Hotel Barcelona Universal ****

December/2007 Someone from ireland thinks:

• Overall rating: 7.8
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: room size
• Negative: noise
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Families, Couples, Luxury, Classic style lovers, Modern style lovers, Handicapped, Business travelers, Healthy lifestyle
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Peace seekers, Budget travelers, Travelers with a car
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 7.5
• Common facilities and services: 7.5
• Staff: 7.5
• Quietness: 2.5 hospital was up the street, constant sirens every night
• Room: 7.5
• Value for money: 7.5

December/2007 Someone from Atlanta, Georgia thinks:

• Overall rating: 8
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: The room was small and very clean the first night%27s stay but they upgraded us to a larger suite the 2nd night and that room was VERY nice.
• Negative: Rooms on front of building are a bit noisy from the street
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Couples
• I recommend it especially AGAINST...
• Cleanliness: 10 Very clean but a typical European (small) room
• Location: 10 Very close to Metro and walking distance to World Trade Center
• Common facilities and services: 7.5 Restaurant was okay
• Staff: 10 Staff VERY helpful and courteous
• Quietness: 5 Rooms on front of building are a bit noisy
• Room: 5 Small the first night but they upgraded us to a much larger suite the next night. 2nd night was VERY nice!!
• Value for money: 5 Expensive but typical for Barcelona and actually a bit of a bargain in comparison

December/2007 Someone from Canada thinks:

• Overall rating: 10
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: The staff were accommodating in allowing us to check in early. The staff were friendly.
• Negative:
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Couples, Peace seekers, Classic style lovers, Business travelers
• I recommend it especially AGAINST...
• Cleanliness: 10
• Location: 10 great location. Just a short walk to Las Ramblas
• Common facilities and services: 10
• Staff: 10 Staff were friendly and helpful. Allowed early check in since our flight was early.
• Quietness: 10
• Room: 10
• Value for money: 10

December/2007 Someone from Sunderland thinks:

• Overall rating: 8.8
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Good location, very clean and modern
• Negative: I booked a double room and given a twin room on arrival
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Families, Couples, Luxury, Classic style lovers, Modern style lovers, Business travelers, Healthy lifestyle
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Older travelers, Handicapped, Budget travelers, Travelers with a car
• Cleanliness: 10
• Location: 7.5
• Common facilities and services: 7.5
• Staff: 10
• Quietness: 10
• Room: 10
• Value for money: Not rated

December/2007 Someone from United Kingdom thinks:

• Overall rating: 8
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Hotel%27s clean rooms and overall hygiene, location (right infront of a Metro), courteous staff, availability of a safe in the room, secure luggage room
• Negative: Location (not in the best part of the city), inflexible check-in times, no drinking water in rooms, no tea/coffee making provisions in room, very expensive mini-bar.
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Families, Couples, Luxury, Modern style lovers, Business travelers, Healthy lifestyle
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Peace seekers, Classic style lovers, Budget travelers
• Cleanliness: 10 Rooms were nice and cleaned regularly.
• Location: 7.5 The hotel is 10 minutes walk from Las Ramblas. However, it is in one of the "not-so-good" areas of the city. The hotel%27s surroundings do not portray the best things about Barcelona and the area around the hotel is not very comfortable to walk by after 11 PM. However, we did not find any issues although we used to walk through these areas to the hotel by 10 PM. The hotel is bang infront of the Metro, and that is the best part of the whole thing.
• Common facilities and services: 10 Good facilities. However, why stop access to the gym / swimming pool after 10 PM? The hotel sells tickets for external service providers as well which is very helpful.
• Staff: 5 Staff were friendly, but they should be slightly more accomodative w.r.t. earlier check-in times. Asking customers to dump their luggage in the cloak room and come back after 4 - 5 hours does not appear very considerate and caring.
• Quietness: 7.5 The rooms facing the main road were slightly noisy if you were to keep the windows open, but the heavy curtains are easily able to stop those noise from being a nuisance.
• Room: 5 Double rooms are adequate in size. However, the rooms did not have any drinking water. The mini-bar was stocked with blow-my-heads-off priced stuff that can%27t be used by sensible people. There was no tea/coffee making provisions in the room. For a supposedly 4-star hotel, this is a basic must-have in rooms.
• Value for money: 7.5 Yes, it was value for money. The surprise element is, the VAT % was not indicated in the room prices in the hotel%27s website, but it didn%27t pose any issues as such.

November/2007 Someone from czech republic thinks:

• Overall rating: 8.2
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive:
• Negative:
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Families, Couples
• I recommend it especially AGAINST...
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 7.5
• Common facilities and services: Not rated
• Staff: 7.5
• Quietness: 7.5
• Room: 10
• Value for money: Not rated

November/2007 Someone from Finland thinks:

• Overall rating: 9.2
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Service was excellent. Staff was very kind and helpful.
• Negative:
• I RECOMMEND it for... Older travelers, Families, Couples, Luxury, Modern style lovers, Handicapped, Business travelers
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Peace seekers, Classic style lovers, Budget travelers
• Cleanliness: 10
• Location: 5
• Common facilities and services: 10
• Staff: 10
• Quietness: 2.5
• Room: 10
• Value for money: 10

November/2007 Someone from Dublin thinks:

• Overall rating: 9.5
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive: Cleandliness and value for money
• Negative:
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Families, Couples, Business travelers
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Luxury, Peace seekers, Classic style lovers, Budget travelers
• Cleanliness: 10
• Location: 7.5
• Common facilities and services: 10
• Staff: Not rated
• Quietness: Not rated
• Room: Not rated
• Value for money: Not rated

November/2007 Someone from Canada thinks:

• Overall rating: 8.1
• Would you recommend it? Yes
• Positive:
• Negative:
• I RECOMMEND it for... Young travelers, Older travelers, Families, Couples
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Luxury, Peace seekers
• Cleanliness: 10 Room was very clean with nice white porcelain tiles in the bathroom.
• Location: 7.5 Ideal because the metro station is 2 steps from the hotel entrance.
• Common facilities and services: Not rated
• Staff: 7.5 Efficient & helpful
• Quietness: 2.5 Our room faced Pararell and it was quite noisy. You will need earplugs at nightime.
• Room: 7.5
• Value for money: 10 Excellent because of location & cleanliness

November/2007 Someone from MALAYSIA thinks:

• Overall rating: 3.9
• Would you recommend it? No
• Positive:
• Negative: Surrounding - Unsafe environment. Slow internet downloading. Not good for business traveller.
• I RECOMMEND it for... Travelers with a car
• I recommend it especially AGAINST... Young travelers, Older travelers, Families, Couples, Luxury, Handicapped, Budget travelers, Business travelers
• Cleanliness: 7.5
• Location: 2.5 The surrounding was not so pleasant as majority are of the lower class and emigrants who make me feel unsafe.
• Common facilities and services: 2.5
• Staff: Not rated I lost my wallet to a pick pocket in front of the hotel. The night duty front office staff was not so helpful.
• Quietness: 2.5
• Room: 10
• Value for money: 7.5