dc3

Just spent 4 nights there this past week. No real perks at all for Platinums. Staff is nice but generally very inexperienced.

The LeMeridien is nicer, free Internet in the business center, and in the center of town.

ledger

Just back from a two night stay.

Echo what others have said, location is terrible. Long walk through construction and warehouses to get anywhere. So, we were reliant on cabs. Far prefer LM when in BCN,

If you do stay there, many taxi drivers don't know where the "doble uve" is. They are calling the hotel "la vela" (the sail) based on its shape.

Sphinx

Any special treatment/perks as a Platinum?

ledger

Sorry, let platinum status expire last year. Hadn't updated my profile, have done so now.

As a gold, no recognition or upgrade. Given a room facing the port. You definitely want one facing the other way, toward the city.

It took 7 days for points from this stay to post to my account.

lifeisanapple

I have an upcoming stay here over new years and am apparently pre upgraded to a Cool Corner Suite. I spoke with the revenue manager and he said that is the standard platinum upgrade.

Sphinx

This is strange. I am staying there for a 8 days from next Saturday. I did not get pre-upgraded, and the hotel informed me today that the standard plat upgrade is to a "fantastic suite" which is one notch lower than the "cool corner suite". Not sure why there is a discrepancy in our upgrade info from the hotel, and why some are pre-upgraded well in advance and some aren't... Maybe the lurkers can enlighten us.

In any case, I will report back on the quality of the stay on my return.

Starwood Lurker

I'm pretty sure the hotel thinks that the Fantastic Suite is one notch above the Cool Corner Suite or it would be the Fantastic Suite on their SPG6SU rate plan, not the Cool Corner Suite that is. So, you either communicated with a misinformed individual or the hotel decided to have Fantastic Suites be their Plan B for Platinum members.

Other than this, suite upgrades are subject to availability at check-in. If they are preparing for your arrival in advance of check-in and see that no standard suites - in this case the Cool Corner variety - are available, then they aren't going to pre-block you into one.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Sphinx

Actually the rate for the cool corner suite is significantly higher than for the fantastic suite (I tested it for a mock reservation, and the best available rate was EUR 585++ for the cool corner and EUR 380++ for the fantastic sute). Also, the description omn their site seems to indicate that the cool corner suite is the better one. It is no big deal, though. I was just trying to understand how things work at that end given the discrepancy I mentioned in my post, but in reality it makes no real difference to me in the big scheme of things!!

Starwood Lurker

You can't always go by price being asked in determining what the hotel thinks is the standard suite as opposed to non-standard. We have this same conundrum with the W Fort Lauderdale, remember? It is whatever is on their SPG6SU rate plan and that suite is the Cool Corner variety for this hotel. Now, I agree that it doesn't make sense to have a more expensive suite on the suite award rate plan, but clearly, the hotel thinks otherwise. And, that might also be a source of confusion at the property level for someone who did not make that decision.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Sphinx

Thanks William. This is a very helpful explanation. The only remaining confusion is that the hotel actually told me in an email: "Our SPG Platinum members get upgraded to a Fantastic Suite" [and not the cool corner suite]. Yet, it is the corner suite that should have been considered to be the standard one given that it is on the SPG6SU plan and given that somebody else got a pre-upgrade to that for a December stay; right?

Starwood Lurker

I can think of a couple of scenarios that might explain the confusion:

1) the person writing to you is confused about which is which and gave you bad info based upon their understanding that the Fantastic Suites are cheaper and therefore must be the standard suites used for complimentary Platinum upgrades.

2) there are no Cool Corner Suites available for your travel dates and the property is using Fantastic Suites as Plan B, which has caused this person writing to you to make some assumptions based upon that information.

I guess you could send a PM to W Barcelona Insider and see what he can offer as an explanation.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

terminalfive

Any more reviews on Barcelona??

Rather undercided here.... Quite expensive but I am attracted to this place...

Is getting a room rate with parking worth it?

cawhite

I had a nice stay here earlier this week (one night). The rough spots mentioned earlier in this thread seem to have been worked out although they're definitely still in "new property" mode.

As a PLT: I was not pre-upgraded until day of arrival and at check-in learned I had been upgraded from the booked Wonderful room to a Fabulous room (had to ask about the room type that was assigned - no mention of the upgrade was made until then). As we were completing the check-in process I inquired if there had been any suites available for PLT upgrades, at which time the Welcome Desk team member realized he'd completely missed my PLT status (offering plenty of apologies for that) and found a Cool Corner Suite to upgrade me into. I mentioned that I'd be leaving for an early flight the next morning (before the restaurant was open for breakfast) and he offered to see if he could arrange for a breakfast to be packed & waiting for me in the morning -- I declined but thought it was a nice touch.

Cool Corner Suite was very nice and an open floor plan. Something of a grumbling point for some here would be the one bar of soap to be used between two sinks, the shower & bathtub.

Several other FTers and I had drinks at Eclipse early in the evening -- nice view and the staff tried hard to keep us happy. I wasn't there long enough to have the opportunity to try out the downstairs bar, restaurant, spa, pool, etc so no further comments there.

Agree with ledger's comment about taxi drivers referring to the hotel as "La Vela." One of my taxi drivers knew immediately from that reference where we were heading; the other needed the address (thankfully I had my printed reservation with both the address & photo of the hotel). The location wasn't an issue for me due to the timing of my arrival & departure but I can see why someone on their first trip to BCN or wanting to be closer to the center of town would re-think this property and choose the LM.

Side note to Starwood Lurker: The Welcome Desk when I checked in also was under the impression that Fantastic Suites are their standard PLT suite upgrades.

Starwood Lurker

And yet they upgraded you to a Cool Corner Suite? I guess the mystery continues.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

cawhite

From what he said as we were talking about it, he appeared to be trying to make up for having missed my PLT status (and he knew I'd be leaving early the next morning)?