Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar - I thought Spain was melting down in crisis, how are even crappy hotels >100Euro?

I guess I'm just out of touch with how expensive things are in Southern Europe lately?

Looking at hotels for a trip to Barcelona, Madrid, in late May, I'm amazed at how expensive crappy, no name 2 star hotels are (>100 Euro), and other places (Starwood, etc) are just ridiculous (>300). Also in general there seem to be few of the reliable but boring chains -- every hotel you have to do Tripadvisor research and find out whether it can be trusted.

What happened to economic meltdown, and the hope of things being cheaper?

Hmm.

Well, I see the LeMeridien Barcelona 218e and the W there is 222e over Labor Day weekend. Pretty good for those properties if you don't have the *points for a reward stay.

What days exactly are you looking at? There might be something going on in BCN and MAD on those days.

Next weekend (22nd) is formula 1 car race;
following weekend (29th May up to 13th June) is a popular travel season because of upcoming Pentecost holidays.

Also Barcelona is a popular place for any kind of fairs all over the year (look at: "Fira de Barcelona")

And in any case Spain is NOT melting down in crisis; this is just a big hype in the media

If you are willing to "gamble", Priceline's bidding system could give you some good deals. So far I've had good luck with them. Things to consider: (1)you bid for (generally on a 4*) hotel by section of a city, after your bid is accepted you find out the actual hotel, (2) you can't cancel once the bid is accepted (I've read that if your flight is cancelled they may let you out).

With the latest March-2011 data, Madrid’s RevPar (Avg daily rate multiplied by the load factor) is 85 euros and Barcelona’s 87 euros whilst overall occupancy is 60%. Thus implied average rates are above 140 euros. If you are looking for a bargain in Madrid/Barcelona you’re just looking in the wrong place. Best deals are found in tier-2 cities with overcapacity problems (eg Zaragoza increased significantly its room count for the 2008 Expo).

Business is generally fine in Spain. It's the residential construction sector that went on a building binge (and not just a few illegally built and may be demolished) that is suffering (reportedly over 1mm empty/unsold residential units) and the banks who lent to them.

We've used Friendly Rentals in Spain with good luck. The rates are good, the service has been good, and we choose a place with a well-equipped kitchen to save on food costs.
Rentals *can* be great--depends on your mindset.

If you are willing to "gamble", Priceline's bidding system could give you some good deals. So far I've had good luck with them. Things to consider: (1)you bid for (generally on a 4*) hotel by section of a city, after your bid is accepted you find out the actual hotel, (2) you can't cancel once the bid is accepted (I've read that if your flight is cancelled they may let you out).

A little less of a gamble might be to use Hotwire. If you look up an offering there, and then post the amenities and the dates on www.betterbidding.com, often somebody can supply a pretty good educated guess as to what you will get. Not 100%, but less risky than Priceline.

If you go on the betterbidding site and just type in "madrid" or "barcelona" in the Quick Search box at the top of the page, you will get a list of all the bids reported to the site for those cities (for both Hotwire and Priceline).

A couple years ago I wasn't able to locate anything in Barcelona that seemed affordable. I ended up using hotels.com and taking a very reasonable place up the coast. Interesting area in itself. Most days I'd just take the train into the city. One day, since I was part way there anyway, I took the train north clear to Figueres to see the Dali museum. And one day I just enjoyed the coastal area. Santa Susanna as I recall, although I'm probably not spelling it quite right.

Romelle

I got an email from Ibis saying they have rates of €49 in Barcelona.

Bobette

Another item. Tourism to Spain was up (sharply) this spring because some of the traditional sunspots for Europeans, Tunisia and Egypt are in turmoil. If you want cheap, go there!

thanks for the info, all --

I returned from my trip in Barcelona and Madrid, and yes, the hotels were crappy. The more reliable chain hotels were located inconveniently or too expensive, and for convenience we went with places that were rated relatively well on Tripadvisor (but couldn't get the best places due to not booking soon enough).

I come away still with the observation -- how is it that bad, dimly lit, poorly ventilated, "European hotels" still manage to survive and are not swallowed up by an efficient Starwood or similar chain? Must be the sheer demand for rooms or something.

thanks for the info, all --

I returned from my trip in Barcelona and Madrid, and yes, the hotels were crappy. The more reliable chain hotels were located inconveniently or too expensive, and for convenience we went with places that were rated relatively well on Tripadvisor (but couldn't get the best places due to not booking soon enough).



Don't you find it's only zealots who post on TA - hence, extreme binomial distribution of opinions? :rolleyes:

Certainly, that's when I've posted reviews - and life has been slow...

Barcelona is also a major cruise embarkation port, so hotels are often booked a long time in advance. Ships leave there with over 3000 pax, so for a few days prior to sailing many popular hotels will be full. We are paying 110 Euros for our room, in late October, but I don't know what the rates are when the cruisers are out of town!