Hotel Astoria — Hotel in Barcelona

TLDR; Hotel Astoria is beautifully designed and the staff is lovely, but the amenities are outdated (especially the single-bed rooms) and the wifi is not reliable. If the rates are higher than 50 euros per night, book elsewhere. IMO, you can get more for the same price or less elsewhere (especially if you are traveling solo). More details below...

I’ll start by saying that this property and its common areas (lobby, restaurants) are stunning. The staff is also very accommodating and professional. I have no complaints about them. This property is also situated in a great location, near many restaurants but still within walking distance of the metro. Despite all these positive attributes, if you are a solo traveler/digital nomad like myself, I would not recommend staying here.

The amenities simply did not match the price point. The wifi was inaccessible from my room (even though I was only on the first floor), causing me to use tons of international data. The room itself, the single room, was basically a closet with a cot and was located in the farthest corner of my building. Definitely not worth the 170 euros I paid each night (an absurd holiday surcharge).

I could only connect to the internet when standing by the room door, and even then, it would drop constantly. To make matters worse, you can only connect one device for 7 days without incurring an extra fee. Since I connected my phone first, I couldn’t use my laptop or tablet for the duration of my stay. Thankfully, I only stayed for a weekend before switching hotels. In terms of breakfast, the spread left much to be desired. A few cold pastries, fruit, yogurt, a cereal bar, and deli slices. Not very filling or impressive. While that may seem sufficient for some, you could get a hearty breakfast elsewhere (Like B de Brunch next door) for the same price or less than it would cost to add breakfast to your reservation. The addition of a hot bar with oatmeal or eggs would have made it worthwhile. I didn’t try the restaurants on-site, however, I did enjoy using room service. The hotel outsources room service to a 3rd-party company called Le Room Service. You can order on your phone using the QR code in your room. The food came quickly and the prices were reasonable (15 euros for a Beyond Meat veggie burger + fries).

If you are looking for a place to stay and work in Barcelona, I’d suggest checking out the Praktik Hotel brand. They have multiple locations in the city. For half the price, I got a room and bed twice as large as what I received at Hotel Astoria. My wifi worked without a hitch (even on the top floor), and there was no limit to the devices I could use. My room also had a balcony and was well-lit vs. my dark closet room at HA. Some Praktik locations even have co-working lounge spaces. This was my first time in Barcelona, and I'm truly disappointed that I spent so much money on this hotel for such a subpar experience. I will not repeat this...

Expensive for what you get. £120~ a night for a small double bed room with no ironing board, kettle/coffee/tea machine with no view of anything.

In comparison to other hotels I have stayed in Barcelona or Catalonia this one seemed overly basic and expensive for no reason (location isn't great for transport links, furnishings are low quality and dated, breakfast overpriced, no shops that are not overpriced tourist traps).

€16 each for breakfast per night - would highly recommend looking at local breakfast cafes and brunch spots or alternatives; we found a great option 100 metres down the road and spent €15 for both of us for a plentiful breakfast, alternative to that there is a lovely brunch restaurant found easily on Google maps.

The gym isn't really a gym - it has a watt bike and a treadmill with dumbbells that go up to 10 kilogram in a 3m - 3m glass hut on the 8th floor.

Pool seemed OK but smaller in person in comparison to the photos.

The shower/bath had reasonable pressure however showers were not always pleasant as there is a clear sewage backup on floor 7 which is creating a horrible smell in the air.

Also when anyone flushes or showers in the hotel expect to be woken up by loud pipes and other paranormal noises.

I decided to use the downstairs toilet in the hotel and found several huge cockroaches(?) which left a bit of a dirty feeling to the stay. For this reason the review has been moved from 3 stars to 2 stars.

Very basic small TV and outdated furnishings.

The hotel staff were welcoming and the hotel cleanup staff were efficient.

The bed was comfy however the pillows did hurt my neck most nights.

Air conditioning was nice and cold, ceilings were pretty high which gave an open feeling but the room was quite small in length and width in comparison to other hotel rooms for lower or similar prices.

The hotel is situated approx 15 minutes walk from the closest Metro (Diagonal), I mention this in relation to the price, which we did book 2 months in advance. My advice would be to look at different hotels closer to metro stops with a better breakfast option and less overly basic rooms for high prices.

Definitely look locally for other options as we found better hotels however could not cancel due to the...

The location is absolutely great, we managed to reach almost everything we wanted by foot. Easy to find too. The service is very kind and available 24/7. Both reception and room cleaning that comes daily. I will compliment the fact that there are lot of arts displayed around. Also, they have at least a small gym (treadmill, orbitrec, bike, few dumbells) that might come in handy during wintertime. I was delighted to use ut! During summer that small room can get very hot I believe, though. On the other hand there is also pool on the top but it is not heated. So that one is useful only through warm part of the year. There are 7 or 8 floors, and 2 small elevators, so it was easy to get around hotel. The rooms are decorated in old stlye but bear a certain a bit luxory feel to it. The beds are comfortable and the bathroom rather big. Enough storage space, there is also minibar, tv, small safe and a couch. There is no thermostat though and I noticed that there is no toilet brush (just bide). We did not mind, I was just noticing LOL. We did not order food so I cannot review that one. Overall I was extremely pleased with this hotel. However, we did get some sort of discount so it was really EXCELLENT value for the price. If I would be paying over 100 eur per day as in the peak of the season, I would suggest further improvements such as for the gym and rooms to have some sort of hearing/cooling control, a heated pool, and rooms might use a renovations (e.g. refreshing the couch which felt bit old). Others have mentioned the noise from other tenants in their reviews but I did not notice it. Overall I would...