the staff that they’d never had bedbugs before and by another more senior member that they’ve only had three bedbugs cases in the past and that in all cases it has been the guests who have brought them in their luggage (essentially passing the blame on to us) Needless to say, we will no...

It was a last minute booking from our side. When we arrived, our apartment had a terrible cigarette smoke smell. When I called them to cancel the booking they said that we should go up to the 4th floor and they will be there. We had to wait for 15 mintues and they finally arrived to show us another apartment which looked much older and shabbier than something you can see in the photos on their website. When we said, we don't like the apartment and won't be staying here, the answer was "No problem, just pay for the first night". When I refused to do so, the guy got quite mad and started accusing me that "You think you could just show up here and say that you don’t like the apartment without paying?”.
After some time he said that he doesn’t want to waste his precious time on me and jumped into the elevator. We were waiting for the elevator for a few minutes but it didn’t come. When we took the stairs we saw that the same guy blocked the elevator with his scooter to make us carry the bags with the stairs. Great customer...