A nice little spot right in the heart of Barcelona (Sunotel Central (Barcelona, Spain))

Member Name: karalouk

Product:	Sunotel Central (Barcelona, Spain)
Date:	15/04/09 (320 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great location, good transport links, swimming pool, restaurant, friendly staff, clean and tidy

Disadvantages: No kettle, no english tv stations, expensive restaurant, pool closed during certain months

I stayed for 3 nights in the 4 star Sunotel Central hotel in Barcelona in March 2008 with my partner and almost one year old at the time.

LOCATION

Sunotel Central is situated in Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes which is one of Barcelona's major avenues. It is a great location which is right in the heart of Barcelona and a 5 minute walk to Las Ramblas, which is the main strip in Barcelona.

It is also a 15-20 minute walk to Port Vale beach and harbour, and a 2 minute walk to the nearest metro station (that's underground station to you and me!) - 'Universitat'.

There is also a bus stop outside the hotel which can take you all over the city. The staff at reception are happy to call a taxi for you and the taxi's are generally quick, reliable and reasonably priced.

It's set on a main road so is easy to find and easy to get dropped off and picked up right outside. Parking is available at an additonal cost.

CHECKING IN

Checking in was really easy. We just handed over our passports and confirmation, and they handed us our keys and told us what floor we would find our room on.

INSIDE THE HOTEL

The lobby had a reception desk and a reception area with tables and sofas. It looked very modern and smart. It was decorated with warm colours and quite a lot of posh marble. There were double doors which lead into a large restaurant area. I can't really comment on the restaurant or the food as I didn't eat there. I can comment on the prices though - it was really expensive and we ended up eating elsewhere each day. There were stairs and a lift leading up to all floors.

There was also a small bar area in the corner (but I never saw anyone serving there) and a very helpful man that opened doors for us and took our bags etc.

ROOM

We stayed in a twin bedroom and pushed the 2 single beds together to make a double bed. I didn't mind doing this because for some reason you have to do this in a lot of hotel rooms. There was sufficent bed linen which was all clean and fresh.

When we booked the hotel we stated in the 'special requirements' that we would be needing a travel cot, but when we arrived there wasn't one in the room. I made a trip down to the reception desk and they said they didn't know anything about it, so I showed them a copy of my confirmation letter. They apologised and within 15 minutes a maid came to our room with a travel cot and bedding.

The room was nicely decorated with warm colours. Nice and traditional with a modern twist. It was fresh smelling, clean and tidy. There were only 2 rooms - main room and bathroom.

The main room also included a fitted wardrobe with full sized mirrors, a padded chair, a long desk, a bin, a safe, a television, bed side tables, bed side lamps, a telephone and a mini bar. The mini bar was slightly over priced but that's to be expected. On the upside it was full of yummy treats!

The one thing I was suprised and disappointed about was that the room didn't have any tea making facilities (mainly a kettle), which not only meant no tea but no way to make my daughters milk either. I asked somebody at reception if they had any kettles but they didn't. They did offer to boil up some water for me in their kitchen though. So every time I needed to make some milk I had to go to reception. It was a bit of a pain but the staff were really polite and went out of their way to help me.

There was a sign to put on your door handle if you didn't want the maids to clean your room, otherwise they would just come in and clean. They changed all of our bed linen and our bin after 2 nights.

Our room was on the back of the hotel, which meant it was nice and quiet. There was a big window but the view was a bit crumby. It looked like a bit of a slum to be honest! Or maybe I'm just being a tad snobby...

TELEVISION

Our room had a small/medium sized flat screen television. There were plenty of channels but not one of them was in English! Yes, nightmare.

BATHROOM

The bathroom was white, clean and modern. It included a toilet, sink, beeday, bath with shower, towel rail, hairdryer, big mirror and bin. Bath towels were provided. Soap, toothpaste and shower gel were complimentary. The bin and bath towels were taken away and replaced after 2 nights.

UP ON THE ROOF!

When you take the lift to the top floor you are greeted by a nice sized swimming pool, jacuzzi and sun loungers. Unfortunatley we visited in the wrong season and the jacuzzi was empty and the pool was freezing. On the second day I decided that I would use the pool, cold or not! The slighest ray of sunshine is the green light for us Brits, right!? So I went up to the top floor but the door to the pool was locked. I went to the reception desk to enquire and I was told "The weather is way too cold to use the pool. It wont be open for a few months". At this point I did feel like a bit of a tool, but hey... it was a heat wave in my little mind!

STAFF

Every member of staff that I spoke to were friendly, polite and helpful. They did struggle with my oh so charming Essex accent but we got around it. The Spanish also seem to love babies and coo'ed over my daughter at every given opportunity.

CHECKING OUT

Checking out was really easy too. We left a tip in the room for the maids, handed our keys back to reception and paid up our mini bar bill. We had to vacate our room at 10am but our flight home wasn't until the late afternoon, so the staff let us keep our suitcases in a holding room until we needed to leave for the airport, which was good because it gave us an extra day to do things. When we had to leave they called a taxi for us.

PRICE

We booked the hotel from expedia.co.uk as a last minute deal. It was a bit of an impulse trip. I can't remember exactly how much we paid for it but I think it was between £150 and £200 which isn't half bad for a 3 night stay in a 4 star hotel.

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So here's to sum things up...
Advantages - Great location, great transport links, can get a good deal if you shop around, clean and tidy, attractive, friendly staff, mini bar(!), based on a main road so is easy to find, has swimming pool, restaurant and lift.

Disadvantages - No kettle, small rooms (not suitable for families or more than 2 people/might send you mad if you stay for more than a few days), based on a main road and might be noisey if you get a front room, not very good views (it is a city though..it's to be expected I suppose), expensive restaurant/have to have a lot of money to eat out on, swimming pool closed for half of the year, no english television stations.

All and all we had a really good holiday (except all 3 of us picking up food poisoning/stomach bug on the last day), infact we are hoping to revisit this year to see a couple more things we didn't fit in last time. And will I go back to Sunotel Central? Well providing I can get a good deal again, then yes. But I'll be sure to take my own kettle!

Summary: Barceloonnnaaaaaa!