This is my second stay at the Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel. I have stayed in two other hotels in Barcelona, but I still prefer the Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel, because the rooms are very clean and comfortable. Modern decor.

At first the hotel appears very grand and impressive, but I have to say that for a 5 star hotel, it was not entirely what I expected. Overall, I enjoyed my stay, but certain things could have been better.

LOCATION

The hotel is right by the Mediterranean Sea. Not many rooms get a full view of the sea. However, it is ideally located near the Barcelonetta restaurant area as well as the famous Las Ramblas street. Definitely convenient for visiting the tourist destinations as well as restaurants. In fact, the Bus Turistic stop is just right outside the hotel entrance.

FOOD

Barcelona has so many great restaurants that I never ate at the hotel. As such, I have no comment on this subject.

SERVICE

The service is not bad at all. But to be honest, for a 5 star establishment, the service could be pushed to an even higher standard. Many times I would ask the concierge to help with my dinner reservations. And many times they were not able to help me because they could not find the phone number on the internet or because they could not get through to the restaurant. I would expect a 5 star hotel to get my reservation taken care of, no matter what.

CLEANLINESS

The hotel is VERY clean and comfortable.

ROOM & AMENITIES

The room is very spacious and the amenities are complete. It is exactly what you would expect of a 5 star hotel.

PARKING & INTERNET

There is free wireless internet by the concierge desk. Parking is available for a fee in the communal parking lot (shared with the World Trade Center).

Stayed here for one night in July, during the Fashion week in Barcelona - place full of very fashion conscious people!! I rate it with a '3' here because, for a 5 Star hotel it was just average.
On presenting ourselves at reception we knew we were in a 'cool' hotel - thanks to the frosty reception we received. In fact it was more than frosty it was aggressive. When we eventually got to the room (having had to endure the endless telephone conversations of our particular receptionist) we were pleased with the room. It faced the city and was well laid out and the balcony was a pleasant space to stand and watch the world go by. I have stayed in a number of 5 Star hotels and the mini-bar is usually very expensive but this one was outrageous - a litre of water would set you back €12 (33cl. bottles for €4) a mars bar for €4.5 - simply crazy, when asked at check-out if I had taken anything from the mini-bar, all I could do was smile and shake my head. The bar area is so huge it lacks any personality whatever. The staff there so cool they were almost frozen! The prices, however, were enough to burn a hole in a wallet. Would I stay here again - highly unlikely, I can do without frostbite in July!!

This hotel was ideally located for us on a four day family first visit to Barcelona. The tourist bus stops outside; as does the cross-harbour cable car. There were always plenty of taxis. The bedroom was excellent. The staff were friendly and helpful.

We were lucky to have a room facing the city and inner harbour otherwise we would have been looking out on the courtyard of the World Trade Centre which would not have been inspiring. The downside of the port view was the noise of the docked ships until quite late at night when they seemed to depart.

The hotel does lack atmosphere. It could just as easily be a modern office complex. The bar food menu is very limited and over-priced. The breakfast buffet was fine but I've had better in 4* and some 3* hotels. It's the first hotel I've ever stayed in that couldn't respond to a request for ice cream!

Having said all that, we enjoyed our stay, and would probably go back.

I stayed at this hotel with my husband who was on a business trip.

It looks very central, but is actually quite a walk from the cafes bars and shops (circa 1 mile) as you have to go along a long promenade before getting to the harbourside.

Good points:
Our room was very clean and tidy with a great bathroom. It's very quiet at the hotel, even with functions taking place. They have a nice open-plan bar area.

Room service is excellent - very quick, courteous and reasonable.

The staff are all highly professional and nice-mannered.

The breakfast buffet is comprehensibly excellent - whatever you like, you will find it is available. And they provide international copies of newspapers if you fancy a read over your croissant.

Downsides:

The pool and gym area were a little disappointing for this class of hotel. The outside pool was closed while we were there, but is tiny anyway. There is a jacuzzi, but as it's in the gym equipment area, it's not exactly the most relaxing place to lounge.

The gym is pretty good and well-equipped.

There is little atmosphere and you're in the middle of a 'dead' business plaza with quite a walk to a good tapas bar.

Generally, I recommend dinner at Botafumeira which was quite frankly superb.