I recently took a two-week vacation to Madrid and Sicily; the first 6 nights being in a hostel in Madrid. Originally, I had booked an apartment there, but I (thankfully) did a quick review of my accommodation choice a few weeks prior.
The reviews by other travelers that had posted since the time of my booking were terrible…. ratings of 2 out of ten terrible. I cancelled it and looked for a new arrangement.
I’m a budget traveler, and typically reserve via Booking.com or Airbnb.com. I tend to choose options with a refrigerator at the very least, if not a full kitchen set up so that I can eat in much of the time.