Hotel España — Hotel in Barcelona

most honest review - please read! - JULY 2025

EDIT TO THEIR RESPONSE: First of all, I am not Mr Solomon, I don’t know who that is? So the reply the hotel has given is purely invalid and incorrect, how weird

i’m currently still staying here and i never normally leave reviews at all but i felt quite strongly with this one so i’m going to be honest. this hotel is very catfish, it looks better in the photos. don’t get me wrong it looks quite nice in the lobby but the hotel room is not the best - at least from my experience. there is no sunlight coming into the room at all, it is so depressing and dark we’ve had to have the lights on at all times in the day and guess the weather from indoors. the window also looks into other guests room which is so strange, literally no outdoor view at all. on top of this, we were originally given a room that smelt of extremely bad body odor, i assume of the previous guest but that goes to show it wasn’t cleaned. i had to politely ask them to change the room, which we were given another on the floor below and it was still dirty and not the best - especially for the big price we’ve paid. the floor is dirty, there is dust everywhere, the sheets and chair has stains on them and there is no ventilation in the toilet which is so gross. the room looks SO shabby considering we paid over €1000 and it’s so disappointing. the hotel room walls are also extremely thin, you will constantly not only see the neighbours through your window view, but you will also hear them really loudly. the area (La Rambla) is not good, we personally didn’t like it. it feels very unsafe, the hotel is located in an alleyway that taxis cannot reach and it is filled with dodgy people and feels even worse at night. i would personally recommend staying elsewhere. they have a terrace which is very mediocre, it’s surrounded with walls and barely a view. the pool is tiny and it’s overall not the best tbh. the hotel lift was so dodgy as well, one of them constantly breaking and the other feeling like it’s going to break. overall i’m personally quite confused as to why this hotel is rated so highly, the aesthetics look nice when you walk in to give you a good impression but you’ll be so disappointed going into the rooms. i stayed at Ofelias Hotel a month ago and it was significantly better. i would save your money and go elsewhere, considering the price of this hotel as well and the fact that they are claiming to be 4 stars is actually crazy. there is much better hotels in much better areas...

I rarely write Google reviews, but I felt future guests might find our experience helpful.

My partner and I chose to stay at this hotel because of its strong ratings and convenient location. We stayed for two nights, and during that time, we both experienced symptoms such as frequent sneezing, a runny or stuffy nose, itchy eyes, sore throat, and skin irritation/rashes.

Unfortunately, on our final day, we discovered visible mold in the bathroom (see attached photos for reference). We checked out at around 05:00 and did not feel confident that reporting the issue to the front desk would lead to any action, unless it was escalated directly to the manager, who unfortunately, did not appear to be present at the time. Instead, we chose to email the hotel team to highlight the issue and its severity, as mold poses a clear health and safety risk and is not something one would expect at a hotel of this standard. This discovery left us extremely disappointed, as it affected not only our comfort but also our well-being.

The purpose of sharing this review is not to harm the hotel’s reputation, but to raise awareness and ensure that the issue is addressed to prevent it from impacting future guests. The response from the Front Desk Manager stated that the hotel is currently undergoing renovations. While we understand this, it does not excuse neglecting basic standards of cleanliness and hygiene. Considering the circumstances, we felt the response and compensation offered were inadequate. We sincerely hope that future guests have a better experience and receive fairer treatment if similar issues arise.

On a positive note, we would like to thank the hotel staff, who were attentive, welcoming, and ensured a smooth check-in and check-out process. We have nothing but praise for their professionalism, which was genuinely...

Honest review and i will leave it to you to make the call on whether you stay here or not. |We booked this hotel for four nights via our travel agent as its location and website were great. From the outside the hotel looks great. Once inside you see it is old and a mess with major renovations going on. Concrete drilling and jack hammering all day. Concrete dust on all floors. |The hallway to our room was so dark we couldn't see the door lock to insert the card. Our room size was good but it had a lot of badly designed features and needed a lot of maintenance. Three shower taps with no instructions how to operate so it is a nightmare just to have a shower. The glass sliding shower screen is useless as it leaks like a sieve and water ends up all over the floor which in turn is a safety hazard. The bath plug was broken so couldn't use the bath. The vanity drain was blocked. The mini fridge doesn’t keeps drinks cold. The switches for the lights are so confusing we kept shutting all the lights off. The power points on the bedside table is up against the wall so cannot use it. When we turned on the hotel hairdryer it blew the circuit board trip switch and left us in the dark. The breakfast starts at 7.30Am so if you check out earlier there is no breakfast for you. The restaurant was also closed for renovations. The lifts are so hot and slow it is almost quicker to walk up the stairs and with the building power outages that happened frequently, it was safer to take the stairs.|The food was ok in the breakfast area but same menu everyday with no change over the four days. |There is nothing on the website about renovations being done so this is bad form from the hotel management perspective as we certainly would not have stayed there if...