Barceló Carmen Granada — Hotel in Granada

This is a nice hotel for a short break. It seems to be a pretty typical city centre hotel. Well located. Reasonably furnished and quite busy. Our room 551 was a standard double. Not a bad size. Nicely decorated with very good lighting and mirrors. Well kitted out, large bed 7ft, tea making, large telly, nicely presented walk-in shower, safe etc. so no complaints because to be fair this place is very reasonable. ||There is a roof top terrace, which is really a roof top bar area, it’s taken up mainly by tables for drinks, there is a very small pool and a sun deck with about 12 sunbeds and a few deck chairs. Obviously these get taken up quickly so the chances of using the sun deck and pool aren’t that great. It’s all a bit too tight to be pleasant. I’m not sure why they’ve got quite so many tables and chairs a large part of that area could be used for sunbeds, clearing them away later in the evening if they needed. The bar staff on the rooftop don’t even come up onto the top sun deck to offer drinks. I think they’ve got it too easy, each time we were there there were hardly anyone at the tables. ||Now on my second night here’s the gripe… why close the roof top bar at 9pm and make last drinks served at 8.15pm. That means the bar is virtually unusable as an after dinner destination. On our visit we pushed for and got a drink served at 8.20 but were told we must leave at 9pm because there was a private event to follow. Part of the reason we booked this hotel was the rooftop bar. Then to rub salt into the wound they said in 2 weeks after our stay the bar would be open until 2am!! |So it extends from 9pm to 2am. This should have been made clear at the point of booking.||By the way you need to collect pool towels from reception. ||Anyway first off make sure you enter the postcode for the hotel in Google maps Not the car park. You need to park up and get the valet to park your car underground. Google was totally confused and sent me round the houses trying to get to the garage I think it thought I was driving a pony and trap, we went up some very narrow streets, with almost impossible turns, to the point I couldn’t go back and had to go into a restricted road just to get out of there (I’m expecting a fine). We finally made it to the garage and on pressing the buzzer the hotel said I needed to back up and come round to the front of the hotel so the valet could park it!! I was already there. Anyway that’s a warning do not try to park your car yourself at the hotel car park. ||We walked to the Cathederal from the hotel (less than 10 mins), it was impressive. Then spent some time walking the narrow lanes with their ‘souk’ style shops.||Generally I’m happy with the hotel, especially for the price. Ok our room has no view, and the rooftop terrace looks down into the air conditioning units of the Corte de Inglés opposite, but that’s what you get in a city. ||Grenada on first impression seems a bit grubby. It appears that it has been allowed to develop without any control so the fantastic historical buildings are surrounded by, ugly apartment blocks, shops and offices. So as a city it’s not as attractive as say Malaga. ||But that’s just my impression. Others I’m sure will love it. ||But if you decide to visit this hotel it is ideally located and seems clean and secure. The front desk staff by the way were great at check in. ||We went to the Alhambra Palace buying tickets before we travelled to Spain. Turns out our tickets didn’t include the Nasrid Palace, just the Carlos V palace. I suspect that is because spaces are so limited and you need to book well in advance. So make sure you check what you’re actually paying for, our two were €150 and obviously didn’t include everything. Having said that the gardens and the palace and buildings we did see were good, I’m not convinced the place warrants the high entrance price, it’s good but not spectacular, some of the local churches and cathedrals are better and offer free entry. |You should get a taxi to the Palace entrance and preferably back it’s quite a steep hill and long climb. Also remember to bring your Passports with you for each member of your party. I don’t know why but the Spanish insist on it and won’t let you in with just a ticket. ||So overall a nice, busy, city centre hotel. Offering excellent value. I would book again and recommend it. ||Not sure I’d recommend Granada though. Malaga is...

I want to preface this review by stating that I worked in hotels for 10 years and worked the front desk for 5 of those years. I know the job can be difficult, especially when having to deal with difficult guests so I always try to be empathetic for those who work the desk. But the type of service we received was pretty unacceptable.

With that said, the 2 stars is given specifically because of the service at the front desk as many of the front desk agents were very rude. There was an instance where my partner went up to the desk to ask a quick question and the agent would not look up from her computer to greet her. The lobby was empty and it was only my partner there. My partner then initiated the conversation with "hi, how are you?" to which the agent responds "what can I help you with" in a very annoyed tone and still not looking up from her computer. We tried to give the benefit of the doubt as perhaps she was having a bad day but this is one of several times we were met with this same energy.

Also, the checkin process was a mess. When we arrived, the gentleman at the desk asked for our name and unfortunately could not find our reservation. We had a screenshot from when the reservation was made with a booking # and showed it to him but he said that wouldn't work as he needed a voucher. He then went on to immediately say that we "didn't finish completing the reservation" several times. The thing is, we did. We booked directly through their site and our credit card was charged as soon as you click a button that literally says "Confirm Booking". We showed him the charge on our phone but alas our reservation never existed. We later found that for an unknown reason, our card was refunded 6 days after we made the reservation. We never received notice or any emails for the hotel. The agent continued to maintain it was our fault for not "completing the reservation". I walked him through their OWN website and showed him how we made the reservation. I went on to ask, what it means to complete the reservation after Ive paid and clicked on confirm booking. His response: I don't know, I've never made a reservation. My point is, perhaps don't accuse the customer continuously of not "properly" completing a reservation without all the information and perhaps try to consider it could be an issue with the booking system. Plain and simple, if I click on a button that says confirm booking and my credit card is charged, it should be booked. We booked many hotels in our trip and when we clicked confirm booking, the booking was done. This was the only hotel that gave us issues.

To end on a positive note, the restaurant staff for both breakfast and dinner were lovely and kind. The rooms are nice but be warned if you have a room facing the street, you do hear quite a bit of...

This is a very well-presented, clean and smart hotel with excellent staff and service. Our family room was fantastic, very large with a double sofa bed for our children. The room was well appointed with a fantastic bathroom, featuring a double shower, double sinks, Rituals toiletries and a variety of consumables.

Car parking is in a secure garage below the hotel (connected by the lift system) and costs an additional €21 per night. It was well worth it for the security and convenience. Navigating to the entrance to the parking (on a side-street) took some concentration and careful adherence to the instructions we received from the reception. We took a wrong turn on our first attempt as we approached what seemed to be a pedestrian zone (only authorised vehicles). On our second attempt, carefully following the map and instructions, we realised that we definitely had to take this road. The reception staff later confirmed that they send guests' vehicle registration numbers to the police to avoid a fine. It would have been helpful to have been told this up front.

The hotel is a 10-minute walk to the Cathedral and city centre and approximately 20 minutes to Alhambra, so the location is excellent.

The rooftop bar area enjoys fantastic views across the city and has a small pool which was a little underwhelming if honest and looked very full with just 4 people in it. That said, it made for a great location for early evening (pre-dinner) drinks.

The hotel staff were all excellent; incredibly polite helpful and willing to ensure that out stay was as good as it could be. The gave excellent recommendations for nearby restaurants (we took their advice for a tapas restaurant for dinner and it was excellent).

Breakfast is a buffet format and by pre-booking at the time of checking in, the cost was €13 per adult and €7 per child. This was excellent value for the wide range of food available.

This hotel was just what we needed for our our 1-night stay in Granada. Visually (and in construct alone) I would give this hotel 4 stars but its staff are fantastic so they most certainly justify the fifth star. Well done to you all for making our stay...