Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Barcelona, Spain
 

My wife and I are going to Europe at the end of August and are going to spend a few nights in Barcelona. We were going to stay a few nights at the Renaissance in Barcelona (at the airport) and do a little sight-seeing pre and post cruise. I found out that we can use our points to stay at the Ritz Carlton. I have plenty of Marriott points to swing a stay at the Ritz Carlton (Hotel Arts Barcelona) but wasn't sure which would be better.

So, Renaissance or Ritz Carlton in Barcelona?

Thanks.

Well if you want to be in Barcelona... then choose the Ritz-Carlton. The Rennaisance really is at the airport so it is a 30 euro taxi journey to the city. There is a shuttle bus from the hotel, but then you are somewhat limted to the times you are in the city until.

Food in the city is also much better in the hundreds of bars and restaurants.

Yes, this is close to a no-brainer. Stay in town if you can.

Bruce

Stayed at the Ritz last summer and it's a very good hotel with a good executive lounge. I dined in both Arola and Enoteca and they were very, very good. However, be prepared for a late, late dinner. The place doesn't even start hopping until about 9:30p.

The only complaint I had was that there was a party on the beach after a major soccer win and even though we were on the top floor of the hotel, we could hear the music as if we were on the beach. The hotel was very apologetic, but when the party was still going strong at 3:30a it was comical. Again, this was not the hotel's fault and besides that one incident we had no other noise problems.

Have a great time! Barcelona is an awesome city.

Assuming it was the Champions League win - then yes the city was manic then - I think it took about 2 days for my hangover to go!

I remember walking back to the hotel from Placa de Catalunya at about 1am and everyone else was walking to the Placa de Catalunya. So as Stumblefoot says relax and bear in mind that everything runs later in Barcelona. e.g. Football matches at Barcelona FC often do not finish until midnight so eating / drinking late is quite normal.

We have tentatively planned on going to Barcelona with our family next Summer (2011). Is there a lot for kids to do (boys ages will be 6 1/2 and 5)?

You're right about dinner. Barcelona is an early city by Spanish standards. Lots of the best places in Madrid only open at 10PM.

If you have the points stay at the Ritz.

If you're using points, stay at Hotel Arts, but if you decide want to pay, stay somewhere else. The Ren at the airport is out because of the distance. You'd either need to take a taxi or bus + commuter rail combo to get into the city.

Hotel Arts is somewhat distant from Les Rambles, but at least it's on the water. There are numerous nightclubs, fast food - Pans and Company :D, and restaurant options if you go outside and turn left from the canopy. There are more restaurants to the right along the water all the way to the Columbus statue. The only restaurant where I ate on site was Arola, and I only ate there because I had a 100 € meal voucher. If you go along the water, you can get an equivalent meal for 1/3 the price with the same quality; you just lose the ambiance and trendiness of Arola.

As others have said, the area around there does get lively during the summer. If that doesn't bother you, stay there. Personally, I don't think I'll ever stay there again on a paid stay. I recently went there with my father, and we had requested an upgrade that was supposedly available as part of our rate. At check-in, they said a room upgrade wasn't available, which was fine, but that they put us in an "excellent" room on one of the lowest floors of the hotel.

I'm ok with a room upgrade being unavailable, but don't try to handwave your way through it and try to claim it's an "excellent" room. When we got up to the room, it hadn't been cleaned. I have mistakenly been given a dirty room before, and it usually doesn't bother me much, but this is a place where I was shelling out 300 € per night. You expect them to get it right the first time! We moseyed back down to the check in, and, once we were able to get the attention of someone after a few minutes, we got keys to room number two. We went back up, opened the door, and to our dismay found only one bed.

At this point, I was getting a little irritated after an early flight from Madrid and just wanting a bed to rest. I went down to the desk a third time, and only this time were they extremely apologetic. They comped a drink from the bar while I waited about 15 minutes. Someone finally came over and escorted me up to a room on the 29th or 30th floor. I guess you could say we took the backdoor approach to the room upgrade. :D

During the summer, you see a lot of hospitality interns from northern European countries working at the hotel. I think this adds to the confusion and mistakes. Most aren't that familiar with the city, so they can't make suggestions or give directions to places in town. One of them didn't even know where the gym was in the hotel. :rolleyes: In summary, this experience was unbecoming of the level of service I expect at a Ritz-Carlton. I've had more competent service from an Ibis.

Overall, it's a nice hotel and the staff are friendly, but the ordeal I went through has left me with a lasting bad impression about the hotel.

So, as Marriott Plat. using points, do we get access to the executive lounge or any other benefits, or are we just customers?

No idea about the Marriott Platinum.

But, if you were using an Amex Platinum you may get upgraded to a room on the top two floors. And, you'd definitely have access to the lounge, plus a full buffet breakfast in the restaurant for two. You'd also receive an $85Euro food and beverage credit to use during your stay. Plus, you could check out as late as 4:00p.m.

No lounge access by Marriott status at RC!

But a AMEX Centurion helps ;)

But then, you would have paid $450 a year for the card.

Like others have said, the Renaissance is by the airport, so that would be out for me.

We enjoyed Hotel Arts last September. We had a basic ocean view room, which was very nice with a roomy bathroom, and our friends were upgraded to a 3-bedroom, 2-floor penthouse suite on one of the top floors. Spectacular with amazing views. We hung out in their room quite a bit. =)

It was great to be on the beach for walks and also for easy accessibility to dine around the marina a couple of nights. The marina restaurants are not the highest rated in the city, but we had delicious meals and lovely walks. We went to dinner early by local standards at 8:30-9:00pm. Most of the diners came to the restaurant while we were eating or as we left.

From Hotel Arts, we walked to Las Ramblas a couple times, and although it's a bit of a hike, it's a beautiful walk.

Even from our room on the 12th(?) floor, the bands playing at the beach late into the night sounded quite loud on the weekend. Something to consider if you're a light sleeper, although I'm sure there's also a lot of hustle and bustle (noise) in the wee hours when staying closer to Las Ramblas.

bsdstone mentioned he's traveling with his sons next summer. We really wish there would have been a soccer/football game scheduled while we were there, but there was not. What a cool experience that would have been for us, and might be for you and your boys on your visit.

Just a plug for Pans y Company. I used to live in Valencia and Madrid and went to Pans y Company all the time. I wish they would bring the chain to the U.S.