Hotel Catalonia Sagrada Familia — Hotel in Barcelona

THERE ARE THIEVES IN THIS HOTEL! Beware!

EDIT: The hotel’s reply on this review is a clear testament that this is not a one time case in this hotel. Because clearly, they are referring to a different person who checked in with them 3months ago -who suffered the same fate. ( I checked in here a long long long time ago, but google removed my review; I appealed to google to post it and it was finally approved for posting so it was posted late)

Yes, i am not exaggerating. We booked this hotel for 4 nights, for what is supposed to be a holiday. Our anniversary celebration. When we arrived, we found the hotel as “okay”. The reception staff greeted us and we checked in. The room was surprisingly small and definitely did not look the same as in the pictures online. It also looks rather old. But that was fine. Acceptable, at least.

The next day, we are having breakfast in their restaurant. And this is where all the horrible happenings started. My bag, which was under my partner’s legs was stolen. Professional thief knew when to strike! After a little distraction when the hotel staff were collecting plates, he found his way under the seat to grab my bag - containing my camera, lenses, gimbals and stabilisers, a mobile phone, and my wallet with my ID and residence permit to go back to the UK.

We immediately told the hotel staff - which did not seem to be surprised at all. We spoke to the manager , he showed us the cctv, and told us to go to the police and file a report. We went back and spoke to the manager again who wasn’t very helpful and considerate of our circumstances. They said sorry. That’s all. Nothing else.

Losing my RESIDENCE PERMIT , I had to stay in Spain, with no relatives, while I wait for the replacement so i can fly back to the UK. Depression and Anxiety got into me. Hell, it took me 3 weeks and a whole lot of money Looking for apartments to stay in. And we heard nothing from the hotel. Nothing! No help in any way. Not even a free cup of espresso for God’s sake.

Why are they allowing this to happen in their hotel? In practice, hotel staff should have been checking guests who go in and out of their restaurants. Right? But clearly in that particular time, no one was checking who goes in and out. You might say that we did not take care of our belongings. We did. But the thieves are so smooth with their work, you wouldn’t be able to feel anything.

I’d definitely not recommend this hotel to my friends. Or to anyone. There is no security. We did not feel safe in the rest of our stay in here. Who knows maybe thieves and other criminals may just go inside and go up even to your room. and then the hotel staff would just shrug it off - almost as if these things are normally happening and expected. Shame. Shame on the name of Catalonia Hotels.

Barcelona is a beautiful city. It’s just unfortunate that an establishment like this hotel tolerates these crimes. I’m leaving this review so everyone is aware and avoid the misfortune that I encountered. Avoid this hotel, for your own sake! And maybe avoid Barcelona too, because her beauty doesn’t justify her sins.

Ps. The pool looks like the size of maybe two jacuzzis. And not heated. So it’s not as great as you see in pictures. The rooms are not sound proofed. I can hear the conversation CLEARLY from the toilet next door. The only good thing about this is the location. A few minute walk from metro...

We booked a hotel room on the 27th December 2021 to stay from the 8th June - 13th June 2022. The terms set out said we pay on arrival. They illegally tried to make payment from the card we had on file without authorisation on the 31st May 2022. A direct violation of the agreed terms set out, breaching data protection and our consumer rights.

When the card didn't work they cancelled the booking. They made no attempt to contact us or ask for another card to make payment. We alledge this was because the price of all hotel rooms had at this point tripled in value due to the Primavera festival and increased demand. So, we believe they decided to put potential profit ahead of their customer. When we called immediately upon receivng the email notifying us of the cancellation to resolve and sort payment if preferred, though the terms agreed didn't require this, they informed us there was nothing they would do and to contact hotels.com. When we contacted Hotels.com they informed us that only the Hotel could reinstate the booking and that they had violated the contract terms and should not of tried to run a payment on the card ahead of arrival, so the booking should of been retained. The hotel deliberately deflected us back onto hotels.com knowing that they couldn't resolve the booking on their side. A lie and a deliberate excuse to not resolve the booking. At this point there were no rooms available. They were evasive and had no desire to help resolve the issue they created. A dishonest company and incredibly bad customer service. If you value your consumer rights, data protection and a company that holds customer service above profit, and that follows the terms and conditons set out, DON'T BOOK WITH THIS HOTEL.

** The following post has been edited in order to formailse a response to the owner's comments. The statement above has remained unaltered from it's original posting.

We are responding as the owner's response is malfeasant. AT NO POINT WERE WE OFFERED THE OPTION TO USE AN ALTERNATIVE CARD TO RETAIN THE BOOKING. FURTHERMORE A £101.50 CHARGE WAS ATTEMPTED ON THE CARD ON TUESDAY 31ST MAY 12:57 AHEAD OF OUR ARRIVAL THE FOLLOWING WEEK. TO STATE THAT "CARDS ARE ONLY CHECKED WITHOUT CHARGE," IS CATEGORICALLY UNTURE AND WE HAVE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS STATEMENT. As such, some of the responses given we alledge are deliberatelty deceptive and an attempt to conceal the truth. We will not tolerate deception or lies...

If you are considering this hotel and read the latest reviews, please do yourself a favor and ignore the 1 star reviews flood of made up issues, apparently there was a group who didn't communicate clearly and decided to take their anger in the reviews stating it was dirty, smelly and even full of cockroaches. None of this is what I have experienced. The rooms are not brand new and there is very little damage here and there (floors and bathroom). However everything was cleaned daily! We even left our pajamas on the bed the first day just lying around and the cleaning staff was polite enough to make the beds anyway and return our pajamas folded on the pillow. They changed our towels every day without us even asking and replenished soap and toiler paper when needed, so props to the hotel for this. The staff was also willing to let us come early and drop off our baggage free of charge so we could begin exploring the city without the need to drag our suitcases, this is not standard service by any means. The reception was very nice as well, the lady named Lydia was all smiles and helpful and the gentleman (forgot name) maybe had a bad day (we all have those), but still was very polite and explained everything we needed. One thing is true and that the rooms are poorly isolated, during the night when it was quiet you could hear more than necessary, some people are noiser or go to sleep late so this might cause you some lack of sleep. I figured out that the mini fridge was producing a lot of heat even when idle, so just unplug that and the room temperature should be fine (do not recommend sleeping with open window, the hotel is on a busy street with plenty of noise). Metro station is under 5 minutes and takes you anywhere in the city (all the top attractions), Sagrada Familia in walking distance, less than 15mins. Overall the hotel is not a hidden bargain but also not below standard, the quality is more or less fair to...