I spent five nights at Hotel Derby last month and was very pleased with my stay. The room and bathroom were clean and well taken care of. The room was simply but attractively decorated and the staff was helpful and spoke at least some English. I had a few random complaints (there was no clock in the room, the room only had one tiny trash can) but they would not deter me from returning to the hotel again.

Be advised: the hotel is about a ten minute walk to the nearest metro station. In the morning this was fine, but in the afternoon/evening after a long day of sightseeing my boyfriend and I were exhausted and it would have been nice to be closer to a metro stop, especially since the walk back to the hotel slopes uphill slightly. The neighborhood was not lacking in anything and it felt safe, but it is slightly outside of the city center, and is not the most active district in Barcelona.

Hotel Derby is a very quiet hotel, which is a positive as we had no noise from the streets or within the hotel itself. The nearest metro station is a 10 minute stroll away and from there only 2 or 3 stops to get you to the main station and famous land marks such as La Rambla. This means that the prices in cafes/bars/restaurants are not too high due to the location been away from the main attractions. There are a few restaurants nearby including well known chains of starbucks, kfc and subway within a 5 minute walk. The hotel is a good 3 star, but not a 4 star. There is a cafe/bar next door and a computer in reception for internet access, but that is all the facilities that are available. Rooms are small, but clean and room service is good. Breakfast is ok. Checking in and out only took 5 minutes and staff were helpful. I would go back but would try another hotel next time.

I stayed in Derby with my wife for a week in lovely Barcelona and just returned couple of days ago. The hotel was great generally, I'll share below my experience:

The arrival to the hotel wasn't very easy because all the types of transportation that I knew before travelling was either go to Sants station by train from Terminal 2 in the airport and walk for not less than 20 minutes to the hotel, or from Sants take the metro to Hospital Clinic station which is also 15 - 20 minutes walk, or last option would be taking Aerobus to Plaza Espanya or Plaza Catalunya and take anything to the hotel (which I didn't know). I chose taking the metro to Hospital Clinic, but still it was a bit tiring to walk for 20 minutes with your luggage, yet the location of the hotel is easy to find, you'll find it on the map clearly. After spending the week in Barcelona I figured out that there were easier ways to reach the hotel than the above ways:
1- Take the Aerobus from the airport (ticket 5.30 EUR) to Plaza Espanya and either take a taxi (around 10 EUR with your luggage) or take a bus from Plaza Espanya that goes to Josep Taradellas street, and ask the driver about the nearest station (I can't remember the name)
2- Take the train from Terminal 2 at the airport to Sants Station and from there take a taxi or a bus that goes to Josep Taradellas street

Checking in was seamless, it took us only 15 minutes and the guy at the reception assigned us a smoking room in the only smoking floor (second floor)

First impression on the room was that it was too small and very clean, but actually we didn't face a problem with the size of the room after putting our luggage away from the passage in the room. Bed was too small, I guess it was smaller than a queen size bed. Bathroom was very good and spacious. The room had a small TV with very bad location in the room not viewable easily from the bed, but who will need a TV while staying in Barcelona? View was very bad from the room, so actually we didn't pull the curtains across our entire stay. Room had a safety box, and free WiFi which worked fine. Sometimes I could hear other people talking in the rooms next to me, but that was very occasionally.

Rooms were cleaned daily, and toileteers were provided and towels were changed. So room service was very good.

Staff in the reception were more than helpful, they were not bored from tourist's too many question, always helped in directions and recommended attractions, city map was always available with them to explain to you all what you need.

Breakfast was ok, for me it wasn't superb as I don't eat pork so my options were few, yet all food tasted really good.

Location of the hotel is in a quite area, very close to several bus stops that can take you anywhere in the city, journey to Plaza Espanya is 10 minutes, to Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas 15 - 20 minutes, but as I said it's not very near to a metro station so you better rely on buses for your transportations. There are many bars, cafe's and supermarkets around the hotel. On your way back with the bus it's a 5 minutes walk to the hotel, and even if you'll catch the night buses they stop in a very close bus stop around 5 mintes walk as well.

So generally I liked the hotel a lot, but for me I would prefer if I stayed in a closer hotel to a metro station to avoid the busy streets during the buses journey.

The hotel is quite high level (deserves 4 stars). Good service, attention to customer's needs, good laundry service and VERY GOOD BREAKFAST. Unfortunately the room they gave me was very small, quite noisy and with an awful view. Area is OK, residential but a little bit out of the center.