SkiAdcock

BTW - here's a pic of the iconic staircase at Cotton House

jpaikman

Hello folks,

We just completed a seven night stay using Category 9 Air+Hotel certificate with Marriott. Luckily, we were able to order the certificate before the hotel goes up in points price starting next month.

In general, we had a very favorable impression. We paid additional to upgrade to Madras room category, but even felt with the upgrade that the room was smaller than expected (but in line with usual European rooms). Two nights into our stay, the hotel decompressed after a bunch of folks left for their cruise from Barcelona. We were then upgraded to a Cotton room, which had a balcony and was much more spacious (king bed, full bathtub and rainshower). Staff was very very good, though I would add quite young, as many of the staff were interns from hotel colleges all over Europe. For the last time as Gold prior to the merger, we were able to get free breakfast in the Batuar restaurant, As many have stated before, breakfast is "continental" but quite good, especially as they had a large selection of Catalan cured meats.

I would go again, but perhaps not at the same points price. I would also add there are many other very good brand new boutique style hotels opening in the area now or soon (Almanac Hotel or EDITION comes to mind). Barcelona is a competitive market, but I think the Cotton House meets a very high standard.

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the update. Much appreciated.

Cheers.

CIT85

The Cotton House is getting a big jump from 45,000 to 60,000 points per night in the new award chart effective Aug. 18.

For those who have stayed at both hotels, which would you prefer, The Cotton House or EDITION Barcelona? I can book The Cotton House before Aug. 18 at the 45K points rate and save some points. Better yet, get a TP.

dingo

I've never been to Spain (insert 3 dog night reference here) and am looking at a trip to Barcelona. It would be me, my wife and my 8 year old daughter. So I'd need a room that could accommodate three people, preferably via one king + a roll away.

I've read all of the posts here and no one indicates they had a kiddo w/ them.

Anyone have stay experience with 2 adults + 1 kiddo?

dingo

bump...

boracat

We stayed at The Cotton House Barcelona for three nights last summer, as a family of three. They do have rooms that accommodate three people. We stayed on points but had to pay extra (482 Euros).

In terms of location alone, we prefer Le Meridien. And last time we went (4 years ago), we were able to stay with no extra charge, as a family of three.

dingo

Thanks for this. I went ahead and booked it and and booked a suite just to be safe.

Can anyone here provide the e-mail address for the hotel?

AbuCordoba

I am a huge fan of this hotel, however not sure how family friendly the hotel is (it might be but I went with friends so I only saw that side of it), there is a pool which the kids may like however its not that big or had many features. The surrounding area is nice but again more aimed at adults! I would think Hotel Arts or W or Le Meridian perhaps might be more suitable! however I might be wrong and the hotel is great for families but I just didnt get that vibe when I have stayed here.

dingo

SkiAdcock

What's the situation w/ breakfast? Please post & I'll update the exec lounge sticky. Thx.

Cheers.

CheVive

Any updated views on how Cotton House compares to the Edition?

Particularly interest in any comparisons of rooms and pool size.

Commie

I stayed at the Cotton House for 7 nights using the travel package this past December. As the Platinum Elite(or whatever it was called back then) welcome gift choice, I could select breakfast buffet for 2. The breakfast was at their regular restaurant. Not a bad selection of typical breakfast items. There was also a menu of about 5-6 ala carte items such as eggs, waffles, etc.. for additional charge.

Overall, I thought the normal breakfast was plenty enough, and I didn't order any of the ala carte items.

EuropeanPete

The Edition pool is tiny (tiny, tiny, tiny) but looks pretty cool. It's like a baby version of the miniature pool at the W Amsterdam. My "Junior Suite" was a reasonable sized room, so I suspect the base rooms might be a little compact for a quality hotel.

dingo

We stayed here for three nights as a Titanium Bonvoy member. I booked an Egyption room since it had a sofa bed for my daughter. The booking was a points + $ upgrade fee. We checked in pretty close to the official check in time so the room was ready. We were given two welcome drinks as the welcome amenity and I chose the breakfast daily. This was the second time I'd stayed at an AC and both were on the same trip (see Retiro review for Madrid). What struck us at first was the seemingly large number of staff in the downstairs lobby as well as the upstairs concierge desk; there were a lot of people and service throughout was very attentive. The hotel itself was small, but beautiful. It was definitely more 'luxury' than the Retiro though not quite the Alphonso XIII in Seville. Our room was on the first floor; 101. Honestly, it was much smaller than what it appeared in the pictures but it was what we booked. They had the sofa bed made up an hour or so after we checked in which was nice. We had a glass of wine and some lunch in the bar / restaurant. The food was ok: chicken caesar for me, chicken sandwich for my wife, pasta with bolognese for my daughter. It was good, not great; but we're not foodies so I don't that as a good indicator of the quality.

The room and bathroom were good. The thermostat was great actually. I know that sounds silly, but hotel thermostats in general and those in Europe specifically usually are not usable or not functioning going by past experience.

The room had a small patio enclosed by a wall. I realized that on the other side of the wall was the outdoor seating for the bar. I thought this might be a problem in general and for my daughter's rest specifically so I made some inquiries. The outside closes at midnight; the bar in general closes at 01:00. I asked to be moved and they did find a room on the second floor for us if we wanted it, and also offered to move us to the 5th floor the second and third nights saying 'a double move would be no problem.' The room on the 2nd floor didn't seem to be any better than where we were; it was right over the outside bar. So I told them we'd stay put and let them know about the 2nd and 3rd nights. That night we did hear some noise but it was a cool night and the crowd moved inside. Ultimately, I told them we'd stay put; I didn't really want to pack up or inconvenience them with the move if it wasn't very much necessary.

We had drinks each night in the bar: wine and mixed drinks. The service was prompt, accurate and efficient.

We had breakfast twice in the hotel. The only food out was continental and was all cold items. The selection was not great: tons of breads/pastries, several meats and cheeses, fruit, cereals, etc. A real continental. There were some sandwiches that could be toasted; I did this one morning and the ham and cheese was good. You could order a small selection off the menu for 5 euros each. One morning my daughter got some eggs. Juice and coffees were included. So nothing like what most old European Starwood's offer, but it was as billed: Continental. They did give it to all three of us each day.

I looked at the workout room and pool, each of which barely registers. I think there was four pieces of equipment and the pool was a small lap pool. But then again, my guess is they are big enough for the demand for them!

The only 'problem' I had was at check out. I wanted to use a Marriott gift card to pay at check out and the two folks up front had never seen them before. It was a short and dismissive conversation: I don't know how to use that. So I used my soon-to-be-cancelled AMEX Bonvoy card to settle up. I'd have liked to have use the gift card, but oh well.

Overall, this was a very nice hotel and a very good stay. it was much more than I expected after my first AC stay so I'm glad we picked this one. When the weather is warmer, I think having any room on the first two floors would be problematic with the bar noise. So my recommendation would be to try to stay on floor 3 or above if at all possible.