Barcelona
Barcelona blogs
HotelChatter
Oh Barcelona, you’re pretty n all, but we could do without your mañana mañana attitude spoiling our hotel plans. First the W pushed back its opening date no less than three times, and now it’s the turn of the Mandarin Oriental.
Last time we checked, the hotel was due to open on October 29. But when we hadn't heard any fanfare today, and checked out the hotel’s website to find the calendar showing “no availability”, we smelt a rat.
So we just called Mandarin Oriental’s PR people, and they told us the hotel is scheduled to open on 26 November. So that’s delay number one. But we’re expecting a delay number two,
HotelChatter
<
Last time we looked, the W Barcelona wasn’t going down so well with its clients. But then that was after opening weekend, nearly a month ago. Is it time to give it another chance?
The Independent reviewed it this weekend and, going by the review, it'd seem the “abysmal” service and “no edgy people” may have been teething problems.
The hotel is “nothing if not striking”, they say, and the pool is “bracingly cool” (we're assuming that's in a literal sense - it's nearly November, after all). The views from the 26th-floor Eclipse bar, meanwhile, are “bewitching”.
HotelChatter
We may love us some hotels, but research into accommodations in a destination usually includes looking at alternatives like temporary stay apartments as well, especially when we sit tight in the same city for over a week. Contemporary design usually wins us over as well, since isn't the point of paying so much to stay in a nice place to not be surrounded by your usual clutter? For this reason, we totally know where we're headed next time we're in Barcelona: The MUJI Whotells buildings in the Raval, Eixample and Barceloneta quarters.
The collection of temporary stay apartments, managed and outfitted like hotel suites gone native, occupy refurbished designer apartment buildings and offer 1,2 and 3-bedroom apartments
HotelChatter
Oh dears. We really hate to say this, but could it be that with all the hype around W Barcelona and its foxy building, they forgot to work on the foxy W vibe?
Barcelona resident Pulso BCN alerted us to the fact that there could be a problem with his comment here. He stopped by on Thursday, which should have been banging, seeing as it was the first night, but although it had a nice-looking pool, he wasn’t feeling it. “Maybe the W hipness is in crates stuck in Spanish customs,” he reckons. On his Twitter feed he went further: ”No glam opening, no edgy people, just a bunch of staffers running
HotelChatter
Temperature: 77 degrees. Weather: partly cloudy. Time: to check in to the W Barcelona.
Western Europe’s first W, and the snazzily-numbered 33rd in the world, has opened its doors today. The Bliss therapists are unwinding tense muscles right now, the Eclipse staff are girding cocktail glasses with sugar, and the head honchos must be breathing a big sigh of relief that its third predicted opening date has finally come through. And right now, that pool must be looking a little less peaceful.
HotelChatter
The pillows have been fluffed, the loungers have been wiped down, and the water features are in place - W Barcelona finally opens its doors tomorrow.
There are still rooms available for EUR 280 ($411/£255) if you fancy an off the cuff trip. To persuade you, the temperature is currently a balmy 22 degrees centigrade, although it’s a bit cloudy – let’s hope the sky clears by tomorrow morning!
Don’t worry if you can’t make it though - the opening party will be in “early 2010” according to the hotel. Let’s hope that doesn’t mean they’re worried about opening month glitches. In the mean time, here’s another picture from its Facebook photo album. We fully
HotelChatter
There are still six days to go till it opens, but the folk at W Barcelona have stuck up some sneak peek photos on their Facebook page. The teases!
Up top is the the sundeck at the Altitude Terrace. Then there’s the WET Deck (loving the water all over the place)
HotelChatter
We’ve waited and waited and now we’ve only got seven days of waiting left: W Barcelona opens a week today. According to the hotel, everything is on track for the opening, and it’s even sent us some pictures to prove it. Now, these look CGI to us, so we’re hoping the real thing is just as good. If it is, they’re going straight in our drool bag. In the mean time here’s what we’re most looking forward to.
The Wet Deck (above). Note how it seems to have plastic/glass walls to stop you plunging into the Med. Scary, but popular, we’re thinking. We’re also thinking about that pool – it’s 26 degrees out there
Jaunted - The Travel Guide In Real-Time
If only we had a dime for every time we've flashed our bra at the airport security check, we'd have just about enough to buy a stick of gum. And you know why? Because we are not Gwyneth Paltrow, who apparently decided that the weather in Barcelona was cold enough to wear a scarf, but so hot that a handkerchief of a tank top would do for the flight home.
Alas, the tank top didn't do very well, and now pictures of Paltrow not only looking haggard at the checkpoint are out on the web, but they include her flesh-colored bra, which, unless you do a double-take, looks like fully nude side-boobage. We're going to jot this down in our no-nos list of in-flight fashion, for obvious reasons. Also, doesn't that scarf kind of look like a neck brace until you see the whole picture?
HotelChatter
Wow. Seems like "mañana mañana" may not be the way the Spaniards do things anymore. Or not in Barcelona, because the W is still set to open October 1*, and, as we just found out, you can even make reservations for one of the 473 rooms.
The promised “endless sea and city views” sound good, right? Well, if you want to experience them, you’ll have to start saving your pennies. The cheapest room (a Wonderful one) is currently going for EUR 240, or $344, excluding tax. Want a suite? That’ll be EUR 580, or $831. Let’s hope it’s worth it.
*Let’s just forget this is their third opening date, and give them the benefit
