AC Hotels are a chain of Hotels, styled under the Autograph Collection branding, owned by Marriott. Having stayed at Marriot hotels before, and this hotel being recently refurbished since AC taken it over, I had high hopes but sadly those hopes were just hopes.
I called in my hotel, late in the evening and after a poor flight and awful experience at BCN Airport, I wanted to get settled into my room, only to be told, I hadn't got one, they hadn't listened to my request, eventually after some struggle with the language barrier and room, I managed to find one.
The room was okay, it was a decent size however the beds were not very comfortable, they were single beds, despite asking for king size beds, so this is the first case where the website was wrong, making my trip more uncomfortable.
In my room, there was a large TV but all that could be shown was mainly Spanish channels and the only channels they had in English seemed to be non-English channels such as BBC's Worldwide, Russia Today and CNN.
The prices around the hotel also was quite expensive, such as for drinks etc.
The wifi was decent, however it kept losing connection.
The hotel staff were rude, certainly not very helpful and I doubt they had any training in hospitality, they left me to get the heavy door everytime I went in and out, even when I had bags, and it even took another customer to get the door for me, meanwhile the concierge and staff looked quite frustrated at them, like they wanted to watch the customer struggle.
On the penultimate night of my stay, I ended up getting into a dispute with the room next store, with a crying baby which was crying non-stop for an amount of time, and I asked for a quiet room so I couldn't really understand why they'd put me in an adjoining room with such thin walls, you could hear the room next store and even the hallway...
The housekeeping also seemed rude, my room was dirty, it also seemed inconvenient to me when they came out, for example they'd often knock on, after I'd been out for hours to clean my room, and then refuse to clean it while I am there, perhaps this is because they spend just minutes cleaning my room, yes it was clean when I first came into it, but there even was stains and marks which lasted the room, it felt dirty and unkept, perhaps all they did was change the bedding (or at least make the bed) and every two days they'd change the coffee machine?
One good thing about the room was the Nespresso Coffee Machine but they try to limit you to three per day, with free bottled water every two days and only two little sachets of milk, which is quite poor, forcing you to go out and buy. I eventually had to walk about 2 or 3 minutes away to get some Nespresso pods due to the small amount and lack of choice they had here, which included a pod which was far too strong, and another one which was decaf, and another one which was okay, just okay.
The location was decent, in the L'illa Shopping centre, close to various shops and even a Starbucks, It even was within walking distance, albeit a long walk of the Nou Camp, which I found useful when I attended Barcelona's Champions League fixture, where they drew 0-0 with Juventus.
I didn't try Breakfast here, so I can't comment on that, however, I was once again pressured into buying it on my first night by the pricetag, I was told i must buy it now, on the day of my arrival, for every night of my stay otherwise if I ever wanted it, it would be double and I found this to be frustrating and rude that they would pressure sell in such a manner, I remained strong, like I hope David Davis will be with Brexit talks and refused to pay, I ended up going to the Hilton, just a 5-10 minute walk away down the same road (Avingua Diagonal) this hotel is on, and I ended up having a much better breakfast, which would have worked out cheaper too.
The bar area didn't have a nice atmosphere, I managed to relax and watch Atletico Madrid versus Leicester City there, but the prices for a drink was also very expensive, it cost around 12 euro as I recall for a coca cola and vodka, and it not only taken a long time to be served, but it took a long time to get my drink and change.
To summarize this hotel really lets its-self and the Marriott brand down as everything it has good, they have something to make it bad, such as the coffee machine with lack of things to go with it, the TV with very very few English channels, a big room but one that is unclean and has small beds, wifi but wifi that disconnects so it is a real shame, while also considering the prices for other aspects, even the water in the hotel and especially the rude service, this is a hotel I certainly would far from recommended and feel deserves not just a one star review but it deserves to be the newest member of my "Avoid at all costs" list, I'm sorry to report as my bad record with hotels outside of the UK goes on, which is something I hope to end in the Summer as I travel to Berlin's five-star Hilton hotel. read more