Hotel HCC St. Moritz - Barcelona, Spain     

We (my wife and I and two teenagers) had booked the HCC Regente primarily because of the roof terrace. It sounded ideal for the two days we were to stay there before heading off on a cruise from Barcelona. Unfortunately we fell foul of the HCC routine of 'upgrading' and were transferred to the HCC St.Moritz. The reason given was 'damaged air conditioning units in some rooms due to the recent electrical storm'. Having read some other reviews where 'upgrades' were given, this seems to be the best reason yet. Anyway, we got free breakfasts! I insisted that the St.Moritz had less facilities than the Regente and that we would not be happy until compensated. They eventually agreed to give us complimentary breakfasts on both mornings. If we had paid for this we'd have been 152 euros lighter. The common areas are nice, rooms ok and location ideal for shoppers. But it's not the hotel we booked and consequently we were disappointed. Take careful note when booking a HCC hotel.

My fiance and I originally booked the HCC Covadonga. We arrived at the HCC Covadonga about 4pm, this was after trekking it from the Hospital Clinic Metro station (which incidentally is about 15 minutes away - a bit too much especially with luggage and in 30 degrees celcius!). From the reading the reviews here, it appears that the HCC hotels havea habit of "upgrading" their guests to the so called 4 star hotels - Covadonga is listed as a 3 stars and we were told on arrival that the hotel was double booked and so therefore, we were to be transferred to St Moritz. The taxi was called and paid for by the hotel and to our surprise a doorman greeted us. The staff were very friendly but we did get annoyed when they told us that they didn't have a double bed room available (especially when the staff at Covadonga assured us that our booking would be exactly the same but in a 4 star hotel!). They originlly offered us a non-smoking room with 2 beds pushed together. However, after not much wrangling, we were given a smoking room on the top floor which had a double bed. Despite the room being a smoking room, it did not smell (although, the hair dryer was blowing out smokey hot air - have no idea why this was!). The room is a little worn around the edges, it does get hot in the room because you have to use your door card to activate the power (incidentally, we were given 2 door cards and so we left one of them in the slot to keep the room cool) and it is on the small size. However, the main problem with the room was the noise. The street outside constantly has traffic and if not traffic, the bin collection will keep you awake untill 1am. We also had the misfortune of having a dodgy window which didn't close properly. However, luckily for us, we're not light nor early sleepers and so sleeping was not a problem. Travelling to the hotel: This hotel was better located than Covadonga. It's location in fact is excellent. We didn't use the buses but instead used the train and metro system. On arrival from the airport, take the Renfe train (you need to walk all the way to the end of Terminal B, go up the escalators and walk through the overhead walkway to the train station) to Passaig de Gracie (one stop after Barcelona Sants). The hotel is located on the street with the shops "Camper" and "Vogue" on the corner (make sure you're walking away from "Zara". The great thing about Barcelona and staying at this particular hotel is that if you take a wrong turn, you don't need to back track - the checkerboard roads just mean you need to keep turning right or left and you get back to where you were - a good trick if you're too embarrased to walk pass the doorman because you've taken a wrong turn! Travelling tips: We bought ourselves the Barcelona Card which gave us free travel on the metro, train and bus system for the duration of our stay. It had various free coupons to be used for the museums and sites. Food: We recommend the restaurant Salamanca in Barceloneta. When you get to Barceloneta metro station, keep walking straight towards the beach. Once you are there, turn left and keep walking about 100 yeards. They do the best seafood paella in town and at a good price and HUGE portions! A meal for 2 (without wine) cost us around €50. Sites: Tibidoga - this we found by chance! Everyone goes to Mont Juic but this place is just as good - without the masses of tourists! There's an amusement park up here but don't be deterred - there's a beautiful and stunning church and the site of Barcelona from up here is absolutely breath taking.