Pullman Barcelona Skipper - Barcelona, Spain 

Nice, not great, and not a 5 star
Posted: Sat, Jul 12 2008
We were booked into this hotel for a conference, after being bumped from the Hotel Arts next door. While the AB Skipper is new, modern and bills itself as a 5 star, we would not return on our own dollar. While it was nice, nothing was particularly outstanding and the value for money was quite poor. The pros.... The hotel is new, modern and the rooms are fairly big. The bathrooms are very interesting, and the staff is very attentive once focused on an issue. The rooms are exceptionally clean. The cons... The location is terrible - it is not beach side, and is not central to the downtown area....rather just crammed indistinctively between some run down apartments, a busy road and an office tower. The room was rather dark, and we had to be moved because our first room smelled badly of smoke even though it was supposed to be "non-smoking". The breakfast was adequate, but not exceptional and not what I would expect for over 300 Euro per night. No hot water in the tub, and the bathroom products were not replaced even once. The worst part was that the hotel was overrun with corporate events, and habitually closed down its public spaces for these events. I tried to use the pool on three different occasions, only to find it closed each time! Overall, not good value for money. While nothing was *bad* per se, the AB Skipper just wasn't exceptional in any way. It is certainly not the 5 star it bills itself out as.

Great base to explore Barcelona
Posted: Wed, Jul 02 2008
A modern hotel right by the Olympic harbour and two minutes from the beach. It's very comfortable and high standard, the restaurant excellent quality and reasonably priced. This hotel is near the metro and the stop for the open top bus and about 15 minutes walk to La Rambla (or in our case a 6 euro taxi ride). Great modern bathroom with all mod cons including decent powerful hairdryer, slippers, robes etc all the usual you would expect in a good hotel but don't always get. Hotel also has two very nice pools - would be a good hotel to stay in with kids because of this and proximity to beach. Highly recommended.

Eccentric modern hotel, but good
Posted: Tue, Jun 03 2008
I wasn't the only person in my work party who had an embarrasing story to tell when I checked in to this hotel - I just couldn't find the toilet - I knew it was hiding somewhere, but it was so cunningly disguised I almost had an accident. Finally found it lurking behind a sliding door in the bathroom (either the shower is open or the toilet!) Still, this is uber modern and chic and I am just a bit too much the wrong side of thirty. I also had a bit of a challenge getting out onto the balcony. And I was sober. Still, gizmos apart, this is a very elegant hotel. It's good for the conference centre area (a taxi ride) and is a little walk from the sea, but it is a bit out of town too. Very nice non alcoholic cocktails in the bar, a very good breakfast too.