W Barcelona, Spain [Master Thread]
Apr 10, 2010, 3:28 pm
#91
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Programs: Marriott Gold, IHG Elite KLM Flying Blue,
Posts: 519
The not renovated suites still have the bathtub. Most of the new suites do not offer this. Guess it will be ok to stay in a suite with children but I have seen the rooms, and they are very small or cramped in my opinion. Being with children in the middle of town, in a small room without a kidsfriendly environment I would strongly recomment the W Barcelona!
Apr 14, 2010, 2:05 am
#92
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: London (UK), Kolkata (India), and a part of the Netherlands you wouldn't like to visit (aka Purmerend)!
Programs: IC Royal Ambassador
Posts: 623
Thanks for taking the time to write this review!^
We're considering a family trip to Madrid/Barcelona next year (summer 2011). Our kids will be 6 1/2 and 5 at the time. It doesn't appear that either of these hotels are really family friendly, but I'd like to use points...so if you HAD to choose, which would it be?
We're considering a family trip to Madrid/Barcelona next year (summer 2011). Our kids will be 6 1/2 and 5 at the time. It doesn't appear that either of these hotels are really family friendly, but I'd like to use points...so if you HAD to choose, which would it be?
It's Spain....people are generally family friendly, and the hotel was well loved by both of our small children, and the staff were brilliant with them. There is a beach, there is a pool, and the whatever/whenever desk arranged for a girl who works with kids (Maria Jose) to come and arrange some activities for the children on one of the days we were there. Whilst we were there, there were many guests with small children, and most were running around the lounge and bar areas on the ground floor. No one seemed bothered at all and staff were always keeping an eye on them and helping parents out....always with a smile on their faces.
The beach and pool were too cold for the kids to enjoy, but in the summer, I am sure it will be fine.
So.....pick the W!
Apr 14, 2010, 3:20 am
#93
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: London (UK), Kolkata (India), and a part of the Netherlands you wouldn't like to visit (aka Purmerend)!
Programs: IC Royal Ambassador
Posts: 623
Having just returned from the W Barcelona, I cannot fault this hotel for very much.
On arrival, I went straight for the hotel car park. Parking was listed as something like 8.5 cents per minute with a maximum of €24.xx per 24 hours. There was no facility to pay per day and come and go as you please, which I found annoying; hence, if you left the car park and came back, your parking period started again.....so, you could pay a lot more than €24 per day if you were coming and going with periods of parking for a few hours in between.
On the day of booking (last week), we booked the cheapest room, but when I checked the reservation online a day later, it displayed our room type as "cool corner suite"....I didn't expect this to still be the case when we arrived at the hotel, but it certainly was!
We didn't ask for the upgrade at check-in but were very happily treated to it....and also told that they usually upgrade all Plats to Fantastic suites but try, where available, to upgrade to a Cool Corner suite if one is available.
Check-in was smooth and very friendly. Bell staff retrieved our luggage (five heavy cases and various other bags) from the car (in the car park) and brought it all to our room. When he came in, he had noticed that we had taken our shoes off at the entrance of the room and asked if he should too.
After unloading the luggage, he talked to my son for over 5 minutes whilst my son told him all about Portaventura.....and even played a little with the baby too, before leaving. He really was lovely and seemed to want to make us as comfortable as possible.
The room was huge. There was a big black tub at the side of the bedroom area of the cool corner suite. The rest of the bathroom area linked the entrance corridor to the bedroom and consisted of a wet room with monsoon shower and handheld shower behind a frosted door and a WC behind a different frosted door; his and hers sinks outside.
The living area of the suite was bright and spacious with a view of the port. The living room was linked to the bedroom area through a doorway without a door (but it did have a curtain) to separate both areas.
The room had clearly been prepared for us and set aside from the rest of the available inventory as our personalised welcome letter was in the suite.
In the bedroom, there was complementary water (one of those gorgeous blue bottles) and a small shot glass of jelly beans. There were an additional two bottles of the water in the room (priced at €4 each, though, not a bad mark up when you consider that each bottle costs €3.60 at the supermercado).
The bedroom was lovely with a reasonable view of the city, but mostly the sea.
We quickly moved the Park Güell lizard that was in the room (in reach of the baby, easily breakable, and yours for €45) as the baby seemed to take a shine to it. We also moved the book on architecture, also €45, in reach of the baby, and easy and attractive to draw on!
Whatever/whenever were brilliant. Anything we asked for was brought up almost instantaneously.
We left the hotel for a bite to eat at about 10pm. The kids were with us in the lobby/bar area....and there were several other families there too with similarly aged kids. The staff were all very friendly with the children. One took my son out to look at the view of the beach and to show him the pool. Another asked to hold the baby.
When we returned to the hotel, I dropped the family off at the entrance and then parked a couple of hundred metres away on the street where others were parked in a parking bay marked for cars. There were no sings showing any restrictions at all, however, I had received a citation by the next morning for parking there....so, I should have just kept to the hotel car park!
The Whatever/Whenever staff arranged for a girl to come and play with the kids and arrange some activities for them (which they loved). There was no delivery charge by Whatever/Whenever for things like ice (this had happened at the Le Meridien Ra the day before).
The bouncers at the Eclipse elevator were friendly and escorted us all the way to the bar when we reached the 26th floor, and staff were amazing, brilliant. There were two waitresses on duty, and it was a relatively light Monday evening; however, they made sure that no one was kept waiting at the entrance when anyone came in, that no one had sat for more than about 20 seconds before being brought a menu, and that no one waited for very long to give their orders. It became rather busy by about midnight. The bar was occupied by a few groups of men, a few work/conference groups with loud Brits people shouting from time to time (making me embarrassed to be a Brit myself), lots of couples in their 20/30/40/50/60s.
No one seemed to be harassing anyone in Eclipse and two English girls (seated next to us) left as they said to the waitress that they wanted to go somewhere where they could meet some men.
Check-out was seemless and very friendly. I had the baby and someone came over to help me with her whilst I checked out. Internet was on the bill but they removed it when I brought it to their attention.
They had a friendly Antipodean staff member who brought our increased load of luggage to the car in the car park and loaded the car up for us.
The one thing I would really say that outshone most things: the staff; they were always excellent, very friendly, and really seemed to care about our comfort and happiness. It was not like some other Ws I have been to where rudeness was more on the menu. I was also impressed by the attention to detail: to give an example, if you are in the bath, you are eye level with the underside of the sink units, and these have been designed to look beautiful from underneath!
I only have three slight niggles: firstly, the car parking: it needs to be able to let you pay for 24 hours and then come and go as you please; the curtains in the sleeping area and the living area are all controlled by the same unit, so, if you want to open the curtains in the living area, it opens them in the bedroom area too; you cannot open one and leave the other closed, which is annoying as I rise very early, and my wife likes to remain in bed for another 2-3 hours; the lighting is also controlled on the same circuit so you have to have it constant throughout both rooms, so, again, you cannot have one room bright, and the other dark.....though, you can adjust the lamps, so it is not so bad!
However, those little complaints should not detract from a wonderful stay.
All in all, a great experience and quite definitely, my favourite W.
On arrival, I went straight for the hotel car park. Parking was listed as something like 8.5 cents per minute with a maximum of €24.xx per 24 hours. There was no facility to pay per day and come and go as you please, which I found annoying; hence, if you left the car park and came back, your parking period started again.....so, you could pay a lot more than €24 per day if you were coming and going with periods of parking for a few hours in between.
On the day of booking (last week), we booked the cheapest room, but when I checked the reservation online a day later, it displayed our room type as "cool corner suite"....I didn't expect this to still be the case when we arrived at the hotel, but it certainly was!
We didn't ask for the upgrade at check-in but were very happily treated to it....and also told that they usually upgrade all Plats to Fantastic suites but try, where available, to upgrade to a Cool Corner suite if one is available.
Check-in was smooth and very friendly. Bell staff retrieved our luggage (five heavy cases and various other bags) from the car (in the car park) and brought it all to our room. When he came in, he had noticed that we had taken our shoes off at the entrance of the room and asked if he should too.
After unloading the luggage, he talked to my son for over 5 minutes whilst my son told him all about Portaventura.....and even played a little with the baby too, before leaving. He really was lovely and seemed to want to make us as comfortable as possible.
The room was huge. There was a big black tub at the side of the bedroom area of the cool corner suite. The rest of the bathroom area linked the entrance corridor to the bedroom and consisted of a wet room with monsoon shower and handheld shower behind a frosted door and a WC behind a different frosted door; his and hers sinks outside.
The living area of the suite was bright and spacious with a view of the port. The living room was linked to the bedroom area through a doorway without a door (but it did have a curtain) to separate both areas.
The room had clearly been prepared for us and set aside from the rest of the available inventory as our personalised welcome letter was in the suite.
In the bedroom, there was complementary water (one of those gorgeous blue bottles) and a small shot glass of jelly beans. There were an additional two bottles of the water in the room (priced at €4 each, though, not a bad mark up when you consider that each bottle costs €3.60 at the supermercado).
The bedroom was lovely with a reasonable view of the city, but mostly the sea.
We quickly moved the Park Güell lizard that was in the room (in reach of the baby, easily breakable, and yours for €45) as the baby seemed to take a shine to it. We also moved the book on architecture, also €45, in reach of the baby, and easy and attractive to draw on!
Whatever/whenever were brilliant. Anything we asked for was brought up almost instantaneously.
We left the hotel for a bite to eat at about 10pm. The kids were with us in the lobby/bar area....and there were several other families there too with similarly aged kids. The staff were all very friendly with the children. One took my son out to look at the view of the beach and to show him the pool. Another asked to hold the baby.
When we returned to the hotel, I dropped the family off at the entrance and then parked a couple of hundred metres away on the street where others were parked in a parking bay marked for cars. There were no sings showing any restrictions at all, however, I had received a citation by the next morning for parking there....so, I should have just kept to the hotel car park!
The Whatever/Whenever staff arranged for a girl to come and play with the kids and arrange some activities for them (which they loved). There was no delivery charge by Whatever/Whenever for things like ice (this had happened at the Le Meridien Ra the day before).
The bouncers at the Eclipse elevator were friendly and escorted us all the way to the bar when we reached the 26th floor, and staff were amazing, brilliant. There were two waitresses on duty, and it was a relatively light Monday evening; however, they made sure that no one was kept waiting at the entrance when anyone came in, that no one had sat for more than about 20 seconds before being brought a menu, and that no one waited for very long to give their orders. It became rather busy by about midnight. The bar was occupied by a few groups of men, a few work/conference groups with loud Brits people shouting from time to time (making me embarrassed to be a Brit myself), lots of couples in their 20/30/40/50/60s.
No one seemed to be harassing anyone in Eclipse and two English girls (seated next to us) left as they said to the waitress that they wanted to go somewhere where they could meet some men.
Check-out was seemless and very friendly. I had the baby and someone came over to help me with her whilst I checked out. Internet was on the bill but they removed it when I brought it to their attention.
They had a friendly Antipodean staff member who brought our increased load of luggage to the car in the car park and loaded the car up for us.
The one thing I would really say that outshone most things: the staff; they were always excellent, very friendly, and really seemed to care about our comfort and happiness. It was not like some other Ws I have been to where rudeness was more on the menu. I was also impressed by the attention to detail: to give an example, if you are in the bath, you are eye level with the underside of the sink units, and these have been designed to look beautiful from underneath!
I only have three slight niggles: firstly, the car parking: it needs to be able to let you pay for 24 hours and then come and go as you please; the curtains in the sleeping area and the living area are all controlled by the same unit, so, if you want to open the curtains in the living area, it opens them in the bedroom area too; you cannot open one and leave the other closed, which is annoying as I rise very early, and my wife likes to remain in bed for another 2-3 hours; the lighting is also controlled on the same circuit so you have to have it constant throughout both rooms, so, again, you cannot have one room bright, and the other dark.....though, you can adjust the lamps, so it is not so bad!
However, those little complaints should not detract from a wonderful stay.
All in all, a great experience and quite definitely, my favourite W.
Apr 14, 2010, 3:42 am
#94
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Florida, the crazy folks state.
Programs: Marriott Titanium Marriott Platinum for life.
Posts: 16,974
Sorry, but why would anyone want to bring kids, much less young kids to a W hotel?
Why do you think that kids would enjoy such a place?
Clearly these hotels are designed for adults with an eye towards cutting edge style and/or nightlife -- something I don't consider too family friendly.
However, Chacun a son gout.
Why do you think that kids would enjoy such a place?
Clearly these hotels are designed for adults with an eye towards cutting edge style and/or nightlife -- something I don't consider too family friendly.
However, Chacun a son gout.
Apr 14, 2010, 5:36 am
#95
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,720
Doesn't this hotel have a pool and a beach? Last time I asked my kids, they liked both...
Also, I'm looking at using points, not cash and there are limited choices in Barcelona for points. Is it ideal? Obviously not...that's why I phrased the question the way I did.@:-)
Also, I'm looking at using points, not cash and there are limited choices in Barcelona for points. Is it ideal? Obviously not...that's why I phrased the question the way I did.@:-)
Apr 14, 2010, 5:37 am
#96
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,720
Obviously a kid with good taste! Just think that it is not for every kid, and also, yours is a bit older to be able to appreciate such things, apparently!
Apr 15, 2010, 3:51 am
#97
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: London (UK), Kolkata (India), and a part of the Netherlands you wouldn't like to visit (aka Purmerend)!
Programs: IC Royal Ambassador
Posts: 623
Also, at the LM Ra, the kids are not allowed to use the indoor pool, at all. They can only use the outdoor pool, which is closed most of the year round, except for high summer. There is no kids club (as would be expected at a true resort, which this is not), and the surrounding areas are awful.
Last edited by Shantanu; Apr 15, 2010 at 3:58 am
Apr 18, 2010, 4:57 am
#98
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: London (UK), Kolkata (India), and a part of the Netherlands you wouldn't like to visit (aka Purmerend)!
Programs: IC Royal Ambassador
Posts: 623
As anyone can see from my rather long posting above, I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel. Just a quick question though.....
On check-in, I was told that there was only one choice of Platinum amenity: 500 points. There was no local gift option, no wine, etc.. Is this right? Has anyone else staying here experienced the same?
On check-in, I was told that there was only one choice of Platinum amenity: 500 points. There was no local gift option, no wine, etc.. Is this right? Has anyone else staying here experienced the same?
Apr 18, 2010, 7:12 am
#99
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Location, Location!
Programs: SPG Platinum, Club Carlson Concierge, Hilton Honors Gold, Air Berlin Gold, Lufthansa FT
Posts: 94
As anyone can see from my rather long posting above, I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel. Just a quick question though.....
On check-in, I was told that there was only one choice of Platinum amenity: 500 points. There was no local gift option, no wine, etc.. Is this right? Has anyone else staying here experienced the same?
On check-in, I was told that there was only one choice of Platinum amenity: 500 points. There was no local gift option, no wine, etc.. Is this right? Has anyone else staying here experienced the same?
Jun 6, 2010, 2:20 pm
#100
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA 1K / UGS, AA Platinum Executive, Hyatt Platinum, Marriott Gold, Starwood Plt, Hertz Plat
Posts: 2
W Barcelona - PLT upgrade ?
Anyone know how the PLT upgrades have been at the W Barcelona?
going there the first week of July ... vacation is the time a PLT upgrade is good!
going there the first week of July ... vacation is the time a PLT upgrade is good!
Jun 6, 2010, 2:52 pm
#101
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Manchester, England
Programs: Bonvoy LT Plat, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, BMI Gold (RIP)
Posts: 8,028
Have you checked out the master thread for the hotel? That is probably the best place to see recent experiences and / or ask the question, rather than starting a new thread.
Here's the thread for reference:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...er-thread.html
Here's the thread for reference:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...er-thread.html
Jun 6, 2010, 3:50 pm
#102
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,764
hammerwx64, welcome to the Starwood forum. I've used the link provided by RAPC to merge your query into the master thread. You'll see there has been active discussion about this property. You'll be able to learn a lot about it. Ask, if you have questions that have yet to be answered - and enjoy your travels.
SanDiego1K
Starwood Moderator
SanDiego1K
Starwood Moderator
Jun 6, 2010, 5:01 pm
#103
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Italy 90% - Rest of the World 10%
Programs: Marriott + Hilton. Fly BA and AZ
Posts: 2,912
Jul 12, 2010, 10:01 am
#104
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: GOT
Posts: 1,168
I'm staying at the W Barcelona next week.
Can anyone share some of their experiences on the hotel's wi-fi? Apparently there's inroom hi-speed wi-fi access at €18/day. However there's also supposed to be free wifi access in some way which I've only caught quick mentions of on tripadvisor. Since I'm only going to be checking some private mail I'll try to avoid any fees. Any details would be greatly appreciated.
Can anyone share some of their experiences on the hotel's wi-fi? Apparently there's inroom hi-speed wi-fi access at €18/day. However there's also supposed to be free wifi access in some way which I've only caught quick mentions of on tripadvisor. Since I'm only going to be checking some private mail I'll try to avoid any fees. Any details would be greatly appreciated.
Jul 12, 2010, 11:35 am
#105
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: AA Platinum, UA Exec Premier, SPG Platinum, AmEx Platinum
Posts: 183
I just stayed there night before last. WiFi is free in the lobby. You log on to the network and it brings up the standard service provider login but says "your 24 hours of free internet expires XXXX". You can keep renewing if you're there for several days. I used it on my iPhone and laptop both.