Hotel Silken Diagonal Barcelona - Barcelona, Spain 

"Decent place to stay in Barcelona"
Posted: Mon, Nov 23 2009
We stayed here for two nights before a Mediterranean Cruise and enjoyed our stay. As other travelers mentioned, it's right next to a large cone-shaped building that's pretty cool. We loved being able to see La Sagrada Familia from our window! The rooms were very clean and the decor was nice. The bathroom walls are glass...but not the toilet (whew!)! Each room has one large bed for two people, so if you're traveling with 4 people, that will be two rooms. If you have three people, they do have some larger rooms with a couch that will accomodate that size group. The complimentary breakfast is phenomenal! There's a wide variety of fresh, hot food. Delicious fruit, eggs, meats, etc. It's all very good...even the coffee was wonderful! The pool is on the roof, which is unique, but it's incredibly small....SO much smaller than it looked in any picture we saw beforehand. Our kids didn't even want to go in it because they could tell that once they were all in, they wouldn't be able to do anything (there were 10 kids in our group). They didn't care about that though, we were there to explore Barcelona! It was easy to hop on the subway from the hotel (turn left outside the hotel and about 1/2 block up you go down the stairs to the subway) and see this wonderful city.

AC
Posted: Fri, Jun 12 2009
The design of the hotel is very good but I expected more from my room. In fact there was some old bushes on the floor and I could see some electric wires near the window. One thing that was irritant: for 2 days, in front of the door of my room there was a dirty breakfast tray of someone else...very incredible! Anyway, the metro is near and outside there is a big shopping center where you can have your breakfast (in the hotel the cost is about 17euro/person...very expensive). The personal of the hotel is gentle. I don't know if I will return again...from a 4 stars I expected more!

AM
Posted: Wed, May 06 2009
Very nice hotel, as presented on the Venere site. Modern, clean and large rooms...It exceeded our expectations. I would return there at any time: at the hotel, as well as to Barcelona :).

Pretentious, no regard for customer service at all
Posted: Thu, Jul 24 2008
I guess I can understand the positive reviews for this hotel. At first moment's glance, the Silken Diagonal is impressive. But the veneer doesn't last. My stay was altogether terrible. I overlapped my stay with seven other colleagues -- we all had separate rooms, but we all had similar experiences. In summary: -- I was not permitted to check in until 3:30. -- Three days of my five-day stay there were marked with a LOUD thumping techno party happening all afternoon and evening on the top floor of the hotel. When I complained, the hotel staff simply shrugged and said that there was nothing they could do about it. Apparently they rent out the space frequently for functions. During this time the elevators were unusable, as was the top floor. The swimming pool was strewn with empty beer bottles. Enough said. You should have seen the line at the reservation counter of guests trying to get their rooms changed to some part of the hotel far away from the roof. This, of course, was folly -- in fact, you could hear the rooftop party from several blocks away. -- My reservation rate was incorrect. They had a reservation rate that was 15 Euro higher. When I asked for documentation of this reservation, they conveniently said that they had "lost" the paperwork. I had also requested breakfast, but again, this was supposedly "not included" in the reservation. One clerk finally told me that he would take care of everything for me. Upon checkout, I found that none of problems had been cleared up, which required an additional 20 minutes of wrangling with another employee altogether. In the end I got the room rate that I reserved, but for some bizarre reason they would not let go of having me pay for just one of the breakfasts. Was it their pride I was hurting? They acted like infants and tried to wrestle a few extra measly dollars out of me, all the while knowing that they were probably jeopardizing any good will I had left with them. -- The elevators are an abomination. They are small, cramped, and have a completely dysfunctional and non-traditional call system. Expect long wait times. -- There is no wireless internet access in the rooms below the top two floors. -- In-room catering clean-up apparently only happens once a day. I can't tell you how many times I saw meal trays sitting outside my hallway left unclaimed for hours. Was the entire staff too busy partying? -- Most importantly, not once during my entire stay there did I get a simple smile or thank you from the staff there. They dress smartly with their tailored suits and play the part, but they seem to have no talent whatsoever for making their visitors' stays comfortable. The hotel is not in the most convenient area of town, but it's not in the worst area either. There is an eyesore of a shopping mall across the street from the hotel, but aside from that there is nary a single convenience in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. Good luck changing money, shopping for food or snacks, getting an after-dinner drink, or doing just about anything other than sleeping. (That is, if you can stand the noise from the revellers!) Yes, you can buy a drink at the bar downstairs in the lobby of the hotel at prices that are around 200% more than what they should be. In short: give this place a pass. Don't be fooled by it's fancy sheen. It is, in fact, a complete and utter nightmare.

Nice rooms but could be better.
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008
I stayed in the Silken Diagonal for 2 nights in July. The hotel was easy enough to get to from the airport (about 25 euros). The hotel itself does not look great from the outside and the area seems a bit run-down but inside it is quite contemporary with a nice bar. Check-in was relatively painless though a bit slow as there were only 2 people on the small reception desk. As one of them was dealing with a customer it took a while to get to me. My room was in the first floor overlooking a building site but was quiet and spacious. The bed was a decent size and the glass bathroom was a nice touch as well the b&o phone in the room. There was a LCD tv but strangely enough no pay for view. Also- as I found out later there is only WI-FI on the 8th and 9th floor unless you happen to bring a cat 5 cable with you (i didn't). As the hotel had run out (!) I had no choice but to sit on the floor on the 8th floor to connect to the internet. Pins and needles and a numb bum ensued. Aside from that the hotel was fine. The surrounding area is not great (although there is a massive shopping mall across the road) and the subway station (Glories) is 3 mins away. You can be on La Rambla within 10 minutes which is very handy. Overall an above average stay. I paid ?230 for 2 nights including breakfast (buffet style whith lots of choice) which struck me as a good deal considering the strength of the euro. On a separate note try to avoid Iberia airlines- they are useless. Be warned there is no online check in or fast check in if you only have hand luggage. I waited for 30 mins in a queue and there were only 4 people ahead of me.