Sallés Hotel Ciutat del Prat — Hotel in el Prat de Llobregat

This hotel seemed like such a great place for us to relocate to, to spend our last night in Barcelona, before going to the airport first thing in the morning. We were looking to end our stay in Spain on a high note – we had no issue paying more for that night than all our previous weeks in Spain, to be sure that we could have a worry-free and relaxing experience at a 4 star hotel with amenities (heated pool, sauna, rooftop lounge, on-site restaurant) that we could enjoy without leaving the hotel, and then have them shuttle us to the airport in the morning. ||Before our stay, they left a great impression – emailing me from hotelcdp@salleshotels.com directions, ”Take the train the R2S in Vilanova I la Geltú till el Prat de Llobregat Station, it's about 30 min. When you arrive in Prat Station it's 10 minutes' walking till our hotel”, and even a Google map route. Be aware, that walk from the train station felt a lot longer than 10 minutes, through an industrial area, and across a main truck route – I don’t advise it. ||The front desk clerk, Maria, was friendly and helpful when we checked in after our full day tour. We were given a free welcome drink voucher to be redeemed at the lobby bar, or the rooftop. The rooftop bar and lounge wasn’t open/set up yet when we checked in, and then it rained, so we didn’t get an opportunity to enjoy it. ||The room was not clean, and it was HOT. The bathroom floor had black smudges and hair across it; the dresser in the bedroom had something sticky spilled on it. While I appreciate energy-efficiency, I’m not sure what was going on in our room.. there is no mention of their practices or set up on their site or paperwork on check-in. Along with the a/c, the mini-fridge was HOT as well. We finally realized you have to leave your key in a pocket by the door to get the lights to come on, which stupidly must also control the mini-fridge, and maybe the a/c?! I really don’t know if we ever got the a/c to work.. We propped the door and window open to try to air the room out. We set the a/c (which I can’t recall if it even stayed on when we left the room, went downstairs to the lobby bar for our welcome drink, and to question the front desk about the a/c, with the hopes that our room would be cooler when we walked back in. ||After our drinks, we decided to change into our swimwear and enjoy the sauna and pool. We weren’t sure if we should take towels to the pool, or if there were some there – so we tried to call the front desk. The phone was disconnected – thankfully we figured that out before our morning wake-up call. The pool was closer than the front desk, so we went directly there to look for towels and found them. We enjoyed the sauna, and then tried to get into the pool. There was a rickety ladder to get into it that was not well bolted down, no normal stairs.. I got in and found myself in COLD water. The ladder felt unsafe to my husband so he just sat on the side of the pool and put his legs in, and we both agreed that water was NOT heated. The website clearly says it is a heated pool, and does not mention if it is seasonal. ||Disappointed with the amenities that would have kept us busy for the early evening, we went back to our room that was still hot, and decided to get dressed and have an early dinner at the restaurant while the room cooled. We tried to check the weather on the tv, to find that the remote wasn’t working and the tv was in German, and we couldn’t change the channel directly on the tv. ||We dropped by the front desk on our way to dinner, to ask about the temperature that the pool is supposed to be heated to – we were told that they had just found out that the pool heater was broken, as of that same morning. I let them know that was a big part of why we were there, and that I was very disappointed in that, as well as the things that weren’t working in our room – the a/c, the phone, and the tv. We were told someone would go check it out and fix the tv at least while we were at dinner, and that they could offer us a free breakfast voucher for $32 for the next morning to compensate us – I said that was NOT enough, as we paid at least $100 more than at the Hampton Inn near the airport when we got to town, and we were not getting anywhere near $100 more here; Maria, the receptionist told me that the manager could not be reached and conveniently would not be available until the next day after we checked-out, but gave me his card to write Sergi Hernandez, the director at dircdp@salleshotels.com to be compensated the next day. I told them that if our reservation was for more than one night, I would be relocating and cancelling our stay as I was very disappointed but did not want to waste any further of our last evening relocating – but I just wanted a partial credit for the lack of 4 star expectations being met.||We were pretty upset at this point, but tried to wind down at the onsite restaurant. The waiter must have been new, because he didn’t know a thing about the menu and had to go to the kitchen to ask questions. My husband had been an adventurous eater across our weeks in Spain, but after all this mess, wanted comfort food and ordered the burger.. fortunately, the waiter did know to tell us it was a patty on a plate with sides, not between buns. The ladies at the table beside us overheard me translating this to my husband in English, and they changed their dinner order as they were surprised by this as well. We were told that the lobby bar had a hamburger with bread, but he wasn’t sure if he could procure that at the restaurant. We were so disappointed with this place, that we just wanted to get out of there… even in the rain – the front desk did lend us an umbrella, but didn’t have any dinner recommendations outside of the hotel “because they don’t live by there”, but we found a pizzeria just across the park, a block away. ||No one had come by the room to repair the tv, remote, telephone, or check on the a/c while we were out for dinner as promised. We switched the plugs on the phone or wall and got the phone to work, so we were ready to get the heck out of there first thing in the morning. We opened the window in the morning, so we wouldn’t sweat while getting ready – and it was much cooler outside than in the room again... In addition, I could never figure out how to get the overhead shower head to turn on, and the conditioner wouldn’t come out of the wall pump. ||Be aware, while the hotel is 5 minutes to the airport, the shuttle picks up at other hotels along the way – but we were very early to the airport, to have breakfast at the lounge there to get away from the hotel, so we had plenty of time. The shuttle was the best part of our stay – but next time, we’ll save the extra $150 and stay at a hotel that orders us a taxi to the airport instead. ||I wrote the missing manager during our dinner, and heard back after we checked out. He wrote that he was saddened that his hotel did not meet our expectations, but did not offer a credit against our stay, but asked that we ask for him when we come back to town so he can ensure us a perfect stay next time. The rest of the response was dismissive and rude. He assumed we had taken Maria up on her offer of compensation in the form of the $32 breakfast voucher – I had to remind him that we did NOT accept it. He claims the room was set to 23 C/73.4 F when we arrived and that we lowered it to 19 C/66 F – I don’t know how they know what was on the thermostat, but that was NOT what the temperature was in the room. We keep our home between 74-79F, but it had to be well over 80F in the room, and he was basically calling me a liar?! He said he checked and agreed the bathroom floor had black lines to be cleaned, but didn’t mention the other cleanliness or maintenance issues in the room and at the pool. When I prompted him again, he wrote this back, “I am truly sorry to read that the front desk agent informed you that that the pool heater was not working. I understand it´s a language mistake, the pool heater was off because during summer, from june until mid september, the pool is not heated because the external temperature is higher, and the water is kept between 24-27ºC. . We understand that the sensation of hot or cold is subjective and we regret that it was not to your liking.” Firstly, I had been communicating IN SPANISH (Castellano), so there was NOT a translation issue – the front desk said the heater was found to be broken, and now he is saying it was off for the season?! Like with the a/c, I know what 75-80F water feels like; we had just been in the water at the beach in Cadiz at the end of May – this was MUCH COLDER. ||||I tried writing and calling the corporate offices, and they just refer me back to Sergi.. so there is no support from above to encourage any changes. Why would I give someone who has been condescending and has basically called me a liar a second chance. Save yourselves $100 and stay at the Hampton Inn or elsewhere with less stars, and have them call you a taxi to the airport in the morning, it will cost you less and have you dealing with less...

We were looking to end our stay in Spain on a high note to be sure that we could have a worry-free and relaxing experience at a 4 star hotel with amenities, and then have them shuttle us to the airport in the morning.

The room was not clean, and it was HOT, as was the mini-fridge. The bathroom floor had black smudges and hair across it; the dresser in the bedroom had something sticky spilled on it. We propped the door and window open to try to air the room out. I really don’t know if we ever got the a/c to work.. There was a metal ladder to get into the pool that was not well bolted down. I got in and found myself in COLD water in what the website states is a heated pool. Disappointed with the amenities that would have kept us busy for the early evening, we went back to our room that was still hot, and decided to get dressed and have an early dinner at the restaurant while the room cooled. We tried to check the weather on the tv, to find that the remote wasn’t working and the tv was in German, and we couldn’t change the channel directly on the tv. We dropped by the front desk on our way to dinner, to ask about the temperature that the pool is supposed to be heated to – we were told that they had just found out that the pool heater was broken, as of that same morning. I let them know I was very disappointed in that, as well as the things that weren’t working in our room – the a/c, the phone, and the tv. We were told someone would go check it out and fix the tv at least while we were at dinner, and that they could offer us a free breakfast voucher for $32 for the next morning to compensate us – I said that was NOT enough. The receptionist told me that the manager could not be reached and would not be available until after we checked-out, but gave me his card to write Sergi Hernandez, the director to be compensated the next day.

We tried the onsite restaurant - the waiter didn’t know a thing about the menu and had to go to the kitchen to ask questions, and could not put the plated hamburger on bread as the lobby bar could. We left the hotel in the rain - fed up, looking for dinner elsewhere. No one had come by the room to repair the tv, remote, telephone, or check on the a/c while we were out for dinner as promised. We switched the plugs on the phone or wall and got the phone to work, so we wouldn't miss our morning wake-up call. We opened the window in the morning, so we wouldn’t sweat while getting ready – and it was much cooler outside than in the room again...

The hotel director responded that he was saddened that his hotel did not meet our expectations, but did not offer a credit against our stay, but asked that we give them another chance; the rest of the response was dismissive, disrespectful, and he basically called me a liar. He assumed we had taken Maria up on her offer of compensation in the form of the $32 breakfast voucher – I had to remind him that we did NOT accept it. He claims the room was set to 23 C/73.4 F when we arrived and that we lowered it to 19 C/66 F – I don’t know how they know what was on the thermostat, but that was NOT what the temperature was in the room. He said he checked and agreed the bathroom floor had black lines to be cleaned, but didn’t mention the other cleanliness or maintenance issues in the room and at the pool. When I prompted him again, he wrote this back, “I am truly sorry to read that the front desk agent informed you that that the pool heater was not working. I understand it´s a language mistake, the pool heater was off because during summer, from june until mid september, the pool is not heated because the external temperature is higher, and the water is kept between 24-27ºC.” Firstly, I had been communicating IN SPANISH (Castellano), so there was NOT a translation issue, and he and the front desk couldn't get their stories straight.

Stay elsewhere with less stars, and have them call you a taxi to the airport in the morning, it will cost you less and have you dealing with less...

We had to stay there for two nights because of how close it is to the airport and the shuttle is probably the biggest plus.

The rooms were okay, clean but it would get really stuffy in the room (we were there at the end of March) and the AC doesn't really work, so I would think twice before booking in the summer.

The pool is tiny and always full, so not a good selling point.

The welcome cocktail is not a cocktail at all, they offer a soft drink or a coffee.

DO NOT get breakfast or dinner, both is absolutely awful. I got salmon as my main dish which included literally boiled veg (from frozen) and neither had any seasoning. I got a chunk of cheese in passata as a starter and the cake I got was so stale. My partner got ravioli as a starter, that was meant to have meat in it, it had absolutely no flavour and we're still not sure what it was. Definitely just defrosted. It was dry and he just got some parmesan with it. He got a steak and some boiled potatoes. No sauces or anything, the steak was the worst cut of meat you can imagine and the boiled potatoes again had no seasoning. He got a flan that was curdled for dessert.

They would bring us food and then not look at us again for the rest of the meal, you couldn't even order a drink.

The meals felt like they were mocking us with how bad it was, I couldn't believe it's meant to be "restaurant" food.

The staff were fine, not very helpful. They didn't care about what was happening or any requests you had.

The shuttle bus was great, so if that's the only reason you need this hotel, go for it. Otherwise, don't expect anything over the top. It did not feel like a 4-star hotel. More like a 2 or 3 star one. It should be a lot cheaper for what you get.

Overall, wouldn't recommend. Do yourself a favour and do not eat their food, it's awful. (The actual menu - not the set one - could be better, I didn't want to spend more money on them and got takeaway for...