preface: via tripadvisor were searching for quiet hotel, not in the very center, but a bit off, but within minutes of a metro station.

booking: done directly at hotel, got us a good price for 6 nights towards end of october for a suite (#1601) with breakfast included

transfer: from airport BCN to hotel about 30 minutes, price about 33 EUR, same for transfer back; if you don’t have heavy luggage, take train to City, much cheaper

location: next to GLORIES metro station, takes you to center within minutes, no need to go by bus or tram, across the road a huge shopping center, most shops there open till 10 pm every day

check-in: arrived at 1130 am, were lucky that room was available, check in could be faster, but it seems, they take it very serious; checking-in and out sometimes quite exhausting, as there are often huge masses of guests at the desk queuing

room: a corner room, at the end of the floor, facing the beach front on one side, and up to Tibidabo to the NW, with the Torre Agba dominating the W/NW scene; suite has triangular living room area, and a bedroom area, that may be sealed off by two sliding doors; each of the rooms has their own a/c and flat screen tv. the living room area has a desk, a chair, a sofa, faces the beach front and part of the City; the bedroom faces City up to Tibidabo. great view of the City also at night – all glass fronts. no noise to be heard from main road, but you do hear the elevators moving up and down all the time, provided the a/c isn’t on, the latter is louder than the noise from the elevators, though they are about 10 meters away, on the other side of the hallway.
bathroom has tub and a shower, with the latter a bit narrow, and a toilet as well; there’s a second toilet in the part of the living room area, however, so small, that somebody who is a bit obese might get stuck in there ;-)
all in all however we had some good sleep, didn’t hear any neighbors around us. the room was kept clean and tidy all the time.
the living room area displays a charm of a tunnel of the metro system with regard to lighting, it simply lacks the one or the other ceiling lighting, to avoid a kind of halloween atmosphere (were there when there was halloween ;-)
by the way, in the summer the suite gets pounded by the sun from morning till evening, so a/c on all the times is a MUST then.

service: at the reception ok, despite the massive number of guests approaching the staff there. room-service an epic nuisance, takes two to understand that we want an omelet and a pizza, the latter being far away from a pizza with regard to taste. at least the staff that have direct contact to customers – room service indeed do – should speak some decent english.

breakfast: the lines on our 6 nights’ stay to get into the breakfast area got longer and longer day by day, with a queue on friday of about 10 meters, back to the bridge, almost reaching the reception, that is minimum waiting time of 20 minutes. the hotel has a big problem, too many guests want to have breakfast in too small a place, and that even at times when the hotel is NOT fully booked. it is a massive NUISANCE when you have to wait in line to be seated, because all tables are taken, and you do have a narrow schedule with regard to sight-seeing. once you have made it in there you have to queue again and wait, for eggs sunny side up, for bread, for plates, for milk, for…, for…. absolutely unacceptable!!!! if i was manager i’d do away with the ‘wine-wall’, and place the kids’ corner downstairs, that would increase space enormously, as well as also decrease bloodpressure of many a tourist waiting in line for 20 minutes and more, simply to get some more ar less standard breakfast.
after all this is a tourist hotel, and tourists don’t want to waste time in the breakfast area of a hotel waiting for lots of things, instead being downtown to enjoy the sights. by the way there’s a nice cafeteria in the adjacent building, no queues, all food available and at hand, as we saw when passing by.
when addressing the management because of the disastrous breakfast experiences, during our stay already, we got a standard excuse, addressing us not by our name, but by some french name, and we had signed the email with our name and room number, so far for management quality.

concluding, if we had to book again, yes, room was ok, but no breakfast, save the euros and get better breakfasts at other places, nearby or downtown, to where it takes less time than for waiting for breakfast in the hotel.

tips: * get rooms as far away from elevators as possible, in case you are noise sensitive
** no need to take the hop-on-hop-off busses, all sights and attractions may be reached easily by metro.
*** metro tickets cheap when you buy eg block of 10 (less than 10 euros)
**** DO BOOK tickets for sagrada familia on ticketmaster already at home, waiting times are enormous. try to get the 0900-1100 slot, be there at 0850, enter at ‘ticket-already’ entrance at 0900, and get up the towers immediately, later long waiting times as well ! enjoy your stay.


PS: why ** ? if all had been perfect, i'd give ****, the room was ok, but breakfast, as well as room service (pizza....) an epic nuisance, so 50% off, else i don't need any services from the hotel, as a sightseeing guest