dasalomon

I'm going to be staying there for a few days mid January and was wondering if anyone had a trip report from being there? Any specific room / area of the hotel that I should asked to be put in?

thanks,
Alexandra

brendamc

The Hotel Ritz on Catalanes or the RC Hotel Arts Barcelona on the waterfront in Olympic Village? There's a big difference between the two...

Ashok

We stayed at the Ritz in Barcelona a year ago. It was a very comfortable, if old fashioned deluxe hotel. Room service was excellent too. I recommend you get a junior suite as some of the rooms can be on the small side. Our suite was two rooms knocked into one.

NYBanker

Correct. No one can answer this without this classification. The Arts is managed by Ritz Carlton, and sometimes called "Ritz."

UA 882

If it is NOT the Ritz Carlton, then .....


STAY AWAY!!!!!!!

It is a hotel with terrible service, rude employees, VERY outdated accommodation.... . Seriously, for the money you spend you might as well go to the Ritz Carlton (d'Arts).

alanw

The Ritz on Gran Via is a dreary old place that reeks like a nursing home. Service as I hear it is hit or miss. The location is first rate.

I am not a fan at all of the Arts (aka Ritz Carlton) as it is in the middle of nowhere (well, a touristy strip mall that looks like any American suburb) and far from anything culturally interesting or unique, and the architecture and decoration I think are better left to the fantasies of coke dealers from 1983.

I have before recommended the NH Calderon, mostly for its location and interesting interior, but I will now make a new recommendation based on new information. I recently stayed at the excellent Silken Al-Andalus Palace in Seville and happened to meet one of the company's facilities people who told me about the new property, which I took a look at last week.

The Silken hotel chain decided recently that they wanted to build a hotel here in Barcelona in the style and tradition of the Starwood W hotels, and set out to out-W the W. They have. The Silken Diagonal opened just recently, in the Avenida Diagonal just next to the Plaça de les Glories, a few blocks from most of the tourist sites. The building is stunning, and the design of the public spaces and guest rooms is certainly inspired by the W hotels, but with some local touches and nods to Catalan culture and history. Similar color schemes, Asian influence, funky bathrooms, plasma TVs, etc. Everything finished to a very high standard. As far as service, well, this is Spain, so you won't have an M-O experience here. But it should be very good.

If I needed a hotel in Barcelona I would not hesitate to choose this over any of the other options, including the dreary Hilton, the dreary Majestic, the dreary Ritz, or the tacky R-C Arts.

Did I mention that they have a soft-opening special of 70€ for a double or 130€ for a double on the executive floor bookable through their web site?

apoivre

Alan, how come the Port Olìmpic is in the middle of nowhere and Glòries Catalanes is a few blocks from most of the tourist sites? Or do you mean tourist sites like the flea market and the city's ugliest flyover?

Any opinion on the Claris? I've never stayed there but it does have some very loyal following

alanw

I dunno. You'd have to ask whoever decided to build it out there, I guess. Maybe try the city's Urban Planning department. Their number is 93 291 4444. Do let us know what you find out!

WRT to tourist sites, I was talking about stuff like Sagrada Familia, Gran Via, Passeig de Gracia, Pl Tetuan, etc. Though the flea market is pretty cool too, no? I got my phone unlocked there for 6€.

apoivre

Just checked the map on the Silken website - the hotel is not only a few blocks to Glòries, it's the wrong side of the plaça. Now that's the middle of nowhere...

I love the flea market, though. Almost ended up buying a full Francoist gala uniform for a Halloween party, complete with high boots, wide red stripes on the trousers, all the works

brendamc

We thought it overpriced for what it was - very hip, cool, & a bit pretentious. BTW, my pet peeve is upscale hotels that don't have separate rooms for the toilet, so although their baths are large, it still bugged me...

0524

I actually like the Hotel Arts, especially in the summer: nice metro hotel with access to a Med beach.

brendamc

Looks like we'll never find out from OP which Ritz in BCN they're interested in...