Fun & Games At The OK Hostal (Hostal Del Mar)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Hostal Del Mar
Date:	13/01/02 (180 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Centrally located, Cheap

Disadvantages: Budget, and it shows

Feeling like another holiday, and deciding that 5 days before my uni exams was *the* best time to go, I easyjetted off to Barcelona last week. Or rather we did, since thequy (who wants his user name in here in the hope he’ll get more reads :p ) decided to accompany me. We’d decided to go back in December, so I crawled the net for a week or so and came up with the Hostal del Mar (Hotel of the Sea). It seemed reasonably priced, centrally enough located and not too scruffy.

The hostal is part of a converted palace which results in some interesting areas inside, like the fact that there are toilets everywhere, and the existence of a sitting area (3 sofas and a table) just opposite our room. We arrived about 9pm local time and were at the hotel just turned half past, having collected out luggage and found a taxi driver who found it easy to get lost in between. The hotel claims multi-lingual staff, and this isn’t a lie really since with a mixture of French, English and Spanish, we managed to check in. Various websites which offer this hotel state that is had 5 floors. While the building may indeed have this number, the hotel itself only occupies 3 of these, with 2 in the middle being home to a range of weird looking electrical shops. Our room was on the 2nd floor, but this was really the 4th floor if you see what I mean. The floor had a long corridor, and then a medium sized alcove with several more rooms off it, one of which was ours.

The room was (trying really hard to be nice now) different. “Simple” is probably a good word. There were two beds (one double and one single), in what they’d termed a “double room” – I imagine they do this so the room can be double or twin – we found the smaller one useful for eating/trampolining on. With these we had 2 chairs, a table and a mirror in the main area. Off this was a small bathroom containing a toilet and basin (but not bath). At the ot
her side of the room was a shower area, complete with 3 walls and a curtain to prevent you splashing water / baring your bum to the world. Towels were provided (large-for-a-hotel bath ones, and hand ones), as were shampoo sachets and soaps. Finally we had another alcove with added doors that formed a makeshift wardrobe. The room seemed clean enough, but it wasn’t spotlessly shiny or anything.

Some of the gripes we had included the fact that there was a huge free standing lamp, but no socket in which to plug it in. Useful then. The window (which had a tiny weenie balcony) didn’t shut properly, which resulted in some noise from the streets below. The toilet took it upon itself to drip all the time which became a bit of a pain, and there wad no bath (unless that’s what the slowly draining bottom of the shower was) despite the fact the website I booked through said all rooms had one. There was only one light in the room, so no way of reading early morning or late night without waking the other person – the two of us have distinctly different body clocks unfortunately. One plus point though was that there were two switches for the light – one by the door and one over the bed, so you didn’t have to wander around in the dark ever.

There was no television or radio, and the hotel didn’t have a lounge area or anything like that, so you had to make you own entertainment. We found the flick,flick, in,out, circle, rat-a-tat-tat game most fun, but internet censorship laws would no doubt prevent me from explaining the rules. The beds, while comfy, were a bit noisy, and you really sank into them the moment you climbed in, making my usual trampolining practice almost impossible.

Breakfast was served at another hotel nearby from 7am till 10am daily, and we went for two of the 3 mornings we were there (on the last we didn’t get out of bed until 11). Again, several websites call it a “buffet”, but t
his is a blatant lie unless “buffet” now means one croissant and one roll each (plopped on a plate and waiting for you when you arrive there), and a glass of pineapple juice (!) plus coffee (or tea if you begged).

This might sound a bit negative (and if it does, good, since I’m trying to put you off ever staying there), but the hotel did have some plus points. For starters, it was really cheap - £20 per person per night, and for an en-suite(ish) room in a city like Barcelona, that’s not bad. The hotel was centrally located – only 2 minutes walk to a metro, and within walking distance of La Rambla and other main attractions. There were quite a few cafes and restaurants nearby, and the marina was just across the road. The staff were friendly and helpful – storing our luggage on the last day since our flight wasn’t until evening, and calling taxis if you asked – small things I know, and things you would expect automatically in a larger place, but nice all the same.

The hotel is part of a chain (Gargallo Hotels) as was the Hotel Santa Marta where breakfast was served. The official website is www.gargallo-hotels.com/delmar/index.english.html but you can also book through :

www.hotel-barcelona.com/del.html

www.spain-barcelona-hotels.com/barcelona-hotel s/hostaldelmar/

interhotel.com/spain/en/hoteles/7936.html

Address : Plaza. Palacio, 19
08003 Barcelona
SPAIN

Tel: (34) 93 319 33 02


Overall the rooms were adequate if a little odd, but the fact that there was nothing else to the hotel was a bit disappointing – there were 4 corridors of rooms and a small reception area but nothing else. The 2 star rating comes from the fact that all its rooms are ensuite alone. It was an interesting experience, but I wouldn’t stay there again.

Summary: