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Mandarin Oriental Barcelona Will Now Open on November 26th
Oh Barcelona, you’re pretty n all, but we could do without your mañana mañana attitude spoiling our hotel plans. First the W pushed back its opening date no less than three times, and now it’s the turn of the Mandarin Oriental.
Last time we checked, the hotel was due to open on October 29. But when we hadn't heard any fanfare today, and checked out the hotel’s website to find the calendar showing “no availability”, we smelt a rat.
So we just called Mandarin Oriental’s PR people, and they told us the hotel is scheduled to open on 26 November. So that’s delay number one. But we’re expecting a delay number two, seeing as the website’s not taking reservations until 15 December. Hmm.
Opening rates, if they are opening December 15, are showing up as €284 ($421/£254) at the moment, although there’s an intriguing note on the booking page saying that “most rooms accommodate 3 people.” Er, surely the kind of people paying that amount of money won’t want to share with two others? Unless, of course, we're being, um, naive.
Here’s hoping all will be revealed on 26 November. In the mean time, how nice does that rooftop pool look? Shame it'll be too cold to use when they finally let us in.
Tags: Checking In On / W Hotels / Hotel Openings / Barcelona Hotels / → All Tags
W Barcelona May Be Stylish, But Still Needs To Work On Service
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Last time we looked, the W Barcelona wasn’t going down so well with its clients. But then that was after opening weekend, nearly a month ago. Is it time to give it another chance?
The Independent reviewed it this weekend and, going by the review, it'd seem the “abysmal” service and “no edgy people” may have been teething problems.
The hotel is “nothing if not striking”, they say, and the pool is “bracingly cool” (we're assuming that's in a literal sense - it's nearly November, after all). The views from the 26th-floor Eclipse bar, meanwhile, are “bewitching”.
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MUJI Design Turns Barcelona Apartments Into 'Whotells'
We may love us some hotels, but research into accommodations in a destination usually includes looking at alternatives like temporary stay apartments as well, especially when we sit tight in the same city for over a week. Contemporary design usually wins us over as well, since isn't the point of paying so much to stay in a nice place to not be surrounded by your usual clutter? For this reason, we totally know where we're headed next time we're in Barcelona: The MUJI Whotells buildings in the Raval, Eixample and Barceloneta quarters.
The collection of temporary stay apartments, managed and outfitted like hotel suites gone native, occupy refurbished designer apartment buildings and offer 1,2 and 3-bedroom apartments for travelers, with capacity of up to 6 people. So how are these different from other temporary stay apartments, you ask? Well, they're furnished by the Japanese master brand of simplicity and functionality: MUJI.
Tags: Hotel Openings / Twitter / W Hotels / Barcelona Hotels / → All Tags
W Barcelona Still Pretty, But Needs Serious Work on The Vibe
Oh dears. We really hate to say this, but could it be that with all the hype around W Barcelona and its foxy building, they forgot to work on the foxy W vibe?
Barcelona resident Pulso BCN alerted us to the fact that there could be a problem with his comment here. He stopped by on Thursday, which should have been banging, seeing as it was the first night, but although it had a nice-looking pool, he wasn’t feeling it. “Maybe the W hipness is in crates stuck in Spanish customs,” he reckons. On his Twitter feed he went further: ”No glam opening, no edgy people, just a bunch of staffers running around trying to find a spot.”. Oopsie…
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The W Barcelona is Open Tonight But The Weekend is Booked
Temperature: 77 degrees. Weather: partly cloudy. Time: to check in to the W Barcelona.
Western Europe’s first W, and the snazzily-numbered 33rd in the world, has opened its doors today. The Bliss therapists are unwinding tense muscles right now, the Eclipse staff are girding cocktail glasses with sugar, and the head honchos must be breathing a big sigh of relief that its third predicted opening date has finally come through. And right now, that pool must be looking a little less peaceful.
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24 Hours to Go For W Barcelona
The pillows have been fluffed, the loungers have been wiped down, and the water features are in place - W Barcelona finally opens its doors tomorrow.
There are still rooms available for EUR 280 ($411/£255) if you fancy an off the cuff trip. To persuade you, the temperature is currently a balmy 22 degrees centigrade, although it’s a bit cloudy – let’s hope the sky clears by tomorrow morning!
Don’t worry if you can’t make it though - the opening party will be in “early 2010” according to the hotel. Let’s hope that doesn’t mean they’re worried about opening month glitches. In the mean time, here’s another picture from its Facebook photo album. We fully expect the hotel to be this buzzy when we finally make it down there…
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Thanks to Facebook, We Get a Sneak Peek at the W Barcelona
There are still six days to go till it opens, but the folk at W Barcelona have stuck up some sneak peek photos on their Facebook page. The teases!
Up top is the the sundeck at the Altitude Terrace. Then there’s the WET Deck (loving the water all over the place)
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The Countdown is On: Only Seven Days to Go Until W Barcelona Opens
We’ve waited and waited and now we’ve only got seven days of waiting left: W Barcelona opens a week today. According to the hotel, everything is on track for the opening, and it’s even sent us some pictures to prove it. Now, these look CGI to us, so we’re hoping the real thing is just as good. If it is, they’re going straight in our drool bag. In the mean time here’s what we’re most looking forward to.
The Wet Deck (above). Note how it seems to have plastic/glass walls to stop you plunging into the Med. Scary, but popular, we’re thinking. We’re also thinking about that pool – it’s 26 degrees out there (79, to those who work in farenheit), don’t you know.
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Sol Meliá Offers Caliente Room Deals in Europe
Time to move your fingers muy, muy rápido to take advantage of a caliente four-day sale by the Sol Meliá chain of hotels. (Okay, officially ending choppy use of Español). We were recently alerted to the fact that, from now through September 14th, Sol Meliá will be offering reduced rates on 130 of their Tryp, Meliá, Innside, Gran Meliá, and Sol hotels throughout Europe.
While we always welcome a good deal, when we visited the website to check out exactly what was on sale, we were inundated by a flood of different discounts, none of which seemed specifically oriented with the four-day sale. Sleuthing under "Special Offers" unearthed rooms at the Meliá in Barcelona starting at 150 Euros per night for check-in on an early weekend in October, Meliá Berlin starting at 57 Euros per night, and Tryp François in Paris for 149 Euros per night.
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W Barcelona Will Open on October 1 with Rooms at $344 a Night
Wow. Seems like "mañana mañana" may not be the way the Spaniards do things anymore. Or not in Barcelona, because the W is still set to open October 1*, and, as we just found out, you can even make reservations for one of the 473 rooms.
The promised “endless sea and city views” sound good, right? Well, if you want to experience them, you’ll have to start saving your pennies. The cheapest room (a Wonderful one) is currently going for EUR 240, or $344, excluding tax. Want a suite? That’ll be EUR 580, or $831. Let’s hope it’s worth it.
*Let’s just forget this is their third opening date, and give them the benefit of the doubt, ok? Good.
Tags: W Talent Shows / Hotel Openings / W Hotels / Barcelona Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
Only 'Ultimate Cool Hunters' Will Do For W Barcelona
Not that we want to start counting chickens or anything, but it looks like W Barcelona is still on track to open October 1. Not only are reservations are open – rooms cost from EUR212 ($299) for the opening night – but they’ve just started recruiting.
Being W, this is no dry process. At their beachfront “Talent Casting Centre”, to the sweet sounds of an inhouse DJ, prospective “Talent members” will be escorted into “whisper booths” and asked such pressing questions as “Why are you the city’s ultimate cool hunter?”
We’re thinking that finding 400 cool people in Barcelona won’t be a problem, though, so fingers crossed the opening date will hold. We’re starting the countdown now…
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Well, At Least the Fugly Carpet Has a Function This Time
It is no secret that we have a hard time dealing with fugly hotel carpeting. We understand why it's ugly (the full story is here if you're interested, but here's a spoiler: hides stains, moves the eyes along, etc.) — and we know the fug serves a function.
But here is the semi-fug (come on, the brown with the black reminds us of our a suite George Costanza's father would wear) carpet at Hotel Barcelo Raval in Barcelona — and, would you look at that, this carpet actually serves a very distinct function. Hooray!
This was snapped by Crazy farmer, and rooms here start at about 110 euros per night (or $156 USD). And even if you're drunkers and staring at your feet to make sure you continue to put your left foot in front of your right, you'll be able to find your room.
[Photo: crazyfarmer]
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