Room Mate Collection Gerard, Barcelona — Hotel in Barcelona

Hotel is quite central; not on a main road but within 10 minute walk to the centre (Placa De Catalunya). Also, there are several restaurants, bars and mini supermarkets a few minutes walk away. Hotel staff were very friendly and helpful too which was good.

In regards to the hotel itself, it is very clean and a mix of modern and traditional decor. It won't be to everyone's liking but I didn't mind it too much. Given the dark grey colour theme around the hotel, it does feel very dark everywhere, especially in the hotel corridors going to the rooms. Perhaps a lighter shade of greys would've helped to make the hotel and rooms feel more bright and airy. I knew that this was the theme before arriving but when you see it in person it hits you. I was fine with it but some of my family members didn't like the darkness of it too much. Atleast the tiled floors in the rooms were a lighter colour and broke up the grey.

Nice size TVs, but poor choice of channels if you don't speak Spanish. I think BBC news 24 was the only channel in English language but I kind of expected this. It's similar across Europe. It would've been good if the TV's had smart connectivity so that guests could log in to their own Netflix or Amazon Prime accounts etc. Bluetooth speakers in both the room and the bathroom were a nice idea. You have the option of listening to a hotel playlist or you can connect your own device. WiFi in the room wasn't the fastest so sometimes I reverted to using my 5G data.

Bed was large and comfortable, though a bit low I thought. It's handy that there's a mini fridge in the room. Minibar prices are high (as they normally are) buts there's enough space to fit your own bottle of water in there. No irons/ironing boards in the rooms - these can be requested from reception however.

Bathroom was a good size, clean and with nice decor. The shower needed a bit of getting used to but was decent. Only one day where there was an issue with hot water. The hotel reception said there was a problem due to the heavy rain the day before.

There is a bar there which is a self service honesty bar. It's a nice touch and nice to sit on but closed at 22:00 so we didn't really get to use it. Would've been better if it was open till later.

Decent choice of items at breakfast, both hot and cold items. Some of the hot food items changed daily. Coffee machine was poor in my opinion, drinks didn't feel hot enough. Also the milk they provide for cereals was very watery and didn't not taste like milk. They should have had a choice of semi-skimmed and skimmed.

If you hire a car parking will be difficult. You can park outside the hotel for around 15mins but some of the parking lots near by are not open 24hrs. There is a 24hr car park less than 10mins away (Parking NN Gran Vía Barcelona) which cost around €23 for 24hrs if pre-booked.

Overall I would...

It was my first time visiting Spain and compared to all the other hotels that I got to stay, this place was by FAR the best!

The staffs were all capable of speaking English for those of you who are not too good at speaking Spanish like me. They were so nice - they helped me and my friend with sending postcards to our friends and family & booked a taxi for our train station. They also answered all of my questions as a tourist and also gave me a thorough explanation of the area - which place is safe and good to travel and which place to avoid at night times. SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO RUY!!! Ruy was so great - he was very patient with me and to all of my questions about Spain. He also gave me good recommendations on where to visit in Paris (my later trip). He is so fun and he cares about the guests and Gerard. He is also a very good ARTIST (the beautiful wordings in the elevator was done by Ruy when we were there, which was BEAUTIFUL).

The location is pretty close (walking distance 10- 15 min) to the main street/ market/ shopping center/ Sangrada Familia, casa batllo and other Gaudi's houses, and parks.

The maintenance was quick and efficient. What I loved the most about the room was the big twin size bed with tall ceiling. The room was really clean and comfortable to stay in. The windows would open all the way which was great for sight seeing as well as for ventilation.

ALSO, there is a speaker installed in the room that is connected to the bathroom. You can either listen to the song that the hotel is playing (which is a banger) or you can connect your device to via Bluetooth and play your own song!! IT IS SO MUCH FUN!!

The only thing that I did not know was that when you open your window, your AC will show "HL" sign and stop working until you shut the window all the way. Another thing is the shower - you have 2 knobs to adjust your water temperature (which can at times, be a bit difficult). But other than that, everything was GREAT!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND booking your room with BREAKFAST option !! - the food there IS SO DELICIOUS!!! Another plus is that you can use the filtered water in the gym - and YES, they also have gym there. If you ever need to microwave something, just simply ask the staff and they will heat up your food in no time!

Also, if any of you are worried about safety, the place is SUPER safe as the staff keeps the gate for 24 hours. They buzz you in and out so that a stranger cannot just walk in.

I highly highly recommend this place if it is your first time to the area especially. I am definitely coming back to this hotel when I come back for my revisit trip to Sagrada Familia in 2026 when they finalize the construction...

Bag STOLEN !! from room - AVOID hotel

I stayed 8 nights - 2nd to 10th August 2025 in room 308. On the last day of my stay (before check out next morning, and the very last chance for the maid to have access to my room and my possessions) my bag was stolen from my room while I was out at the beach during the day. The bag was nice beach bag with other swimming items in the bag. It was in the same place the whole of my stay until it was stolen on the last day.

Also I noticed that the maid had not fully cleaned my room, towels were not changed as the maid clearly had other intentions being in my room other than cleaning.

I initially went down to reception and reported the bag had gone from my room and about the towels, they didn’t look too shocked at the revolution that someone is clearly a thief and stealing from rooms. They said they would speak with house keeping this was about 6pm in the evening.

Around 10pm i asked again if anyone had found the bag and they had no information for me, I realised I had taken a photo a few days earlier and could see the bag in the photo so i emailed reception and gave the picture also, you can see their initial reply email below.

If the maid had taken the bag and put in the rubbish they would still have it due to the times i reported and when rubbish is collected (in spain BCN rubbish is collected late on the night) and simply given it back to me the fact they could not find it in the rubbish confirms it was stolen.

I checked out at 7am the next day without my bag or an explanation.

I have stayed at this hotel many times before but I will never stay there again. I would strongly recommend you AVOID this hotel and book at another hotel they clearly have someone stealing from rooms, you have been warned.

Email response from Room mate Gerard

Dear Robert,

We are very sorry about this situation, we have to figure out what happened as we don’t know it yet. Tomorrow we will speak with the Housekeeping department’s head & investigate this situation very seriously as it is not something that happens in our hotel.

I will forward this email to my manager and duty manager as well and they will personally speak with you or via email and we will do everything possible to give you an answer or solution regarding this situation because we understand that this is unacceptable.

Best regards,

UPDATE: 11th Aug 2025 ZERO CONTACT FROM THE HOTEL not even the usual generic response to comments following reviews .. they are quiet as they know they have a thief stealing from rooms .. you have...