The best two things about this place are the price (at least in our case - reserved it on booking.com) and the location - in the middle of everything on la Rambla and Gothic Quarter. The rooms are old and tiny with what seems to be vintage furniture (a queen size bed with surprisingly comfy mattress and clean sheets and a chair) but get cleaned daily. You do have to haul your luggage up the stairs before you check in, but on the other hand they have elevator that runs to floor 0, halfway down those stairs. They use old-fashioned metal keys, no hi-tech here, and you have to leave it at the front desk when you venture out to explore this magnificent city.
Even though the room seemed pretty clean we did find three cucarachas in the bathroom on day four of our stay. The guy at the front desk was genuinely concerned about the issue and promised to do everything needed to make our time there comfortable - have cleaning personnel spray our room with what smelled like Off and possibly move us to another room - which wasn't necessary since most likely the whole place had those little creatures.
Speaking of bathrooms - not all rooms in this building had private ones, there was a shared bathroom on our floor.
Another thing about this place we weren't too crazy about - paper-thin walls and doors with absolutely no soundproof. We could hear people talk at the front desk, in hallways and rooms. So for light sleepers this would be a major deal breaker.
Considering the price we would probably ignore all these issues and stay here again. The proximity to major tourist areas and attractions, as well as public transportation and places to dine - makes this hostal (do they mean - hotel??) a relatively, somewhat decent lodging option in Barcelona. read more