Starwood Hotels & Resorts Le Méridien Barcelona is one of the Spanish city's more popular hotels, mostly because of its location off the hotspot entertainment boulevard of La Rambla. (Well, perhaps at least until the W Barcelona debuts later this year.)
But the hotel has not been without its problems. When Starwood, which bought the Le Méridien brand in 2005, began assimilating its Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program to the hotel chain, members complained that their status didn't seem to hold much weight in garnering upgrades at the hotel, noting that staff frequently said suites were not available, despite such rooms capable of being booked online.
Monica Guy, our own younger, blonder, more attractive but still curmudgeonly version of Andy Rooney has returned yet again. This time, she's giving us the lowdown on the Barcelona hotel scene. Enjoy.
Barcelona's Gothic Quarter.
We don't mean rubbish lovers, of course. Or people who love budgets. We don't think much of either. We mean lovers on a budget.
Because why assume that all lovers are loaded? Ours never are. Seduction's easy when you're rich. Ask the guy in Pretty Woman. But try making love while you're counting your pennies.
So keep the romance and your dollars by staying at El Jardí, the best budget hotel for lovers in Barcelona for lovers.
If you're staying in Barcelona, you've gotta be close to that frenetic pedestrian mall that is La Rambla. So from a location point of view, the year-old Hotel 1898 fits the bill. Before you ask, the name comes from the year that Spain lost the Philippines to America during the Spanish-American war. Oops. Hopefully the link is mostly just due to the building, which is the old headquarters of Philippines Tobacco, and not some kind of vengeful thinking.
The NY Times checked it out recently and seemed pretty impressed. Big plus points, apart from the location, include a good atmosphere and well-evoked style of 1800s Spain, soundproof rooms (especially important on La Rambla), a decadent rooftop lap pool and a second pool in the basement for bad weather.
On the down side, room service won't feed you after 11pm, and that's a big surprise for Spain, where many people would still just be starting their evening. Many aspects of the hotel are (necessarily, perhaps) small--the gym, the bathrooms, the windows, and so on. But the summary goes like this: "a quiet slice of empire-era luxury in a prime location", so it doesn't sound bad at all.
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by jennm
