I stayed at Hilton Diagonal Mar during my August 2024 trip to Barcelona. After being loyal to Hilton for a good number of years, being a Diamond Hilton Honors member at peak, and currently a Gold member, my experience here has seriously made me consider my loyalty and going towards another hotel chain.
The location of the hotel isn't the best for the city - it's advertised as being a short metro ride away but I was told the metro station was closed during my stay, so I had to walk to a tram stop, and then change to get onto the Metro.
I'd say the location is better suited to families who want a beach holiday, a hotel with a pool, with facilities nearby - the shopping centre across the way and being close enough to the city - not for a city break.
From start to finish - my experience here was simply unsatisfactory and it started at a check-in desk, due to a slight issue with the name on my Hilton Honors account, they originally were reluctant to let me check in, and did so on the basis that I would not get my Hilton Honors benefits, this is despite adding the name on my ID onto my reservation and never having an issue at Hilton properties before when travelling in the UK, in Europe and further afield. Despite booking an Executive Room, I was denied access to the lounge because of this discrepancy.
The staff seemed to be rude throughout my stay - communication was difficult. I understand there is a language barrier when in Spain, but the staff members refused to read what I had translated for them when they were having difficulty understanding my issue.
The elevators in the hotel are awful - you press a button from the outside with the floor you'd like to go in, and it loudly announces your floor and plays a short chain of music, which can be heard in the rooms. They were also slow and overcrowded, despite having four lifts, it felt like they all wouldn't be used at once.
I ended up booking two rooms - we had issues with both. In my room, the window would not fully close so the room would have a draft and noise from outside, I had to change rooms late in the evening, originally the plan was to go into a different room for a single night and then change back to my old room once it was fixed. After spending the night in the new room, I asked if I could just stay there to avoid going back and forward as I didn't trust them to fix the issue with the window - instead, they communicated on the phone to "try and fix the issue" even though I just asked to stay in the room - I felt ignored.
There was also noise from corridors and a loud family next to my room. Unsupervised Children would mess about with the lifts and water machine (No bottled water in rooms, you're provided with a reusable bottle to refill yourself). I didn't sleep well because of the noise.
I was promised they would come early in the morning to repair the window in my old room as the plan was to go back there - in the end, it's a good job I insisted on staying in the new room as the issue wasn't fixed when I returned to claim the last of my stuff.
I stayed at the hotel with family, the air-conditioning in their room would not work, which certainly is not what you want in the Barcelona heat and they had similar issues trying to get a repair.
Both the physical and digital keys would be inconsistent - my physical key would often flash orange and not let me into my room - meaning up and down the noisy, slow lift. On one occasion, the lift wouldn't allow me to go to the Ground Floor, so I had to go to the second floor, and walk down the fire exit steps - not good for those with disabilities!
The facilities inside the room were fine - basic tea and coffee-making facilities, the desk and the bed were reasonably comfortable. There was a US plug socket at the desk which I understand can be useful for Americans - but it certainly isn't useful for non-US travellers who won't have brought the right adapter!
The Breakfast selection was insane - they had so much stuff, but again limited to gluten-free. I think they worked on quantity over quality, it wasn't good - the eggs were inedible and had a strange aftertaste and the omelette was also poor.
The swimming pool was not cleaned well - walking around the seats would be stained with sunscreen and chewing gum. It just felt careless. The lobby was reasonably impressive though and had some seating, they had free water available sometimes (It wasn't always replaced) and a drip coffee machine (which you must pay for in a tiny paper cup).
One thing I love about Hilton is when things go wrong, they always tend to try their best to make it right on the property, but things certainly went wrong here and the staff were just rude and careless. It was a huge let-down.
I should have been happy and relaxed on holiday but they made this such a stressful experience. Hilton Diagonal Mar doesn't even deserve the Hilton name. 1* read more