Historical Traveler Reviews of Barcelo Hotel Sants Barcelona
Great location
from A TripAdvisor Member
The best thing about this hotel is its location. We arrived by plane in Barcelona, took the 15-min train to Sants, went up the stairs from the platform and the hotel's entrance was just right in front of the ticket gates.
However, if you plan to travel to Madrid by train, the hotel would be too far from the train station located in the Southern part of the city. If you are staying at this hotel, I would advise taking the plane to Madrid since a flight to Madrid takes slightly more than an hour as compared to a train(which takes about 6 hours?). Cheap air tickets are also available on the e-ticketing websites for Iberia and Spanair.
Excellent views
from Harry_Mark
This hotel has had some mixed reviews but we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The room was spotless and had a wonderful view towards the Sagrada Familiar. The direct access from the station was a bonus as we used the metro and trains frequently. The only downside was that, although the staff were friendly and obliging, service was on the slow side, even for Spain! I will definitely stay there on my next trip to Barcelona, though.
Brilliant hotel
from A TripAdvisor Member
The Barcelo Sants was a brilliant hotel. After an early morning travelling it was lovely to arrive at Barcelona Station and get in a lift directly up to the hotel. We wondered around the outside first looking for our hotel before realising the hotel is directly above the station. The rooms are completely sound proof and the views are amazing, you can look out of your window and see the whole of Barcelona. It was very easy to get around due to buses, trains and the metro being directly underneath your hotel. The only down point was having to leave the city centre fairly early, 11ish, in order to catch the last metro.The hotel itself is very lavish although very expensive to eat in, the restaurants were almost empty so eat in the city centre for a nice meal out. The hotel did strike me to be more for the business traveller, but for me, the tourist, it was more than satisfactory.If you have booked a room hear dont worry at all, the rooms are amazing with huge beds and the whole room, bathroom and hotel is kept looking immaculate.Have fun. Barcelona is fantastic.
Great quality, cheap and cheerful great access to airport and centre of Barcelona
from A TripAdvisor Member
Found a great deal online for 4 nights at this hotel. It was fantastic although more a 3 rather than 4 star rated. The double room, was clean and well presented, the heating worked fine and as this was a late february trip, extra blankets were available. Importantly the bathroom with fantastic shower and full facilities was always cleaned well and was a delight compared to facilities found elsewhere in Barcelona.
Breakfast was not included in our deal but the Buffet Breakfast was well worth paying for, especially if you are a fussy eater or just want to try out a wide variety of new Spanish tastes with the comfort of knowing if you don't like it, that Kellogs is always there at no additional cost. Definitely made us more informed when going out to restaurants in Barcelona. The hotel is above a main Train station which interlinks with the metro. Also the main Tourist bus for Barcelona stops here too. It made getting around so easy. You can go direct from the Airport to the hotel in 15 minutes also for just 2.40 Euros. Much easier and cheaper than a taxi. The hotel is quiet, you get no noise from the hustle and bustle that sits beneath it, which includes restaurants local and Macdonalds and many different shops including an antique fair and market. I would definitely stay again, the only thing missing was a kettle in the room! enjoy your trip!
Cheap
from A TripAdvisor Member
This hotel was cheap and cheerful. It says four star on the blurb, but I would place it at 2.5 star only.
Negatives: We stayed two nights in December 2003. It was mild weather outside (19 Celsius) but the room was boiling hot. We couldn't turn it down, there was no air conditioning. We had to turn everything off.
There are no opening windows.
No bathrobes as advertised and to use the gym you pay an extra 8 euros per visit.
Breakfast was not included but we were handed a half price voucher to encourage us to have breakfast in the hotel. We were still charged full price for the first day and half price for only the second. We lost the will to argue at check out!
TV was next to useless for English language programmes, only CNN and BBC World Service.
Plus points: Bathroom was good, beds were comfortable if you could forget about the heat and had plenty of water at your bedside.
It was convenient for train from the airport, being just upstairs and convenient for the metro. No sound problems. But when the station closes at midnight, you have to take your chance on the Car Park ramp to get in!
Cocktail bar was pleasant prior to en evening out. Apart from breakfast, we didn't eat there but the restaurant looked OK. Best to get out onto the Bari Gothic / Plaza Riall area or the Port to eat for great atmosphere.
Despite cheap tariff, we wouldn't stay again which is how I rate any hotel.
Excellent Value
from A TripAdvisor Member
The hotel represented excellent value with the deal we got through Expedia. The standard room was quite large with a king size bed, the bathroom all you would expect from a 4 star hotel. The air conditioning was fine although admittedly it was November and not mid Summer. The staff were courteous and efficient. Although not situated in the old town, the hotel is directly above a Metro station and only five stops from the middle of the Ramblas, around a twenty minute journey 'door to door'.
Barcelo Sants
from A TripAdvisor Member
Nice hotel. Clean, good location. Quiet. East access to the metro (same building).
Very satisfied
from A TripAdvisor Member
We were a bit worried about taking the hotel since we had read some reviews stating that the rooms are not air conditioned, but that turned out to be false. We visited Barcelona during a heat wave but the entire hotel including our room was perfectly air conditioned.
The location of the hotel is perfect if you arrive by train or even to just get around Barcelona. You can enter the hotel directly from the train station from where you can take the metro and the international trains. The area sorrounding the hotel is not interesting, but since the metro system in Barcelona works very well it's no problem.
I can definitely recommend this hotel and I wouldn't mind staying there next time I visit Barcelona.
Worst hotel in Barcelona
from A TripAdvisor Member
A friend and I were taking an early morning train and stayed one night at the Barcelona Sants because of the convenient location; it was the worst hotel we stayed at in Europe on a three week trip!
Everything about the experience was terrible. Every staff member we encountered was very rude from the reception desk, to the wait staff in the bar. Our room's air conditioning was broken (blowing hot air). We reported the problem and maintenance came up and replaced the air filter which did nothing. We called the front desk again to explain that the unit was not functioning and we were told that it had been fixed and to "be patient" and it would eventually cool off.
We went to the restaurant and were ignored for the 1.5 hours it took to get a simple food order that was cold when it finally arrived -- even though we were 2 of only 4 patrons in the restaurant!
We returned to our room which was still 80 degrees, and finally demanded to be moved to another room, which was only moderately cooler.
The beds were outdated and uncomfortable with smelly bedspreads. The shower curtain was molded.....and on and on. To top everything off, when we checked out, we were charged 5 Euros for call we made to a Spain toll free number. When we complained, both the front desk clerks argued with us feverishly that the number wasn't toll free; we held our ground stating that we had already used the number for free at 3 other hotels in Spain without being charged. The clerks became even more insistent and refused to remove or reduce the charge.
We attempted throughout our stay to be mindful not to be 'overbearing Americans' and expect too much, but this hotel really has significant management problems that is evident in the staff attitudes. Barcelona is filled with beautiful hotels and everywhere else we encountered pleasant service and clean rooms -- avoid this one at all costs!!
Super hotel, super price
from A TripAdvisor Member
The train I was taking to Milano left me behind so I decided to wait for the next morning departure at the Sants. That was the best night rest I had during my 20 days tour to Europe. Excellent service, I was able to send e-mails to other hotels and relatives from their business center, for free. The best quality and the price was also afordable, it happened that during the high touristic season they had plenty of space. Very convenient located also for travelling. Definetily above average. A. Rushing