The Barcelona Universal has an excellent location 20 metres from the Parral.lel subway station. Its a 10 minute walk to the foot of Las Ramblas, the same to the Gothic Quarter and 20 minutes to Port Vell.
The staff speak excellent English and are very helpfull.
The Hotel is only 3 years old. The rooms are well designed, very clean and spacious enough. The only problem is the wooden floors and lack of sound proofing. We were woken on a few occasins by people above us either talking loudly (not shouting) or worse, taking a leak ! God forbid if the person above you has high heels and starts walking around at 03:00 in the morning. If it wasn't for this I would have given this hotel a 4 rating.
A couple of things to note:
1. As mentioned by others, this hotel has interior rooms with no window. We asked for a room at the back of the hotel with a window and were accomodated (we wanted a higher floor with a room facing Avenida Parrallel, but there were none left).
2. The hotel pool is more od a plunge pool, not a swimming pool.
3. Dont bother with the hotel breakfast. Walk outside, turn left, proceed 50 metres and go into the cafe that sits under the hotel next door. Good service, coffee and reasonable breakfasts.











