for the past few years, we have rented an apartment for a few days on our annual trip to europe. this year, we want to rent an apartment in barcelona for 5 nights. we typically scour the internet for apartments, checking photos, location, etc and then enter into negociations with company/owner. we have had great experiences the last two years.
this year, we found an appropriate apartment (on plaza cataluyna)for a fair price. however the company/owner does not respond to any e-mails/ questions. i am reluctant to send off 500 euros based on a web site photos without some sort of assurance that the company is straight up honest. does anybdy know http://www.athome-barcelona.com or might know a short term apartment rental firm in barcelona?

I'm not familiar with this apartment, but one we looked into for our trip was www.barcelona-guesthouse.com; in case you're looking into other options.

We did not end of staying there so I can't opine on how good the apartment actually is (I chose a hostal instead), but the website looked good and the owner was helpful and quick to respond via email to my questions.

-el tio

Not too surprising you didn't get a response to emails. MANY MANY Spaniards are only now coming back from a monthlong vacation/holiday so if the owner returned recently (s)he likely has hundreds of emails to go through before getting to yours. Other Spaniards take vacations in September because August may be a peak month for them.

Remember, you'll find dozens and dozens of Barcelona apartments on the Barcelona Apartments page here on MadridMan.com.

Saludos, MadridMan