bgriff

Noticed a new Autograph Collection hotel in Sitges, a beach town outside of Barcelona, which appears to have opened sometime in the last few weeks.
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...ph-collection/

Can't find a ton of information about it, even for a hotel that has just opened, but looks potentially interesting. Sitges is conveniently located but doesn't have a lot of 4/5-star hotel options, especially that are located close to town. (Well, assuming this hotel is in fact close to town ... the map on the Marriott website shows a different, worse location than where Google Maps believes it to be located based on the stated address. The detailed directions to get there from the airport appear to align with what Google Maps thinks, though.)

christianj

Interesting find but I agree that the location is not optimal if you want to go the Sitges for the beach and to walk the town at night for dinner, drinks and partying. (As an aside, the beach was completely underwhelming for me.) If you absolutely want to be in the area then it's nice to have a Marriott associated property, if you are just looking to add on some beach days to your Barcelona visit....then I would recommend going a bit further south to the Le Meridien Ra Beach which is right on the beach.

Adam1222

The walk into town doesnt seem too bad, but the walk back after a night out seems less ideal! Rooms look much nicer and larger than most in-town properties though

enelym1978

It's not too bad of a location, about 10-15min walk to the beach but not the most "in" area I would say.... Looks like they are developing that neighborhood at the moment so who knows... The old town would have been nicer but I can see how difficult it would be to have a big new development there.
But it's nice to have in Sitges.

craigthemif

As a Sitges resident, perhaps I can be the definitive source, although I haven't wandered over to check out the hotel...

The Marriott website has the location completely wrong. Google Maps is also a bit off. I believe the hotel is located in the empty-looking block on Avenida de Sofia next to the Google Maps tag. It will be a short walk into the old town - not a problem day or night... The hotel will definitely be closer to the action than the Melia hotel (or the ME Terramar hotel).

There is absolutely no chance of hotel developments in the old town and like christianj says, the beach is nothing special. However, there is an airport bus that drops / picks up people off very close to this hotel - one of the reasons I live here is that it is quicker to get to Terminal 1 from Sitges than central Barcelona. So it is far more convenient than the Meridien Ra (or even the AC Gava Mar) if you want a few relaxing days after a Barcelona visit.

Adam1222

Google maps has photos of the exterior that makes the location pretty clear. I'd consider it for a stay this later this month but there's no points availability and a 15 minute walk uphill from the bars late at night just isn't appealing

Adam1222

I've decided to take the plunge and will be staying here next week and will report back. It'll be interesting to see what Platinum benefits are; I decided not to book the breakfast-included grand opening special rate as there was a 30 EUR less nightly rate for 3-night stays

santydrak

I cannot see the price in points yet

justforfun

The rooms look great, probably the best in Sitges. But curious about its location. Doesn't look too promising.

bgriff

Here now. I will share more thoughts later, but short story is: very nice hotel, mediocre location, a few quirks but overall a huge improvement on the hotels in town. It seems like the prices would have to go up once it’s more established given how much nicer the rooms are, but then the location…

Also worth noting they have a few 2-bedroom suite categories charging barely more than regular rooms. Could be a great deal for a group or family.

Adam1222

I'll share a full review shortly, but I found the hotel one of the nicest Marriott stays I've ever had, and the location fine. 10 minute walk to the beach or the bars (closer to 15 back), and there's a brand new supermarket attached to the hotel. I've stayed at many hotels in Sitges, and this is the only one I've wanted to spend any significant time at. Upgraded to a Sabatic Suite as a platinum, with a gorgeous huge balcony. The food and service at the restaurant were exquisite. I agree that the prices are likely going to shoot up. For my stay, tiny rooms not facing the water at the Mim, which is only marginally closer to bars and restaurants, were 50 eur a night more.


Sabatic Suite living room


Sabatic Suite barhroom

Sabatic Suite balcony

Adult Pool (floor 1)

Sabatic Suite dining room

More balcony


Family pool and restaurant area (floor 0)

henkybaby

I’ll be here in a few days too. Have applied for the suite upgrade. Looks very nice. Thanks for the pictures. Will circle back to let you all know how they treat ambassadors and what perks (if any) you get.

bgriff

If you have any other possible uses of SNAs before they expire, I am not sure I would use them here … standard room is what looks to be a generously sized suite (and the Sabatic Suite doesn’t really have any other benefits beyond a bigger living room, no half bath or anything like that), and they seem to be well-trained about elite benefits so an upgrade at check-in is fairly likely.

I’m an Ambassador and there wasn’t any special treatment beyond the correct application of the published Plat+ elite benefits, which here means choice of breakfast or 750 points per day, plus choice of 1000 points or a one-time €10 F&B credit, and perhaps a bit more care in assigning rooms (we were offered the choice of a Sabatic suite on the pool level with a terrace vs a higher level with a balcony). There was a welcome note in the room but no further amenity.

bgriff

My more complete thoughts.

Overall I like this hotel a lot and would extremely strongly recommend it to anyone who is going to Sitges at current prices, and even if prices go up quite a bit. It is just a lot better on balance than the other local options. For reasons I'll get into, it wouldn't necessarily compete in some other higher-end resort markets, but for the local competition, it's a no-brainer. As I said in a previous post, given all of the net advantages of this hotel, I have to imagine rates will increase once the market gets to know it, so I'm planning to make a speculative booking or two for next year.

My Sitges hotel journey...
My husband and I were in Sitges for the start of Bear Week and I had been debating where to stay for months, and had booked and cancelled at least a half-dozen different options, including considering a few of the hotels in town and the two somewhat nicer but out-of-the-way Melia options, and then being excited when I saw this option appear shortly before the trip, but I was unsure about the location.

In the end, I had settled (for reasons I don't entirely recall) on the MiM for 5 nights, knowing it would not be a luxury hotel but figuring the location was good and the rest would be manageable. The MiM was about exactly that, though with some annoyances that built up over the 3 nights we lasted there -- things like a very small pool with only a few loungers, very scarce and jealously guarded towels, and a room design with a bathroom open to the room, with no way to have a light on in the bathroom without lighting up the whole bedroom, a major annoyance since we keep somewhat different sleep schedules. (To be fair, other hotels, like many Ws, have similar designs, though it's usually more obvious in room photos when they do.)

So, we started joking about moving to the Sabatic pretty much immediately, I proposed it more seriously on day 2 and my husband wasn't sure it was worth the hassle, and then by the next day he proposed it again and we moved for the last 2 nights of the 5. The hotel has started taking points reservations, and was available on a "PointsSaver" rate (a concept which doesn't make a lot of sense now that there aren't hotel categories any more?) of ~32K per night, not the most amazing value vs a cash price of the low $200s but I was able to burn a couple of credit card free nights that might have otherwise gone unused.


Hotel and check-in
Check-in was very friendly. It took a bit longer than expected for not-entirely-clear reasons, but the agent was very well-trained on elite check-in procedures and I think she might have been stalling a bit while figuring out upgrade options for us. In the end, as an Ambassador, she offered us two options of Sabatic suites: either the 1st floor, on the level of the adults pool, with a terrace facing the pool area, or a higher floor with a balcony, explaining the tradeoff of potentially less privacy on the first floor. I appreciate being given the option and we went for the 1st floor, and it turned out to be great in terms of convenience of pool access.

Other elite benefits, as per the regional Autograph Collection standard, are choice of 750 points per day or breakfast, plus the choice of 1000 points per stay or a EUR10 F&B credit.

I didn't need it, but late check-out was offered, despite resorts not needing to do so.

Room
The Sabatic Suite is very nice, and other than having a terrace rather than a balcony, our room was much the same as the photos shared previously.

There were a fair number of "have the people who designed this hotel room ever stayed in a hotel before?" moments though. Nowhere at all, besides the floor, to put personal toiltetries in the shower; not nearly as many outlets as I would expect from a new build hotel; nowhere to plug in the Nespresso machine near its home perch, and a style of machine that kind of falls apart when you pick it up to move it to an outlet; and so on.

Be aware that the "Vermouth experience tray" is part of the minibar and not a complimentary welcome amenity, despite a placement that kind of feels like the latter at first.


Room types
From the website descriptions and the floor map, it appears all rooms here are suites, with separation between bedroom and living room. All rooms also have some sort of sea view; the north side of the hotel facing away from the water is just a corridor with no rooms. It's not really clear how the hotel is distinguishing between partial and full sea view, since the Sabatic Suite which is listed as sea view is one of the rooms with a "to the side" sea view rather than a "head on" sea view. (Our Sabatic Suite, in the back corner behind various pool stuff on the same level, probably actually had the worst sea view of any room at the hotel -- not complaining but just to point out that I wouldn't worry too much about the lower categories.)

These are definitely by far the largest standard rooms in Sitges, and the standard rooms here are probably larger even than some or all of the upgraded room types at hotels like the MiM.

Based on floor plans and balcony layouts, there appears to be only one Sabatic Suite per floor, and it appears to exist mainly to solve the age-old problem of "what do we do with the awkward leftover space behind the elevators" -- in this case, use it for a long shallow living room for the Sabatic Suite.

I appreciate having gotten the upgrade, but in multiple ways I would say upgrades are of unusually limited value at this hotel, so certainly wouldn't prioritize SNAs here: as mentioned the regular rooms are very nice, and the Sabatic Suite has only a bigger living room and balcony, with limited other benefit -- exact same bathroom as other rooms (no tub or fancier shower or anything), no obvious added features, same queen bed, and not even any additional furniture on the balcony despite having twice as much space. And, arguably a better (closer or more head-on) sea view from various other rooms, too.


Location
The Sabatic's location certainly isn't good, in that you don't go to a beach town to stay a 10-minute walk away from the beach. But in terms of overall hotel quality and resort amenities, the only competition in Sitges are the two Melia options or the Dolce. Both of the Melias are about twice as far from the center of town as the Sabatic, and the Dolce is even farther. I guess if you care more about proximity to any beach rather than the town center specifically, an argument could be made for the Melias. But if you care about getting to and from town the Sabatic is by far the most convenient among that set of hotels, and that doesn't account for the fact that the Sabatic also has much bigger and nicer rooms than the standard rooms at those resorts.

Since we had already spent a few nights at the MiM when we moved hotels and enjoyed being very close to the beach, despite whatever other downsides, I thought I would like the Sabatic overall but still be torn about recommending the Sabatic due to the location. By the time we left the Sabatic, I had gotten over that; it really is only a 10-minute walk to the beach or town, which is entirely manageable. That said, the half of the walk closest to the hotel is mostly unshaded, so in the heat of the day and especially walking uphill to the hotel it's not the most fun, but I actually didn't find it to be as much of a drag as I thought I might when we made the move.

Walking back from bars at night, the walk is well-lit but a bit desolate, which may be unnerving for some. I have no idea if there are any safety issues to be concerned about. We did hear about one person getting mugged, though that was in the alleys of the old town, so totally different setting than this walk.

A taxi or Cabify (the local Uber) is also an option if you really don't want to walk -- though masks are still required in both so be sure to bring one with you to town if you think you might want to ride back.

The hotel also offers a shuttle apparently, but I did not use it or find out the details.

There are a few vacant lots in front of the hotel, and presumably if and when those are built out the pools and some of the rooms might lose their sea views, but there definitely did not appear to be anything imminent.


Facilities and activities
There are two large pools, one for families and one for adults only. During my stay the family pool was often totally empty. Bar and food service is available at the adults pool (and I think at the family pool, though I didn't try it), and there were plenty of lounger chairs available for all comers.

The gym is a disappointment relative to the rest of the hotel IMO. Only a couple of cardio machines and very basic weight equipment, mainly consisting of a cable station and dumbbells only up to 10kg. They do offer various daily group fitness classes if that's your thing, though. If you want a more substantial workout, I recommend the Sorlisport gym an easy 500m walk away, which sells a one-week guest pass for EUR35 (bring an ID to sign up--I was able to use a US driver's license with no trouble).

We did not end up taking part but they also offer, free with reservation, a "vermouth experience" which I assume means some free snacks and drinks.


Breakfast
Breakfast runs 7-11am and consists of a very large, high-quality, mostly cold buffet, plus the option to order egg dishes made to order. All of the above is included for 2 for Platinum+ members. Great selection of Spanish meats and cheeses and a huge variety of breads and pastries.


Service
I heard the staff say that they are still struggling to get fully staffed up due to labor availability challenges, so it's unclear if they may be planning to expand service in the future -- for example, food and drink service at the pool required going to the bar to order rather than at-seat service, there was limited bellhop service, and there was no turndown service (and the welcome letter specifically mentioned that housekeeping was only available 9am-5pm). Those things are certainly not dealbreakers, but rather it's just unclear whether they intend for this to be a full luxury resort that's still getting spooled up, or if it's going to be more of a very nice 4-star resort without some of those luxury touches, which would also be fine. (The fact that there isn't a spa, and doesn't seem to be space reserved for one, perhaps also points to the latter.)

That said, the staff they do have now were all extremely friendly and helpful ... and it did not escape notice that they were also pretty much universally especially good looking.


Transfers
Coming from BCN to Sitges, I had booked a pick-up service. On our way back to the airport, we were planning to order a Cabify but there were no drivers available the morning we departed. Fortunately the hotel was able to call us a local Sitges Taxi within minutes, and they do take credit cards. The ride was metered and with tolls came to about EUR65.

It is worth noting that it will hopefully be fixed but for now the hotel's location on Google Maps is still a bit off from the actual location, so that may confuse Cabify and other drivers who are very GPS-focused, and is an advantage to Sitges Taxis whose drivers presumably know the local area a bit better.

Scorrell2

Hi, Read your comment on flyertalk. Can you tell me if you think that the Sabatic Sitges hotel is a good location for the upcoming Santa Tecla festivities? I want to participate but not live in the middle of all the noise.