Two new stays at Pullman Barcelona Skipper

100   Recommended
Superior room with terrac...
August 23, 2017 by

 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended
Share
Save
Liked:
Location
 
Service
 
Food
 
Amenities
 
Room
 

{{ oRightNav.heading }}

Pullman Barcelona Skipper
 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended

Save

Share

Superior room with terrac...

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
Superior room with terrace

I stayed again twice recently at this hotel, each time only for 1 night. Overall good but perfectible. For both stays, the hotel was 100% full which I know is not a very comfortable situation for the staff, but that's life and it's good for them to be full in term of business. This was summertime and a 100% occupancy in a city like Barcelona comes unfortunately often with loud and poorly educated guests (of the style "I put my towel on a sunbath seat at the pool to book it, and I come back 2 hrs later". It was the case here for both stays, but it remained at a manageable level.

Rates were very high. I have to say that Barcelona becomes very expensive for hotels, far from the cheap image of Spain. 

The beach close to the hotel:

IMG_4646.JPGIMG_4645.JPG

1st stay

I was contacted about 10 days before the stay by a trainee to confirm that I was indeed coming and to know what time I was expecting to show up. I was landing in BCN at 11:30 am, so I answered asking for an early check-in around 12:30. I received the very annoying typical blabla response (check-in is normally at 3pm, early check-in is only granted if available, etc etc). True that, as a platinum member, I surely don't know that. I was re-contacted a few days before the stay by the guest experience manager (a Spanish guy speaking/writing perfectly French) welcoming me nicely in advance as a Platinum member, asking me the same question about the requested check-in time and if I had a favorite drink. Rather nice, I would say. I received a better response this time saying that they will of course do their maximum to grant me the early check-in. 

 

I arrived around 1pm and, of course, the room was not ready. The agent at front desk was trying to contact housekeeping for 10 min to know more about the ready time but without success...After 15 min of waiting at check-in, I proposed them to go at the rooftop pool to have lunch while they can sort this out. I came back at 2:30 at the front desk and it was still not ready...I was becoming very very annoyed by this situation. All the staff looked sincerely concerned (including the guest experience manager I mentioned above whom I met in person). They offered me a glass of champagne while I was waiting in the lobby lounge. Then just before 3pm, they came to me with 2 proposals. I had booked a classic room and they had scheduled for me a junior suite (double upgrade) but it was this room which was not ready and would still not be ready before another 30min. So they gave me the choice between this or a superior room with terrace (single upgrade) which was ready. I took the latter, first because it was ready, second because the junior suite was on the main avenue (Av del littoral) and I know from previous stays that those rooms are very noisy. So finally I got my room at the regular check-in time (3pm)...Then it took them another 30 min to bring me the luggage to my room (after some reminder calls). It was obvious that they all were extremely busy but that was certainly not enjoyable check-in and arrival experiences, and I lost a lot of time because of this. Maybe they should have extra ressources during those very busy summer periods. 

 

Room was nice with a balcony facing the ground floor pool.

IMG_4643.JPG

Hard to find a seat at the pool. I managed to find one at the rooftop pool in the evening.

Drink voucher allows champagne. 

Turndown service was provided, along with chocolates. 

Check-out was without particular problem. I informed promptly the hotel that I was coming back some days after at the same time (same flight) and that I was expecting a better check-in experience (for the 2nd stay it was even more important as I would be arriving from the US, so it means tired from the overnight flight).

2nd stay

Arrived at the said time. I booked this time a superior room with terrace. Room was ready and they in fact gave me the same room as the one I had for the 1st stay. I didn't ask/argue as my priority was to have a room right now and it was only for one night. Hotel was full again. A lot of loud guests...The rest of the stay was uneventful.

Overall

Overall, outside the mediocre arrival experience for the 1st stay and the lack of upgrade for the 2nd stay, both stays were good. All the staff members were very nice with me and most of them speak French fluently, which is always appreciated by the numerous French people staying in this hotel. The hotel is still nice and in good conditions. However rates were atrociously high (around €250-300 for the cheapest, booked several months in advance), but as I said previously, BCN is becoming super expensive and this is summer time...

39 Comments

This review lives in the Review Sofitel Barcelona Skipper (ex Pullman) thread.
39 comments and Y review
Comment In Thread

Hotels you may also be interested in