El Alpendre De la Vega

1. Getting in was a nightmare. We arrived later than planned, so it was dark, but had been expecting the 24 hour front desk listed on the facilities, until a WhatsApp message on the day of arrival giving codes for self check-in. Even finding the front door was difficult. The building is shown on Google Maps as the last one on Calle El Retiro before the roundabout, but you have to walk past 2 or 3 doors and round the corner to the roundabout to get to the entrance. If we'd been told that, and to look for the black security grill gate, it would have been much easier. We couldn't see the black key box for the gate in the dark (the gate is set back and it's on the left hand side of it), but fortunately it was unlocked, giving access to an unlit patio area. There were 3 key boxes marked 3, 4 and 5 from left to right. Ours was apartment 3, but even with my friend shining the torch from his phone onto the box, it was extremely difficult to see the numbers, and having set one, it wasn't easy not to move it by mistake while scrolling for the next number. Eventually we got the keys and went through the door to the left of the key boxes. Inside were 3 doors - a plain white, plus ones for 4 and 5, ie none of them were for apartment 3. I was totally exhausted by this point, so I rang the host. Just as well I speak Spanish, because she wasn't very helpful, but after a few minutes she rang someone in apartment 4 or 5 to show us. All she need have said was to go back up to the patio area, and there's another door there, which is for apartment 3. (Why would you have no 3 to the right of numbers 4 and 5, when the key boxes are 3, 4 and 5 from the left?) Again, with no lighting, it took a while to get the right key in the lock. 2. Light switches.Then you have to try to find the light switch. It's not by the door, but some way round to the right. Anyway, it was such a relief once we were finally in and could see!

There was high humidity in the bathroom and bed smell.

as soon as we entered we smelled cigarette smoke in the house, the only room that didn't smell was the kitchen. the house has no windows except for a small opening in the bathroom. changing the air is impossible. the bedrooms were so full of smell that every time the blanket was moved a gust of smoke smell rose. my daughter coughed all night and my wife who has asthma couldn't breathe. we reported the problems and asked to change apartment. we were offered a deodorant and to change the sheets but this wouldn't have helped with the problem. in the end we were given a refund and we left. the cleaning lady knew that someone had smoked inside the apartment but then why is it rented as smoke free? a place like that, without windows, without air exchange, without an extractor fan, is not suitable to be rented

The apartment was unsuitable for staying in December. It had mold on the walls and on some items. The windows and skylight were leaking water. There was so much humidity that in the morning, we had to dry our clothes with a hairdryer before wearing them. One of the bedrooms was small like a cave and had no window (mold on the walls). The second bedroom had a door to the kitchen, but no window of its own (the kitchen also had no window, it simply connected to the living room which had one). The third bedroom had a window that leaked water and let in cold air at night. Additionally, the roof was leaking, as seen in my photo, they had hung a bucket to collect the water.. It might have been better if we had come in the summer, but mold doesn't just disappear with better weather in a room with no windows. We requested a fan heater or a dehumidifier, but there was no response from the owners. If we had found another available accommodation, we would have left immediately, even if it meant losing money. The worst accommodation in the Canary Islands out of five in total.

The view and smell of close