letsgofire

I returned for the W Barcelona for my second stay in 7 years (I actually started this thread as post 1!) and I'm happy to report that this hotel is much improved.

I really enjoyed the recommendations from the concierge team. They made reservations for me at a number of excellent restaurants throughout the city. I also really enjoyed the Wet deck and the number of food options in the hotel and the immediate area. This is a gorgeous hotel and stylishly decorated - it is quite striking even this many years after its original opening. It looks much better now.

There were two disappointments. I used SNAs to upgrade and they cleared in advance. When I arrived at nearly 7pm, my room, and the rooms of several other guest stranded in the lobby, was not ready. They had not set aside my room in advance like many hotels do...they were just giving them out as they were finished by housekeeping. When I got to my room - number 303 - it was very unimpressive. The 'view' was the concrete pier. I almost never do this but as this was a vacation trip and a long stay, I went back down to the check-in desk and asked for a new room. After about 20 minutes, a much better room was available.

Service is (still) a bit slow, even for Barcelona. You have to work hard to get attention from staff, except at Salt, where they shower you with attention. Salt has great burgers too.

claes059

For pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/857937...57666094104276

A few months ago I visited the WBarcelona again. I experienced a very warm welcome from mr. P., the Insider and mrs. C. of the Welcomedesk. Though it was very busy, in no time I was checked in and escorted to my suite. The reception works so efficient. I noticed very nice Welcome amenities, Wow I felt immediately at home again.

During the evening I have noticed many guests who seemed to have had too much alcohol. I noticed these guests, even in the elevator and in corridors. I could notice the hotel was taking care of it, but I always feel embarrassed when experiencing these situation.

I had a dinner in Wave and mr. B. the restaurantmanager of this evening passed by. He knows my preferences and told the kitchen to prepare a Thai wok for me. He advised to take the quinoa salad as a starter. Quinoa is healthy ofcourse, but this salad was rather ‘boring� in taste and presentation. However, with some olive oil and balsamica it tasted much better.
The spicy Thai wok was delicious and I ordered some white rice as a side dish. Only a very small portion of rice was integrated in this dish. Since it took a long time before the sidedish was served I asked when it would be ready, but according to mr. B. he had ordered the kitchen to make a total new dish with more vegetables! It was very kind of him but I still rather had my white rice in time as a side dish so I could finish my dinner in time. Nevertheless it was a kind gesture of him. The wok tasted great.
I ordered sliced mango for desert. Mr. B. served me the mango and told me it was all “natural�. However I could notice the mango was not ripe and even more after tasting the mango. I was hard and not good. The kind waitress and mr. B told me they would look for a ripe mango and after a while I was happy my delicious all natural dessert. Regarding the choice for wine. Mr. B told me two bottles of good wines were left over, when I asked only for one or two glasses of wine I was referred to the wine list with a limited choice of wine per glass.….. It was a little disappointing since I my expectations were high after his first announcement.
I doubted to have my next dinner here, since mr. B. would be there as the manager again.
So I talked to mrs. N. regarding my experiences. I asked if she could arrange something for dinner for me. Well she did talk to another mr. B. and they asked what I had in mind. He offered me at that moment 3 sorts of cocktails. I asked them to keep them for my dinner since I had not time at that moment.
In the evening I was greated by the same mr. B. the restaurantmanager again. He thanked me for coming back and told me the kitchen had prepared a dinner for me so I did not need the menu. As a starter I enjoyed a delicious and healthy salad with lots of veggies As the maindish a different kindof Thais wok, now with white rice as a side dish. The wok was different and tasted even better as the day before.
As a desert I had the three cocktails they had offered me in the afternoon, and they were delicious!
Regarding the wine, mr. B. appeared more generous in the range of choice now. He even could give me detailed information regarding the kind of wine I was tasting. It was a very nice experience.
The price of this dinner was a little pricy, considering the cocktails as a dessert were for free.
The music this evening was very, very loud. Banging music, yelling guests who partyyyyyyy can be somewhat disturbing for the dinnerexperience.

I always like a nice bath when I travel and I always enjoy the black bathtub of the cool corner suite.
However I discovered the Bliss bathamenities contained parabens in f.i. the bodybutter and fabulous foaming. When I asked in the Spa, it appeared they only sold the paraben free products….. Well I thought this was a strange situation.
I did talk to mrs N. of the WBarcelona and with Whotels and it seemed the Whotel was in process to replace the Blissproducts into Bliss parabe nfree products.

After a comfortable sleep in the Wbed I experienced a great breakfast in Bravo. I noticed some “personnel changes and even saw mrs. N. at the guestcounter. I know her from my first visits to Bravo. It was great to see her again. Some highly qualified personnel of Wave, f.i mr. J, and from the restaurant Salt helped to improve the quality of service in Bravo now. I also spoke to the son of mr. Abellan who was the manager of the restaurant now. I could tell the breakfastexperience had improved dramatically! More comfy seats at the window, efficient service and now even scrambled eggs as part of the buffet, hurray! Quality was as always very high. I did miss a larger selection in bread, for instance breadrolls. Mr. Abellan told me he could ‘arrange something special for me for the next breakfast.

My second breakfast in Bravo was even more wonderful. I was served a specially prepared basked of assorted breads, breads with red wine and raisins and grape, with 5 grains, with kalamata drapes and bread with a croissant structure and taste! The breads tasted heavenly! I was happy with the cold cut meats, hot dishes and scrambled eggs. The selection of fresh fruits is limited. When the restaurant started here, they used to serve delicious fruits flavoured with f.i. mint.
The buffet offers a nice selection of juices, I liked the cranberry juice so much. The pancakes are…… well you should try them yourself. I have never tasted pancakes with syrop like these…Just superb!
They have changed the coffee/machines, and the taste is even better now!
Bravo seems well organized now but at busy times they will be understaffed, I can already tell now..
With improved service and improved buffet ( scrambled eggs) under management of the son of mr. Abellan the Bravo restaurant has become just Heavenly….

I have used the gym as always and noticed the new pool area just near the gym. I was one of my Wishes, since the pool at the deck is always busy. Looking forward to my first dip in this pool and do hope it will not as buys as the one on the wet deck.

As always I made a Green Choice and made the donation to Unicef. In our world this organization, among others, needs a lot of support and I am happy SPG is doing this. I do think highlyof organizations as Greenpeace who try to take care of making the world conscious of our envirionmental dangers. But I am aware not everyone is pleased with the way they act, which I regret.


Eager to come back again my favorite Starwood hotel, it feels as my home far from home….

For pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/857937...57666094104276

canon5dfan

Great report! I loved their bed when I was there last summer. Almost pulled the trigger and bought one before realizing the ones Starwood sells to consumers are different than the ones their hotels have

joshuasantos

I'm SPG Plat100 and have stayed at many St. Regis and W hotels all around the world, and just wanted to say that we had the absolute best time at the W Barcelona. Of course the rooms, food, location, and amenities were perfect. However, it was the staff that took it to the next level for my wife and I. Every interaction we had with a W Hotel staff member was friendly and made us feel at home. From checking in, to the surprise flowers in the room, to the two bartenders competing to see who can create the best old fashioned (which wasn't even on the menu), to the waitstaff in the restaurants--it was all a first-class experience.

To top everything off was one specific staff interaction in particular. My wife and I were speaking to a hostess named Sanja at the pool entrance about our favorite hotels all around the world. She mentioned Croatia as must-visit destination and based on her description, we already added it to our list for future vacations. What were were not expecting a few days later was a full handmade map delivered to our room with the best places to visit, the Starwood hotels in each destination, handwritten notes, and accordion photos. WOW!!!

I hope she is still at the W since she gave us the most amazing, coolest thing we have ever received at any hotel--ever. I even brought the map into work to as an example of how amazing the staff at the W Barcelona is.

MusicMan216

This is so cool! My wife and I are going to Barcelona in April and we're torn between Le Meridien and W. We both are Croatian and Croatia is on our list of places to visit! Hopefully Sanja is still there...

kgdg

Staying for 4 nights from June 10-14 on 25k points/night with SNA's requested. Status: PLT
Questions:
1) From reading the reviews here, it seems this hotel is worth it, but what is the consensus on spending 25k/night, is it still worth it from a service, room, amenities perspective?
2) My other issue is, I have a 13 year old with us making that 3 adults.
I am taking a gamble that they will clear my SNA request and upgrade us to their Studio Suite (only suite available as SNA upgrade).
I am wondering if there will be considerable hassle if SNA doesn't clear and they force me to upgrade to a room/suite that allows 3 occupants and the difference is going to be huge?
How is the hotel on upgrading in general, with or without SNA's?
3) As PLT, what options would I have for breakfast as my amenity, if at all available (say at the Bravo)?
4) Is the breakfast buffet going to be for all 3 of us? Or are they going to be stricklers and allow only 2 of us?
5) Alternatively, if using $, I am not seeing any special rates for these dates, the cheapest I am seeing is 350+ euros/night. At that rate, I would rather use points. Any tips/tricks to get lower rates?

Amex For Children Of Africa

5th night is free using points, so you're leaving value on the table only using points for 4 nights. I personally would pay the 350/night, as 25k points/nights is not the best value here(unless you have a ton of SPG points). If using points, room occupancy shouldn't matter.

For breakfast check out the dedicated thread on that and search for DPs.

This is a great spot to open a Citi Prestige card for the 4th night free.

jix

I'm holding 2 nights in late November at this property, the location seems a bit far out. Visiting Barcelona for the first time, is this a good property?

The rate is much cheaper than the LM in the city so I figured booking here first, is the transportation to the city/airport easy/cheap for two?

abk

i have stayed at both and in late November I would stay in town at the LM or look at some of the Marriott properties.

Gagravarr

Depends on your style of travel. If you're the sort of person who wants to pop back to their hotel every hour or two, you'd probably want to pick something more central. If you'd leave in the morning and return late afternoon, maybe going out again in the evening, it's fine. Short taxi ride, buses from basically outside, and a nice walk along the beach / round the harbour to places you'd likely be going to.

jix

Thanks, is the weather in November suitable for beach tho? I assume that's why the rate is lower than 200 euro much less than the LM. There's also the option of the 4 points but I'm not sure how the location is compared to W.

How much would average taxi to/from airport and the city cost from W?

santydrak

From T1/T2 of the airport: Easiest way to get here is taxi. From airport around 35€ (but better avoiding peak hours)
if not, there is a bus to get to the city center (plaça Catalunya) costs around 6€ and then you can get a bus (10 tickets cost 9,95€, 1 single ticket around 2,20€). So, it's more convenient taxi

There is also a cheap train from T2 but it runs every 30 mins. So not very convenient.

santydrak

November is not a month for beach anywhere in Spain, except for Canary Islands... September last month of beach & pool

Gagravarr

You're probably not going to have a beach holiday there in November, but it should be fine most days for sitting on the beach in non-zero amounts of clothing or going for a nice walk.

The 4 points is towards the eastern end of the big Avenue Diagonal. Handy for transport, but not that much touristy around there, mostly offices. There's some interesting local type places to eat between there and the beach, and you can walk to the Sagrada Familia, but most sites you'd want to bus/metro/tram it. I've not stayed in the 4P, but I've stayed in the Melia close by, which was fine for a repeat visitor but wouldn't be my first suggestion for a first-time visitor location-wise. If you were going to stay on Diagonal, there's a bunch of other hotels on it, including up the other end near the football stadium. You can get some great bargains at those on weekends as they tend to be business focused too.

olivedel

After my 10th stay in that hotel, I can say that it is one of my favorite place in Europe to spend a week-end, especially between May and September while you can enjoy the private beach.
However, I always refuse upgrades above the 23rd floor: too much noise from the Eclipse club at night.