"Hilton elite loyalty recognition: none – apart from breakfast (which they are required to honour under the terms of the deal with Hilton), nada. From very simple things like some local amenity (which, depending on the location, could be fruit, cake, or a bottle of local wine) or a simple welcome card or a flower – nothing.
The hotel was not at full capacity when I checked in: a range of rooms was available to book on the app, including categories 'above' the one that I booked (so not a multiple-category jump). A Hilton loyalty upgrade was refused because it is 'subject to availability' and the hotel 'was full' (it was not, and it remained like this throughout my stay – the occupancy rate on the last night was 50% according to a receptionist when I asked for a late check-out – which was also denied – see below. Reception staff seem to be generally well trained in fobbing off any requests by constructing a story, let's put it that way, about how busy the hotel is). I then asked how much it was to upgrade, and the price was immediately given: 60 Euros a night to the next category.
A similar scenario when requesting a 2-hour late check-out: 'we are very busy', 'subject to availability' – even though the night before I was told the hotel was only 50% occupied. When pushed, they extended their 'courtesy' and offered one extra hour. When I was checking out, at 1 pm – lots of people who were checking in were sent away (to come back later) since the check-in time is 3 and 'your room is not ready'; early check-in is 'subject to availability'.
Construction noise: a block of rooms on the 6th floor, where my room was, is being refurbished, with varying degrees of construction noise that comes with it; dust and construction workers going back and forth (and speaking loudly). They built an enclosure to minimize some of it, but it just does not work (especially with the enclosure entrance kept open all the time). I asked for a different room; I was then shown a similar-category room, but one that was worse – it was not 'recently renovated' and looked into a rather unattractive space at the back of the hotel, so basically a choice between the bad and the worse? Again, low levels of occupancy and plenty of categories above to move to.
Room: I was allocated a 'beautiful recently renovated' room. It was cosy but did not quite feel as if it was recently renovated – the paint has certainly had time to dry, so to speak. The room itself was dark, with a small window (thankfully onto the main street; some of the rooms look out onto a rather unattractive external courtyard, and I think some are even inner-courtyard-looking), which had a built-in electric blind that would not go fully up.
The bathroom is small, with a single sink; the extractor fan was not working, so it was steaming up quite badly with the shower on (no bath).
The pillow menu was available, and I phoned on day 2 to ask for feather pillows (and then asked housekeeping separately), but they were never delivered (by day 5).
Breakfast: the basement-level space is nice, and white linen tablecloths make a difference, but the service is chaotic. There are different people doing different things: some will take your egg order but will not bring you a coffee, for example. The service is very performative but not efficient, with a varying degree of local 'charm' (or dismissive attitude – depends on how you look at these things). I tried different egg dishes; fried eggs were very greasy; an omelette was undercooked and not salted at all, so very bland; a restricted choice of things like local cheeses and hams was there, but it remained the same throughout my stay, and I was struggling towards the end in terms of what to go for.
Pool on the 7th floor: it was very hot in Barcelona when I was there; however, things were not made easier by the pool setup. There were sunbed/loungers around the small pool, but there were no umbrellas; there were some umbrellas over the seating areas next to the pool, but those seating areas are more for sitting to have a drink rather than being where you sit in your bathing suit on a 'pool day'. There were no water misters or anything to help alleviate the heat.
Pool towels were yellow-stained – at least the first two I picked up from the pile (no pool attendant as such, so you make up your own pool bed).
There are other 'small' things which I could write about which, to me, are as removed from the luxury, care, and attention that paying guests should receive at a property of this calibre, but the aspects above are enough for me not to consider coming back or to recommend anyone (especially Hilton loyalty members, and, I can't imagine, there will be elevated levels of SLH loyalty recognition given the overall attitude) to stay.
Plenty of choices in Barcelona: LHW's Majestic next door looked amazing!
PS: reading previous reviews and responses, I expect the response from the property will come with a very well rehearsed 'subject to availability' plastered all over it. Yes, yes, we know. But plenty of things you can do better - not subject to availability but to your willingness to train your staff and invest in service."
