Hotel Catalonia Rambles — Hotel in Barcelona

My review will be long so if you don’t want to read it all here is the gist: don’t be duped by the reviews saying this hotel is luxury or romantic because it is NOT. It was one of the most disappointing parts of my trip to Spain and I wish I hadn’t been fooled by the positive reviews. If you’re on the fence wondering or not this hotel is lower end than you think - stick with your gut. I wish I had. I was also injured in the room due to a safety issue regarding the pool which management defended as standard & then told me I was at fault.

This is NOT a 4 star hotel, if you are used to 4 star meaning a high end hotel. Catalonia is a Spanish based hotel chain like Hilton or Marriott. I travel a lot for work & pleasure, and would consider many Marriott properties to be 4 star. This hotel is more in line with a 3 star, or 3.5 star property at most - maybe best compared to a lower end Hilton brand hotel. Also, most higher end hotels in Europe aren’t rated by stars - but Michelin Keys. “Four stars” in Spain does not mean the same thing it does in the US, so please don’t think because this hotel claims to be “4 star” you will be getting the same experience you would at a nicer Marriott/JW Marriott property. It is a basic box hotel.

The AC in the room was not great. We had the thermostat turned down all the way and it was still probably 75 degrees in that room. I thought it was a European thing but I was delayed in Barcelona a day and was put up at the Hotel Indigo whose thermostat and AC actually functioned and made the room a comfortable temperature.

Front desk staff were not pleasant or helpful but the biggest issue I experienced with the hotel was the injury I sustained on the first night. While entering back into the room from the pool area to get a towel (they had them outside on the patios in other reviews but not for our room), I slipped and fell. I bruised my left knee & toe, and was in pretty bad pain for the first 2 nights. I alerted the manager as I am fairly well versed in premises liability and didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. The manager did seem genuinely concerned, and courteous, but was still incredibly defensive and not receptive to my suggestions on how to avoid this happening again. Instead, she said no one has ever had an injury here, and implied it was my fault for bringing water into the room. At the time I thought I had slipped on the floor (which is slick, uncovered hardwood and will remain so), but I believe I slipped on the metal step down first and then the wood. Either way, I had not drenched the floor with water like she implied, and I did not have a towel on the patio to dry down yet (I’ve seen other reviews where towels were nicely folded on the patios but ours were in the bathroom) it was apparently my fault for not being completely dry (I am including a photo of the patio so you can see how small of a space it is between the pool and the door). The entry to the room from pool is not up to US code, and I feel thankful I was not injured further. I laid on the floor for a few minutes scared I had broken my sprained my foot/ankle. I did bruise my left knee and foot, and was in lingering pain for the first few days.

Lastly, the location is a great central location but also a lot of homeless individuals and it did not feel safe at night. I would not suggest staying here as a family with young children.

In addition to safety improvements, I think this hotel would benefit from a refresh for all rooms, and to be more honest with the status of the property and guest experience before booking. Catalonia Ramblas is not anywhere close to a 4 star property….do yourself a favor and book elsewhere, unless you are looking for a budget experience at a high...

Stay at Catalania Ramblas (Carrer De Pelai 28 - 08002 - Barcelona / Barcelona, Barcelona) It won’t disappoint, I promise!||Just came back a week ago, June 24. I found this hotel on my own, as I have been told I am extremely lucky and hard to please. I am also an avid fan of reading reviews. ||My travel agent was booking us at a different hotel. And recent reviews |at that hotel were horrible. Always listen to your first mind! If your gut tells you, no. Listen!||Up to the last minute, I was looking at their reviews. Then found another bad review just two weeks before we were leaving. Oh nooooo. ||Last minute searching on my own because my travel agent gave up on me and said find your own hotel to your liking, cancelled his recommendation! ||Found this hotel, nice reviews and Voila- Cantalonia Ramblas we go. This was for my daughter’s graduation and 18th birthday! It had to be perfect.||Initially, the first impression was not about accommodation, that is. Great hotel, smelled good, great location, clean - first impression on appearance WOW! I wanna stay here! ||After our private transport screwed up, then now at this hotel, our rooms were not remotely close to each other. Not even same building. We are traveling with my mom who is elderly. She and my daughter were initially booked at the other tower, while my husband and I at another tower. We told them, this will not do. So since check in was at 3 yet, they can check again and will do their best to find us rooms in the same tower at least. Killed some time. Came back, we were still separated. ||It was not the best arrangement… but that was what was available on the first night, I guess. Lo and behold, my mom and my daughter had some issues in their room that night plus the location of the room was like a maze. Hard to get to their room! The A/C shut down in the middle of the night. ||Next day, we informed the front desk and while they couldn’t promise anything again, they will try to book them in the same tower as us. We did our scheduled tour for the day. Came back to the hotel. My mom and daughter were booked next to our room! What??? How convenient! How accommodating, how considerate. I was asking even a different floor, just same building but wow! Can’t thanked them enough. ||But overall, the Staff, Front desk people, Bellhop staff, Wait staff, Bartender, Housekeeping, Room service, Spa service, any service you can think of- top notch. Breakfast, don’t get me started. Great spread, awesome choices and the staff-WOW! Very personable. Not to mention making my daughter’s 18th birthday special. Brought a piece of cake at breakfast. Then at night, brought another piece of cake to my daughter’s/mom’s room to end her day! ||Will I go back to Barcelona? Will I go back to this hotel? ||Best location, extremely clean, great service, awesome experience? ||Yes, Yes, Yes!|Thank you Catalonia Ramblas! I’m glad I found you! ||Rodrigul5|Room...

Very bad experience Arriving to the hotel first negatif impression that the refreshment limonade putting on the reception was hot with no ice we received our key and was the surprise that our room was in the ground floor with no view behind the reception and the reason to choose this hotel was because I saw the picture on booking for a beautiful building with balconies so we asked them to change the room aand they told us that they have two hotels or two building so we asked them to cancel this family room and we will take two rooms in the new building with balconies because we came to barcelona to see the street not the wall so they told us that the system was blocked and they can’t change it knowing that we will pay more just to see the street and taking some air not in the ground floor behind the reception so after a long discussion they told us morning mabe we can do it( in booking they didn’t mention that they have such rooms behind the reception ground floor) we took the keys and when we enter to see the room there was no kettle no water so we ask for complimentary water they told us the room number not on the list of water so we call them the answer was only we put for the rooms of new building superior rooms (We paid 1156$ for 3 nights and without breakfast ) we go to see the spa we was surprised that there was an entry fees for indoor pool 15$ per hour per adlt they maybe think that they are a 7 stars cruise. After making a big discussion about the water and we returned to the room to change and go out because they wasted our time and one of the stuff was very rude and didn’t accept with the girl at the reception to help us and upgrade our rooms maybe because we are proudly lebanese. Once arriving to the room the extra bed was opened so we closed it to sit on the sofa bed and was the surprise they didn’t clean the room . The dust , the chocolate , like cornflex 🤦🏼‍♀️ My daughter go directly to the reception so they told us we will ask the housekeepers to make the room another time and sorry So we didn’t accept because their duty is to give us a clean room and they have to clean it very well after every check out and we make a big problem and after a big discussion and we asked them to call their GM they didn’t accept telling that they can’t call him on Sunday But after I told them that I have a big company for travel and tourism in my country and they have to return back our money they accepted That was my experience and I can’t recommend...