Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona — Hotel in Barcelona

Update: Despite the sweet message from the hotel stating they would look into how they can help us and how they're sorry for the way we were treated, we were met with the same exact unprofessionalism when emailed and told they're not doing anything so it's just to look good on the reviews.

We’re giving this hotel a 1 start review due to the lack of professionalism and accountability that we encountered.

Due to my wife’s condition, Lucia, she travels with a specially medication that part of it needs to be refrigerated and the other part needs to be frozen. They understood this, had us sign a liability waiver (no issue here), and told us that whenever we needed it to come downstairs and they’ll have it ready for us.

Check-out day comes and there are no notes detailing where the medicine is located. We checked out at 12:34pm and first thing we mentioned was the medicine because we know it might take a little bit of time to locate this. The supervisor Armand spoke to one of the employees to go look for it and we were met with arrogance. We checked out with more than sufficient time to make it to our train station and continuously expressed our concern that we won’t make it on time and Armand continuously reassured us that this would not be the case. 10 minutes later, the employee came down with just the refrigerated portion and we had to explain it to him about the other part being in the freezer. The employee rolled his eyes and took his sweet time going up the stairs. It took him 30 minutes to locate the freezer portion (apparently they have many freezers and kept it in two different areas of the hotel) and we were not able to leave the hotel until 1:05 when our train left at 1:25. As we were leaving, we spoke to Armand again that this that this will cause us to miss our train and once again, he kept saying it won’t. That we’ll be fine, that he knows the area. We had to rebuy our train tickets at 1:31.

Once this happened, we contacted him to let him know and he said he’ll speak with his Manager and return our call/email. This includes him blaming us for checking out too late and told him to check the papers, it says 12:34pm. Two weeks went by and if we hadn’t reached out, he would not have contacted us.

He then proceeds to email us back and give us the classic we’re sorry this happened and we will take your feedback into consideration for future issues but there is nothing we can do. While also gaslighting us saying “When going on vacation, it's important to remember that unexpected things can happen, and it's best to approach the trip with flexibility. Avoid rushing and allow yourself enough time to handle any surprises that may come up.” Due to the nature of the medicine, we can’t take it out of the fridge an hour earlier per se as it will melt. So no, it’s not about flexibility especially when we were keeping track of traffic, the estimate about how long it takes to get an uber, and leaving enough room considering they did their job correctly.

While we do appreciate and thank them for the proper handling of my wife's medicine, it was ridiculous that due to the lack of miscommunication and noting of where each portion of the medicine was stored that we missed the train. In my wife's 10 years of administering this medication and leaving the medicine at the front desk, it has never taken 30 minutes to locate her medicine. We think it’s unjust that due to the irresponsibility of how it was handled that we had to spend almost €300 to buy new train tickets.

And to add to all of this, an employee refused to open the fridge for us to grab a water bottle due to the fact that the market closes at 9pm. Weird but understood as hotels have certain policies, but when confirmed with the supervisor, he said there is a key to open it when needed.

While a refund is not always guaranteed (despite the arrogance and unprofessionalism exhibited by the hotel), the least they could’ve done is offered us some Hilton points for the inconveniences they continuously caused to...

We disembarked a Disney Cruise and picked this hotel changing from another one closer to things in the Gothic area because the Disney transportation was going to this hotel. We got to the hotel around 9:20 AM. It was quite hectic, but we were the first ones in line to check in. I received emails earlier in the week from Hotel relations prepping for my stay and they asked when we would arrive. So I assumed when I checked in that I would be able to have a room seeing that they contacted me days before and I told them when I would arrive. When I got up to the desk, there’s just a few stations up the stairs nothing grand, The agent didn’t greet me as a Diamond member or anything. Didn’t thank me for coming to the hotel… nothing. They checked me in, but said the rooms were not going to be ready until a few more hours. He told us to come back around noon and keep checking. He didn’t even offer to text or email us to say when a room would be available. I did notice that there were Disney people leaving to go board the boat so a lot of people had already checked out earlier than the checkout time at 12 PM. We arrived at 12:30 and still no rooms and they said the checkout time is 12 PM. However, I know that a lot of people already checked out and there had to be one room available but Nothing. So we were just sitting in the small poorly done lobby with a few chairs waiting. We have an afternoon tour so we’d like to check our things in and be able to relax a bit. We aren’t even able to stay until the checkout because we have to catch our flight so it was going to be minimal time. So we were in contact with our friends from the cruise and they checked into their hotel at 10 AM and already luxuriating closer to town. Meanwhile, I’m sitting in a horrible lobby no greeting no guest service nothing and waiting for a room that may not be available until 4 PM. So I quickly booked using my Amex to a five star hotel closer to our tour because we are only staying today and leaving on the airplane in the morning. We need to be able to do stuff not sit in a horrible lobby and walking across the street to the mall to get extra luggage then still not have our rooms be available. It just wasn’t an experience that I’m used to staying with Hilton. Again I had a curio collection one booked in the Gothic area, but decided to book this one because I thought I would have more space and it seemed to have decent reviews. In the future, I would not stay at this hotel because it was quite hectic with all the Disney Cruise passengers and then they said there were a couple other cruises there. Possibly they are understaffed for all of these visitors at once. The entire lobby was full with luggage and people either going to a cruise or coming back from a cruise. It wasn’t very clean or nice in the lobby. There was just security standing around and security couldn’t even direct you to anything or answer any questions. when asked where the Belman are located. So I booked another hotel and left so that we could...

Very disappointed in this place. It’s a nice hotel but for the price I expect better standards of service. The hotel can’t decide what it wants to be. Is it a cruise ship start point, a techno rave pool party or the worlds longest lift wait time?

The lifts are a nightmare, granted one was out of service but on several occasions we tried the lifts only to be told none are available. Taking the stairs in 29 degree heat isn’t great. Also if your room is near to the lifts you will hear them moving up and down all day and all night! This is incredibly loud and frustrating when trying to relax.

Purobeach: The pool is a lovely area providing you can get a bed there. We struggled on a couple of occasions and gave up on our final day as the waiting list was so long. I was told by another guest that non hotel guests are given priority as they pay to reserve beds. If true then this leaves hotel guests as second class despite the high cost to stay here. Astonishing!!

It would have been nice to be able to use the facilities that we paid so much for. 🤷‍♂️. The constant techno music that goes on late into the night is annoying as well. On our final night this went on to the early hours, why is this ok in a hotel where people need to get up early to catch a flight? 🤷‍♂️. I attempted to drown out the constant thumping with my own headphones and incredibly I could still hear the music over the top of mine!

Prices: Check your credit card limit as this place is pricey. 9 euros for a bottle of water!! I don’t mind paying for quality but overcharging for standard drinks is a bit much. On a more positive note the jugs of sangria were great despite the price.

Staff: Very hit and miss with how helpful, polite and attentive they are. If you pop back to your room from the pool area prepare for interrogation. Attempted to complain on a couple of occasions but reception was always busy and they don’t answer the phone from your room. Upon checking out we wasn’t even asked “how was your stay”. The receptionist was only interested in calculating what we owed.

Breakfast: this was good with plenty of choice and the staff here were much better than in the other hotel areas.

Room: We got a sea view but it’s obscured by other buildings. Feel like that should be called out when booking and paying for that privilege.

Location: Great if you like the beach, not so good if you want to explore the city. The metro is poorly connected from the hotel so you are at the mercy of taxis. A lot of the standard booking apps don’t get a response from the drivers so you have to hop in and take a chance on the cost. We had a couple of drivers take us the “scenic route” to increase the cost!

I’ve stayed at a fair few Hilton’s and this one clearly felt a level below the norm. Clearly optimised for revenue rather than guest experience.

Ultimately I was very disappointed in the hotel, service and overall experience. ...