Hotel Del Mar

We travel a lot to Barcelona and test a new hotel every time we come here. I chose this one because I liked the location. And that’s the biggest advantage of the hotel. It is just across the old port in a very lively neighborhood of Born (much better than other central districts). It is 15 minutes walk to La Rambla and same time to the nearest beach across Hospital de Mar. The area has lots of restaurants and cafes and a few small convenience stores. And if you are interested in proper clubbing, Ku, CDLC, Moog and several others are all in walking distance. Awesome area for exploring many things Barcelona offers. The hotel arose my suspicion first time when I wrote to their reception and reservation a couple of times before our arrival to ask a few very simple questions. An answer never arrived. The hotel itself is housed in an old building. Adjacent to it, there are several good restaurants. We booked a double room with a small balcony (no sitting), with a view on the Palau Mar across the street. The room was of a good size , just ok for two people and two big suitcases. The bathroom was also bigger than the average Barcelona one. Those are the only positive features of the room. The bathtub has no plug in the drainage so you have to ask for one at the reception. First time ever I saw this in the hotels. Why they don’t have a plug in tubs remains a mystery to me. Surely the guests don’t steal them. The water pressure was just ok. But the worst was beds. We were given two single beds , even though I had asked for a double bed. And those beds were the worst we ever slept on in the hotels. Narrow , too light so it moves when you move and scratches the floor with an awful sound. You hear that kind of noise when other guests do the same - move in the beds or trying to bring them into normal position. That gave us bad sleep. The noise insulation is pretty bad too , especially from the corridors. The only reason I didn’t give a worse rating is the staff at the reception and bellboys - both days and night shifts . A good team of guys (I didn’t see a female during our stay apart from the housekeeping). Those guys were smiling and greeting every time they saw us and were happy to help. I especially commend the young guys who were on our first day on 18.09. Quite an atypical attitude for a 3 star hotel. But we will not return due to the noise insulation and the beds

Having stayed 4 nights across 3 different rooms, this review almost writes itself, yet despite my room swapping palaver, I was actually rather charmed by this hotel! As other reviews suggest, the overriding positives are the location: a 5-minute walk from the Gothic Quarter and 10 minutes from Barceloneta, with metro stations and taxi ranks nearby. The surrounding restaurants and bars were always busy and looked decent. It's clean (spotless in fact) and breakfast was decent and very enjoyable. Now if you're lucky enough to get a room facing the port, you'll wake up delighted. If you do your research and pay a little extra, try to book a room with a terrace (there are only about 10–15 id guess). The extra space and harbour views will significantly improve your stay here and indeed of Barcelona. However, this is where things went downhill for me personally. Due to a booking error by Thomas Cook (so.imwas told!) after flight delays, my 15-year-old son and I rocked up at 3:00 AM, only to be placed in a non-terrace room overlooking an alley by a night porter who couldn't help (I had it on my booking confirmation that I had booked a terrace room). Between no sleep and dodgy air con, it was a rough start. Hats off to Naider on staff, who took pity on us the next morning after much begging/pleading and managed to move us to a beautiful port view terrace room. Had our whole stay been like that this would have easily be a 5 star review! Unfortunately, we had to repack and move yet again to a 1st-floor room the following night. Since this was my 50th birthday trip with my son, I could do without the confrontation, so off we went (had contemplated refusing to move). In room 3 the air con made such a racket that I asked to change rooms again, but the alternative was just as noisy with no view, so I couldn't be bothered and just turned the air con off (lesser of two evils). A general critique across three of the rooms: the air con control icons were completely worn off, making them a guessing game. The final room was on the first floor and very spacious so probably hadn't been used as often therefore the icons were visible (I'm guessing this would have been the disabled room). The big takeaway here is that if you book a terrace, check directly with your provider beforehand to ensure you actually get what you paid for (apparently this mix up isn't uncommon). Being objective, this is a decent 3 star hotel with rustic charm and friendly/professional staff. Despite all the palaver, my son and I had a superb time in Barcelona and in its own unique way, Hotel Del Mar contributed to that! Maybe I'll be brave enough to return at some point and get the full terrace experience that I was expecting!?!

We were two 20 year old girls who stayed here. The location was perfect for exploring the different areas and also access to the nightlife. The rooms were clean and the staff were so friendly, even when it came to letting us in late at night! Would highly recommend.