Axel Hotel Barcelona — Hotel in Barcelona

Absolutely dreadful. We booked Axel Hotel expecting the usual high standards, but what we got was a total disaster from start to finish. We’ve stayed here before and had a great time, as well as at other Axel hotels, so this experience was shocking. Check-in was painfully slow, and to top it off, we were given rooms 118 and 120—accessibility rooms that we never requested. Honestly, they were an insult to the Axel brand. When we raised the issue, we were told these accessibility rooms are considered “standard” rooms, and we hadn’t paid for an upgrade. Let’s be clear—we weren’t asking for anything above and beyond a standard room, but at least in the non-accessibility rooms, the bathrooms might have been in better condition!

The bathrooms were disgracefully basic, like something out of a budget hostel. Parts of the electrics on the wall were missing, and the air conditioning was a joke. It blew cool air but did nothing to actually cool the room down. We couldn’t even keep our friend’s temperature-controlled medication safe because the room never reached a suitable temperature, and the maids kept turning off the AC. Oh, and the safe in room 118? It didn’t work at all.

As if that wasn’t enough, the room design was a total failure. We were stuck in a courtyard completely overlooked by other rooms, which meant we had to keep the blackout curtains closed for our entire stay. Imagine paying over €200 a night to sit in a dark, claustrophobic cave with no privacy.

We raised these issues with reception, who told us to come back before 11:00 AM the next day to change rooms. We asked for the manager to call us back and sent an email, but what did we get? Nothing. Just a message saying the hotel was full and they couldn’t be bothered to fix anything. I’ve asked four times for the manager to get back to me, and I’m still waiting. The last excuse was that they’ll deal with it on a working day. So, if you’re staying at Axel over the weekend and run into a problem—tough luck. Don’t expect anyone to lift a finger until Monday, and even then, I’m doubtful.

And let’s talk about those so-called “accessible” rooms. If you’re an accessibility user, be warned: these rooms wouldn’t even be wheelchair-friendly. The entrance to the hotel is stepped, and you have to use a separate, inconvenient entrance and wait for reception to let you in. Once inside, the doors to the accessible rooms are narrow, including the bathroom door, making it difficult, if not impossible, for wheelchair users. The irony of being given an “accessible” room that’s not accessible is pointless.

To make matters worse, the hotel promotes itself as “hetero-friendly” and markets itself to the LGBT community. But the spa? You have to pay €15 just to get in, and it was packed with heterosexual couples, one of whom was literally doing felatio in the pool. It was absolutely vile and made my partner and me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

The staff didn’t even ask if everything was ok when we checked out—they were more interested in if we’d had anything from the minibar. Completely disinterested.

Overall, this experience has completely taken the shine off the start of our holiday. Looking at other reviews, it’s clear this isn’t an isolated incident. Axel Hotels has gone completely downhill, and for over €200 a night, we received something worse than an IBIS budget. This isn’t just disappointing; it’s infuriating. Axel used to be a trusted brand, but this was an utter disgrace. Hopefully, the next part of our trip proves to be...

The location of this hotel is great and many of the facilities are very nice (gym, rooftop pool, sky bar). Unfortunately, many of the more used amenities are not maintained well. We had issues with the wifi, ac, and elevators throughout our stay And outlined below. Further when these were discussed with the GM his initial reaction was user error accusatory even though on at least one issue he had no understanding of how his own hotel worked. I’ve had good experiences with other axels in Madrid and Miami but this one doesn’t live up to the brand standard.

Air conditioning: one night with the windows open we were able to get it to 22c for a few hours, otherwise throughout our 5 day stay it never got below 24c despite being set at 19c. I don’t know if the whole floor was set to heat or just this unit not working but had it been a warmer summer month instead of fall it would have been miserable. When mentioned to GM he said we probably didn’t have it set to cool (we had it on the same snowflake icon that worked just fine in axel Madrid 5 days later).

WiFi would go out multiple times per day, while this isn’t a huge issue if you were trying to work remotely I imagine random 10-30 minute downtimes would be problematic. GM initially said they use the best and latest routers and that it was likely our non European device settings (devices that have worked perfectly at many other EU hotels). After mentioning this issue appearing in multiple other reviews he then admitted it as known and said it “usually doesn’t last long”. He initially blamed the user then flip flopped but still rationalized a known issue showing they have no plans to improve it and makes me question their leadership style at the hotel. This also explains the mediocre customer service experienced here vs other axels, these tones are set from the top.

Multiple elevators went down throughout our stay, another indictment of the maintenance quality. There are multiple elevators so normally this would be a non-issue. However, one day both elevators that went to our 7th floor went out. It took 30 minutes and front desk agent to figure out we had to take a third set of elevators to the 6th floor, walk across the building then take an outside fire escape to go up to our floor (the third elevator goes to 7 but to the opposite side of sky bar that is locked during the daytime. All staff refused to unlock the bar even temporarily to give us a smooth passage way to our room). When this was mentioned to the GM he said anyone could take the indoor fire escape. I told him this was locked during our stay (another safety concern) and asked him to try to get there without using the two main elevators and he later recanted and admitted the only way was the outdoor fire escape. He blamed this misstep on only taking over the hotel a couple months ago and again no apology for his staff for not opening the bar as a pass through.

To me it’s clear axel corporate is not interested in maintaining this building or equipping their management and staff with the skills and equipment to run it appropriately. If you really want this location and axel experience just be aware of the short comings. For me there are better options in the neighborhood that I will stay...

Axel Hotel - Not what I expected - See no reason to rebook in an Axel again. Reservations - Check-in: Filled out at least 3 questionnaires before coming. Explaining our special event we were celebrating. Not sure why because nothing was ever done with the information I even asked and was given no response. We arrived a few hours before check, knowing we were early, and left our suitcases, we came back 3 hours later to check in. We had left copies of IDs when we originally showed up so it would be easier for our check-in. Although I had already done all that online the day prior. I had order a bottle of cava with the original reservation; months before. It was not in the room when we arrived. It took the staff 2 hours to finally get it to our room after I called and complained about it 3 times. House keeping: No bottled water in room after 1st day even after complaining for 3 days straight. Front desk brought me 2 bottles after the 3rd day - but never received any again. The room has coffee and tea in it but no way to make them without bottled water - seems strange. Shampoo soap conditioner small bottles removed and replaced after the 1st day - weird, then only a shampoo and soap left the 3rd day and never replaced again. First 2 sets were the Axel logo with lotion in the box - next day was some off brand shampoo nothing more. Towels were picked up from floor and new ones were left on the bed. No place to hang up towels in the room/bathroom. Bed was made, towels were replaced, and the trash was emptied - that was about it. No extra touch like you might find in many other hotels. Maid carts were left in the hallway - all day and all night long - weird. I did get a .33l bottle of water from the rooftop pool bar who primarily takes care of hotel guests for 4 EURs. Check-out: Don’t leave early. Breakfast does not start until 7:30. So if you have an early flight - no breakfast. Axel claims to be a 4 star hotel - but defiantly does not hold up to that rating. We did enjoy the room for the selection I made - but the service is a bust. Too much let down throughout our stay. I did a lot of research before our stay and felt the Axel would be the best for who were, and why we were staying in the Axel, we paid up front, had explained why we were staying with the Axel but it did not turn into the experience I had expected. We will not reserve a room again with Axel - our experience was that bad. We normally stay in another chain of hotels - with great experiences, but thought the Axel chain would be a great change for us, I was wrong. Others I spoke with said they do not stay their either - there are better places to stay. We stayed in Barcelona for almost a week (6 Days), the Axel location was great, but I feel now we could have done better. I did explain the issues with the front staff numerous times - each day for the first 3 days with no response, I got tired of complaining, until the 5th day I complained again - I was told the management would want to speak with me - They never contacted me during our stay - or after. Thanks to the front desk staff - they...