A great hotel in the heart of Barcelona (Oriente Hotel Barcelona)

Member Name: Chelle1969

Product:	Oriente Hotel Barcelona
Date:	01/06/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Perfect location in the heart of Barcelona

Disadvantages: Rooms can be noisy, expensive to eat/drink in the hotel

In my opinion, what makes a hotel either good or bad is very much dependent on what you require from a hotel in the first place. I'm somebody who doesn't spend a lot of time in a hotel when on holiday, really just using it as a base to come back to and sleep after a long day exploring. Having said that and having just returned from five nights at the Husa Oriente in Barcelona, I did spend enough time in the place to form an opinion, and therefore write this review.

I'd never been to Barcelona, so before booking I did a bit of research to find out where the main attractions were located and what would be a good central area to stay in. I booked online with Expedia and chose the Husa Oriente mainly for is location right on La Rambla (Barcelona's main boulevard) but also because the price fell within my budget and from the photos it 'looked' nice with a bit of history to it. It has been a hotel since 1842 and its 146 rooms have all been recently modernised.
I booked one of the cheapest rooms and paid £476 for five nights at the end of May, which equates to about £95 per night, so not the cheapest hotel in Barcelona but certainly not the most expensive either and considering the very central location I didn't think the price was too bad.

On arrival I discovered just how brilliant the location was, just 50m from the nearest metro station (Liceu), slap bang in the middle of La Rambla, in easy walking distance of the famous gothic area and just 1.5km from the nearest beach.
The lobby was air-conditioned and welcoming with large sofas, free papers, marble floors and an ornate staircase which made it look like a much more luxurious establishment than its 3 star rating. The staff at reception desk were friendly, helpful and all spoke good English. Two lifts made all the floors easily accessible, and everywhere that it was necessary to use a small set of stairs there was a ramp next to them. Although this was obviously for wheelchair use, it also proved very useful when wheeling a suitcase.

And so to the room, it was on the top (4th) floor at the back of the hotel with a view of the "interior courtyard" - read fire escape! Actually I was very happy with the location of the room because the one slightly worrying thing I'd previously read in some reviews was that a room overlooking the busy Rambla street was incredibly noisy at night with no double glazing on the windows. So be warned if you want to get any sleep request a room at the back, the higher up the better, which of course is also cheaper.
The room its self was fairly small, but clean and functional and decorated to a good standard. Amenities included:

- Two large single beds - very comfortable, but with an annoying tendency to slide across the room on the wooden floor if you tried to sit up in bed and lean against the headboard.
- A desk and two chairs.
- Wardrobe with plenty of hangers and shelf space.
- A safe in the wardrobe - easy to use.
- Bathroom with bath and shower, but no ventilation. Also there was no non-slip mat in the bath for when you needed to use the shower, so it was potentially quite hazardous.
- Hairdryer
- Air conditioning - a must-have for a Spanish hotel room
- TV - fifteen channels, all Spanish, which could be a problem if you don't speak Spanish and want to watch the TV.
- Phone - no instructions for use, but apparently it was a direct dial phone. I didn't use it as I'm sure the cost would have been far higher than using my mobile would have been if necessary.

As with most European hotels there were no tea/coffee making facilities, but I had taken my own travel kettle and teabags (no jokes please about Brits abroad J) and there were three plug sockets in the room so it was not a problem. Housekeeping came in every day and made the beds very nicely and put out fresh towels.

I found a few negative points with the hotel in general, the main one being the thickness (or lack of!) of the walls between the rooms. I was woken three nights running by the woman in the room next door going into her bathroom for a fit of coughing, and then another two nights by noisy neighbours the other side returning to their rooms at 5am and continuing to talk loudly. The walls are very thin and you can hear everything your neighbours are up to!
My booking didn't include breakfast as I prefer to eat at local cafes, but when I enquired about the hotel's facilities I was told a continental breakfast was served at a cost of fifteen euros!! With the poor exchange rate at the time I travelled that would convert to almost £14 - no thank you! And that brings me nicely onto the hotel café/bar with its pavement tables outside on La Rambla, which serves snacks and drinks all day and evening. Now, I knew that having a drink along La Rambla would be expensive, all the guidebooks warn you of the fact, but one evening the atmosphere of the place took over and two beers were ordered and consumed at the hotel bar... at a cost of E12.30 (approx £11). You have been warned!

Overall I enjoyed my stay at Husa Oriente, it's a great place to stay and the few minor niggles I had were far outweighed by the fantastic location of the hotel, in my opinion it couldn't have been better situated. I would certainly recommend this hotel, just be careful of booking a noisy room overlooking the street if you need your sleep, and avoid eating/drinking in the hotel café if you don't want to be stung for a ridiculous amount of Euros.

Summary: A good hotel in a great location in a fantastic city.