Hotel Barcelona Universal

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Great location, great restaurant

This hotel is located in walking distance from the center and has an excellent restaurant. Staff is very friendly.

Great Hotel

Easy 8-15 min walk to Las Ramblas, Barrio Gotico, Plaza Cataluna; Metro station right in front and on main taxi and bus lines. Clean comfortable rooms. Our few interactions with staff were very helpful/courteous; did not eat at their restaurant. Free WiFi and newspaper. Definitely would go back. 9/9/09

Needs an entertaining english speaking tv station

Only english speaking tv station was CNBC which is all business / stock market. Very boring after about a minute. We could only listen to the instrumental music station. They didn't even have BBCA which could be an alternative.

Pre and Post Cruise Stay Continued

If you want Water,soda,wine or beer you can buy it for much less at the small supermarkets three to four blocks away from the hotel ie. four 1.5 liter bottles of water for two euros,as opposed to 1.5 euros for 12oz bottle. There is no english speaking TV in the hotel. Bring a DVD player with movies Especially if you have children!!!! Be carefull at the restaurants. They charge for everything including bread. They also Tend too be dishonest reveiw your bill before paying. Also, I did not know this, but you dont tip in europe like in the states. I was told you do not leave a tip especially not 20%. I did not find out until the end of my stay. Hope this helps with your vacation.

Pre and Post Cruise Stay

Every thing which has been written about his hotel is true. The beds are hard, but I slept great. Stay on the top floors and you will not have a noise problem. The front desk staff is a little rude, but the rest of the staff was very pleasant. you will not get in your room before 3:00 pm so bring a swim suit in your carry on. you can use the pool or go to the beach. The beach is ten minutes away and is very nice and safe. Take a taxi its about seven euros and is worth it. The front desk staff worried us needlessly, by telling us the beach was full of pick-pockets. We found a beach full of tourists.

Excellent

Great room and excellent service

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Guest did not leave a comment.

Fabulous find in Barcelona!

Before booking this hotel I read all of the reviews on it and found there to be no negative comments. For good reason! It is a very modern property conveniently located to city transportation and within walking distance to the sensory overload La Ramblas. Also ATM for getting euros and grocery store right around the corner. Do request a room on upper level facing back of hotel in order to avoid the noisy street. An upper floor will afford you a fantastic view of the city. The terrace pool has hammock chairs to lounge in and incredible views as well! The beds are indeed on the hard side, but we slept extremely well under the nice crisp linens! The free internet in the room was very fast and handy to have. In room safe was large enough to accomodate a small computer! Room had the quietest air conditioning we've ever had! Nice wood floor and marble bathroom. Front desk is helpful with directions...they have a great city map, and you can buy 1 or 2 (better deal) day hop on hop off tourist bus ticket from them. A must do! Eating is cheap right outside hotel to the left.......4 sidewalk cafes offering american breakfast, pizzas, pasta, burgers, etc. Going to the right of hotel is Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. We stayed 3 nights after a cruise, and then extended for 1 more night....too much to see in Barcelona. You will NOT be disappointed with this very popular hotel!!

Very nice.

This hotel met my expectations. It was clean, comfortable and I felt safe. The decoration is modern. Great location, too. It is close to La Rambla, many restaurants and a few steps from the metro. There are so many things to see in Barcelona that I really didnt spend much time at the hotel apart from sleeping and showering. For an urban European destination, this hotel is perfect. I would absolutely use this hotel again.

Good Hotel

Room was good sized. Very clean. Internet worked fine/no problems connecting. Bed was very firm (but from my experiences in Europe beds are either very soft or very firm--and I prefer firm.) It's just what one should want in a hotel--a clean safe place to sleep between days experiencing such a beautiful city.

OK for overnight stay near airport

The hotel is massive and cavernous, not at all beautiful, very stark but incongruously filled with antiques. Our room was large and clean, although the bed was firmer than we prefer. You can get a free shuttle to and from the airport. They don't tell you how, but ask at airport information for the shuttle stop for hotel buses, and the hotel's van will come by; you don't need to call. If you take the hotel's shuttle into Madrid, be sure you get on the right bus; we didn't and ended up at the airport. Food seems overpriced; we stumbled upon a good restaurant for locals among the warehouses behind the hotel.

Good value

Our room was clean and attractive. We had a room without a view, which was fine because it was quiet. Bed was a bit firm, but we slept well. The location is not immediately in a tourist locale but it's easily walkable to La Rambla and the Gothic Quarter. Hotel borders on an immigrant neighborhood, which we found quite interesting and atmospheric but which might frighten some less adventurous tourists. In the neighborhood we found great coffee shops for breakfast and good, non-touristy restaurants for other meals. We especially recommend the nearby Meson David restaurant for cheap, plentiful Galician food.