Barcelona Sants Station Apartments

We arrived in Barcelona at 4pm and headed straight to the apartments. I'd booked via lastminute.com and the website stated the apartments front desk was manned 24/7 so I wasn't overly concerned that we'd received a confirmation email from lastminute.com at the time of booking but nothing from the apartment company. When we got there, however, there was no manned desk. We got intouch with lastminute.com using their chat service and as a result were sent an email with the number if the apartment building security code. We could then access the lobby but not any individual apartment. There were 3 separate telephone numbers to ring but none of them were answered by anyone, despite multiple calls. We tried the lastminute chatbot again and was told our concerns would be escalated. By now we were starting to become really concerned. We had all of our luggage and were basically sat out in the street trying to access the apartment. After trying the chatbot a third time we explained a member of our group has autism and was starting to feel overwhelmed. We explained that it was now almost 7pm and we were no closer to getting into the apartment that we would have to make alternative accommodation at least overnight as we hadn't even eaten at this point. We were reassured by lastminute.com that the cost of an emergency hotel would be covered by them and we booked 2 rooms at the nearby "superhotel" adding another €167 onto our costs. We went for a meal, luggage in tow, only to then receive a phone call from lastminute.com to say they'd contacted someone from the apartment company and I had to ring him immediately as he was outside the apartment. I immediately rang him only for him to ask if I had WhatsApp (I remain puzzled that they didnt try contact me this way prior to our stay or include the whatsap number in the lastminute.combooking details). He then sent me a code for the apartment via whatsap. I explained we had booked a hotel overnight so would not access the apartment until the following morning. The following morning we were able to access the apartment. It was clean but smelled a little musty from not being aired out. The shower head holder in one bathroom was broken so you had to shower holding onto the shower head. There were skirting boards hanging off the walls and the soundproofing wasn't great so you could hear occupants of the other apartments having gatherings until 2am most nights. Lastminute.com now refuse to give us a refund despite them asking and us providing proof of our hotel cost. They claim we should have contacted the apartment 24-48 hours before our arrival although this was not stipulated on any documentation we received prior to our trip. I feel really disappointed in the level of service and won't be using lastminute.com ever again. Anyone booking with either company- beware!

We really liked our apartment and it was in a fantastic location. Check-in process was simple and staff were all very friendly. Fantastic value for money too. It is near a school and you do get a slight vibration from the metro but it's no where near as bad as what other reviewers have said! To be honest, if you're that bothered by a little bit of noise, don't choose a city break! Yes there were one or two small issues but nothing worth mentioning. For the price we paid and the size, layout and location of the apartment I would highly recommend it.