Turismo Urbano

My German friends stayed here last summer, and I told the owner I’d leave them a good review. The managers were helpful and knew the city well. It’s a nice hotel in central Barcelona, with friendly staff and quiet surroundings. You can reach anywhere in the city in under 20 minutes on foot, and the rooms stay cool even in very hot summer weather. For the price, it’s a very good deal. The one drawback is there’s no nearby parking, so you’ll need to use public transport.

The location is great, and there’s a shared terrace plus two shared fridges. That’s about where the good points end for me. The owner only takes cash, payable on arrival, so make sure you bring it. The rooms feel old and need work. Matte glass doors let voices through from other rooms. Our window had a hole patched with tape and paper, and the wooden shutters were so worn and broken they wouldn’t close properly. I worried they’d break more whenever I touched them, and street noise came straight in. Even the fan was partly broken. The bathroom was the worst part. The sink shifted because it wasn’t properly fixed to the wall, and the shower was slippery with nowhere to hold the shower head. The toilet flush didn’t work properly. The owner told us to put everything, including toilet paper, in a bin beside it. Flushing made a terrible noise, so at night you had to avoid it if you didn’t want to wake your roommates. The same noise kept coming and going while the shower ran, about five seconds of noise and ten seconds of silence. When my sister showered early one morning, she woke all of us. There’s no soap, shampoo, or toothpaste, and you have to ask the owner for the hairdryer each time. The Wi-Fi didn’t work.

At 4am we discovered our bed was full of bed bugs, and we had to call the police to get our money back. The room was awfully dirty, the place felt disgusting, the Wi-Fi didn’t work, and there were no directions to help us find it. The staff and welcome were terrible too. This was the worst place I’ve ever stayed. Even on a budget, it’s not worth risking your health or your holiday. Save your money.

The staff don’t speak English, and they only take cash. The elevator is sometimes broken, and there are no facilities at all, not even hand soap. Our room was dirty with poor air circulation. The fan was broken, and the replacement fan was broken too. Don’t waste your money here.