Hotel Jazz - Barcelona, Spain     

Booked this hotel after reading reviews on TripAdviser and my son and I were not disappointed. The hotel is indeed superbly located, not just given its location at the top of La Rambla but also because of the nearby metro stations at Universitat (got us effortlessly to the Camp Nou for the Real Madrid game) and Catalunya. Note also that the airport bus (A1) terminates a few minutes away in Plaza Catalunya - so you can get to the airport for just €3.50 each way. The room was simple but comfortable and well-appointed. Service was good (no problems to access a PC to print off online boarding passes) and the noise from the streets was tolerable. Of course the breakfast at €15 is over-priced, but why would anyone eat at the hotel with so many cafés nearby? We had coffee and pastries in nearby bars for a fraction of the price. The price was very reasonable, so we would recommend anyone to use this hotel. We will certainly use it again.

We spent a week at the Hotel Jazz. I can't say enough about the location, just about every neighborhood is walkable from the hotel. The entire hotel is extremely well taken care of, and the room on the 7th floor had a nice little balcony and was clean and elegantly designed/furnished. Unlike previous reviewers, I did not experience any subway rumble or noise, and the double paned glass really did a good job of keeping street noise to a minimum. As long as you appreciate Hotel Jazz for what it is, and come to terms with it's shortcomings it's a solid choice. In some ways it is more like an apartment stay than a full service hotel. My complaints have to to with the services. There are really no public spaces to speak of, so if you get a little stir crazy in your room you are out of luck. There is a very small bar area, but it closed around 9:30 pm on the two nights we tried to go there! The breakfast is expensive, and in no way worth it. The staff are either helpful, or very unhelpful. There are times when there is only one person at the desk which can be frustrating. When unhelpful, the staff borders on rude. We had bad experiences with room service as well with it not being delivered at all on two occasions. Their toiletries were also pretty disappointing. Were I to return, I would bring my own. In addition, their recommendations for restaurants and the like are pretty awful. I can wholeheartedly recommend a new restaurant in the area on Ramblas Catalunya (I think #13) called Mata Mala. We are foodies, and this place was not a tourist trap like what the hotel recommends, but was a modern ingredients-driven place that we really liked. It is one block off Place Catalunya.