Hotel 1898 - Barcelona, Spain     

I had originally booked the Hotel Arts for our 3 night stay in Barcelona for our wedding anniversary. Upon reading the reviews and seeing the location of Arts, I cancelled this booking to stay at 1898. What a mistake. The cost was about the same, (370 Euros a night for a bedroom with terrace at 1898). Paying this sort of money, I expected, rightly or wrongly so, to have some sort of standard of service. How wrong we were. We arrived to be told that there were no irons and ironing boards allowed in the rooms, that they were a 'risk', so if you wanted anything to be ironed, you had to pay for laundry (I am surprised no one else noted this?). The luggage we brought along would have cost well over 100 Euros to be ironed. How ridiculous. So we nipped to Carrefour next door and got a travel iron!!!! Not exactly what I had in mind for our special break!!!!! The room (532 I think it was) was smaller than I imagined it would be, spotlessly clean I hasten to add, with a nice private terrace to lounge around in, which I appreciated. It was nicely decorated, but not at all spacious in size for the price we paid. The service is what lets this hotel down. We had problems getting a taxi one night and there were 4 people behind the reception desk doing nothing, whilst the concierge over the road at the Meridien, were hailing every available taxi for their clients. Very irritating. Also, the service on the roof top terrace was spectacularly awful. I shouldnt have to send my husband to find a waiter to get us drinks, or have to look at remanants of breakfast left by other guests for half an hour. The location, la rambla, is awful. Coming from Amsterdam, this was the worst place for us to be situated. What a nasty, smelly, crowded tourist hellhole. We went to Hotel Arts for a drink one lunchtime and I severely regret cancelling that booking. There were staff everywhere. Service was efficient and polite and professional. This was truly a 5 star experience. I shall be booking there on our next trip for sure. I cannot recommend this hotel to anyone, because I felt it was majorly overpriced for what you get. Majorly disappointed and not sure why this hotel is number 1 in Barcelona????!!!!!!!!!!

We stayed at the hotel for 3 nights at the beginning of July using one of their special packages which included a meal on the rooftop terrace. As others have said the location is excellent and the hotel is clean and we found the majority of staff super. We had a superior room which whilst not huge was easily big enough for us and the bathroom was a good size and well equipped. We made great use of the roof terrace which was never crowded and a super place to relax late in the afternoon after a hard day in Barcelona. It is only a pity that the drinks were so expensive. We had an evening meal included on the terrace in our rate and this was very good with excellent service although again cost would prevent me from eating there if it had not been included. Again, breakfast, which consisted of pretty much all cold pastries, hams, cheeses with a few hot choices was good but you can eat way cheaper nearby. All in all, although the hotel was excellent and we really enjoyed our stay, we did feel that it was not quiet value for money