AC Hotel Barcelona Forum by Marriott

Female solo traveler, LOVED it here. Large clean room with a huge shower/tub and the best water pressure and AC in Europe, water restocked in room every day, 10 minute walk to the beach, across the street from a mall for anything you need, taxis always waiting outside the hotel, beautiful pool with outstanding service all around; about 15-20 minute cab ride to main attractions like Sagrada Família, will absolutely stay here again!

Stayed here as part of a conference and overall thought high of it. The checkin was very easy with the precheckin and even though I arrived early in the day there was a room ready. Room was clean and decent size overall with a great view of the water. Staff was helpful throughout the stay. Pool area was nice though we didn't use any of the food areas. Easy walk to the beach from there and good places to eat and shop nearby as well.

Tl;dr Leonardo Royal Hotel Barcelona is not just old and filthy, some conditions may be a health hazard and there's no communication among the staff. Conferences and companies should not book this hotel for their attendees and employees until conditions improve. This is the worst hotel stay of my life. I arrived around 1am after a long day traveling to Barcelona. The public hallways look like an abandoned building in a riot zone: there are broken and missing wooden doors, there is trash on the ground and what appears to be a dead mouse (I didn't try to inspect this closer), the carpet is so old that it's ripped out of random areas, and the smell of mildew and cigarette smoke is disgustingly pervasive throughout the common areas. Somehow, the rooms are even worse than the common areas. My standard room has seen better days with its stained, dusty and peeling walls and broken baseboards. However, the appearance/decor of the room pales compared to how dirty it was on arrival--hair was in the bathtub and bidet, dried spittle was on the bathroom mirror, the chairs and surfaces had crumbs and residue, and the weirdest debris cluster of all was a clump of dust bunnies and hair with a staple under the coffee maker area. I asked for a new room and was told none were available except a twin bed room (I'm tall and traveling with my wife so that's not an option). I was told that the front desk would send housekeeping immediately first thing in the morning. Shortly after that, the power went out in my room. Not all rooms, just mine.... You can't make this stuff up. The front desk "somehow" managed to find me and my wife a similar standard room for the rest of the night; we couldn't move our belongings in the dark and were told to just wait until the original room could be cleaned and the power restored. However, the room we were moved to had no working AC or fan. This morning, I called first thing to the desk for an update: no one knew what I was talking about. We were unable to get our things for hours while waiting; when repairs/cleaning were finally done, our original room keys no longer worked. We're now running late for our appointments and meanwhile, only about half of the cleaning the room needed was actually attempted. I'm in Barcelona for a conference and judging by the elevators and lobbies, so is everybody else staying at this hotel. Based off the TripAdvisor comments, I don't think this hotel has had sufficient incentive to improve because its proximity to the conference center helps secure bookings regardless of its squalid conditions. But maybe that will change if conferences take note and book their attendees elsewhere. I will certainly be telling my company's events team to skip this hotel at all costs next year.