Bad experience that consisted of the hotel staff charging me and my grandmother for two double rooms instead of one. Why? A computer mistake that they blamed on us, and proceeded to tell us that "there was nothing they could do" and that "only 'the boss' could fix it", nevertheless, they had charged us for 2 rooms and only gave us the key to one room, the one we used, highly convenient of them. During our brief 24 stay, we talked to 3 staff members about our problem, and even waited the whole morning for a seemingly nonexistent "boss" to arrive. When we left, the charges were still in place and nobody even tried to help us/seemed to care. We were treated mostly as annoying pests rather than paying clients.

I have just returned from a two night stay at the Hotel Cataluna. After reading a few reviews I was slightly anxious about what we may be sleeping in, but it was fine.

Location was great. We took the Aerobus from the airport and it stopped in Plaza Catlunya. From there it was a five minute walk to the hotel. My map reading skills aren't great! It should have been two minutes!! The hotel is on Carrer Santa Anna which is a narrow street lined with shops, a couple of restaurants and bars. It leads directly on to La Ramblas at the far end.

Check in was easy. There were two women on the reception -both spoke excellent English - although I do use basic Spanish, I didn't need to. We had paid in advance anyway, were given the keycard and the breakfast procedure was explained. So we went up to our room to unpack. There is a lift - we didn't use it on the first trip up to floor 3, but the stairs were quite steep so we became lazy and used the lift afterwards.

We were on the third floor - room 307, overlooked Carrer Santa Anna, which was at times quite noisy, but hey - we were in the city centre. the room was quite small, but big enough for us. The sheets and towels were spotless. The bathroom was small but fine - a few toiletries were provided, lots of toilet roll. The cleaners came in on the second day and changed the towels and made the bed.

Breakfast was at the bar/restaurant straight across the street. It was a pastry or two, bread roll and cheese/ham/meat, jam, butter etc. A glass of orange juice and coffee. Adequate as a start to the day.

I would happily recommend this to a friend as a good value, centrally located hotel. If you are looking for a luxurious break then maybe think of somewhere more expensive, but if you are prepared to live for a couple of days in a clean, basic hotel then try this hotel.

When I return to Barcelona I will probably consider staying at Hotel Catalunya again as the location is fantastic.

This hotel was a huge rip off. We paid the equivalent of 100 pounds a night for a very uncomfortable room with no carpet (or any kind of decent flooring), beds with mattresses which seemed to be designed with the sole purpose of PREVENTING sleep with a really wierd hard lump which was supposed to be a pillow. We had no sleep for the four nights we were there. The hotel is very, very noisy- not only due to various things going on outside the hotel late at night and at the crack of dawn but also because there is absolutely ZERO sound proofing and you will hear EVERYTHING through the flimsy walls. At around 7 in the morning you will be woken up with the sound of the wheely beds screetching across the tiled floors in the rooms above you.
The staff are generally hostile towards non- spanish travellers and tend to welcome you with glares when you come in through the entrance door. The breakfast and internet were free but both services left a lot to be desired.
At this price you could really do better!!! Me and my mum actually ended up leaving this horrible place on our fourth night (we had intended to stay a week) and moved to a different hotel. This cost us another 200 pounds, but we were that desperate we decided we had to. Hotel Cataluna offers no refunds so we lost out on about 300 pounds. We moved to a four star hotel (not our usual practice) which was less than 100 a night for a beautiful room, no noise and comfortable beds!!
Staying here ruined our trip. I don't think this is a place suitable for families visiting Spain from other countries. Please consider it carefully, because we didn't! The location was the only good thing, and we were too tired and fed up to even enjoy it!!

I stayed at Hotel Catalunya for 6 days. It was in the perfect location for me as I travelled alone to visit my son in school. It was across the street from Plaza Catalunya which serves as a plaza for relaxing and people watching above ground. Beneath it are entrances for the metro (many of the lines stop here), "I" information tourist office, bus stops for the blue city bus which go to and from the airport for 5 euros and the blue tourist bus for hop on/hop off visiting. At one corner is the largest of the L'Ingles Cortes department stores in the area that has a supermarket downstairs. Another corner is on Las Ramblas, a center unique avenue that has a walking plaza in its center that leads all the way to the seaport area. This hotel is in the Gothic area and streets away from major sights.
My included breakfast was served in a hotel across the street (10 steps away) and consisted of juice, hard roll, sweet roll, pastry, butter, jelly, coffee and a plate of sliced cheese and meat. There is one computer with internet access in a lounge that also has a tv, cold drink machine and hot drink machine. My single room was shockingly small upon my first view. It contained a single bed, night stand, desk and chair, mini refrig, closet with 2 shelves and a safe deposit box. One pays 2 euros a day for its key and use. The bathroom was always clean. The short tub has a hand held shower hanging above that can be removed. The amenities were soap, shampoo pouch and a hair dryer. I had assumed that hair conditioner, shower cap, and hand lotion were provided. The maid kept the windodws open even when it was 30 degrees out. After closing the windows and returning later, I picked up a foul smell from the toilet plumbing that was also evident in the lounge bathroom. Keeping the bathroom window open a bit eliminated the smell. The bed was comfortable, the heat was fine, and the pillow was so perfect for my neck that I went to the department store and bought one like it. I had never seen a narrow pillow like this before.The room had everything I needed and I got over the size issue. Each concierge was very helpful and solved every request I had. The hotel street is a side street. I would describe it as an alley. Most of the city's streets are like this. I wouldn't feel comfortable walking alone there after midnight. There are cafes, restaurants and bakeries on the street as well as another of the department stores, clothing shops, shoe shops, mineral & gems store, pharmacy, makeup/skin care shops, etc. Important: once you use the kepcard to open your door, insert it into the slot on the wall inside. It's what keeps your lights on while you are there. Take it with you when you leave. It you want the heat on while you are gone, ask for another keycard that you could leave in the slot. I felt that spending 750 euros for 5 nights was a bit too much for what I got. Should I return, I would look into the breakfast hotel across the street.I rate this hotel average to poor because of the smell (which I didnt complain about) and for the lack of beauty items which would have made me more comfortable.