Ohla Hotel Barcelona

Overall, I enjoyed my stay at Ohla in Feb 2012. There are several reasons why I think this should not be rated a 5 star hotel though. 1. We had booked a Junior Suite and was given a room on the third floor. While we are from NYC and used to street noise, the low floor and poor insulation made for a tremendous amount of noise at night. Additionally, you can hear and feel the Metro underneath. Asked to switch rooms after the first night and was accommodated to a new room on the 4th floor the next day. The new room was minimally better in terms of noise, but a lot larger. I don't think there should be this much discrepancy in the size of the room when they are both suppose to be junior suites. I would not consider any of the x06 rooms suites. 2. Concierge - While they were all nice and helpful, they lacked some basic knowledge. I had asked to book some day trips to outer Barcelona and was told only the Montserrat trip was running and was told to go to the central tourist information in placa de catalunya. I thought the point of a concierge at a five star hotel was to take care of this for me. Not being satisfied, I did a brief (5 minute) google search and found a travel site with an office 3 blocks from the hotel that offered day trips to not only Montserrat, but Sitges, Costa Brava, Pyrennes, etc. The concierge should be able to find these things out for me and not blatantly tell me no day tours exists. The good: 1. While there were problems with noise, the location in the heart of Central Barcelona, within walking distance of Placa de Catalunya and Las Ramblas is hard to beat. Other Comments: 1. Tried Sauc, the 1 Michelin star restaurant in the hotel. The ambience is lacking with low ceilings (secondary to it's Mezzanine location). Food is average. 2. Breakfast was average to a little above average. Can't really go wrong with breakfast. Conclusion: While the location in the heart of the city was good and allowed for easy access to most sites, I would likely stay elsewhere on a return trip to Barcelona. Hotels such as the Mandarin Oriental and Hotel Arts de Barcelona are only minimally more expensive. The Mandarin Oriental has an equally good location. If Ohla hotel fixed the noise issue and knowledgebase of their concierge staff, I would consider them an above average 4 star hotel.

Very good location on Laeitana, just the right distance from the Ramblas. Within walking distance of most of old Barcelona and a quick subway ride to almost any site. Ah, yes, the subway: be prepared to the subway vibrations which we were only aware of at night when the traffic died down. If you're a light sleeper or demand complete silence while you sleep, you should bring some earplugs (as my wife did), or maybe just book a nice vacation in the country... The hotel staff could not have been nicer or more accommodating. We rendezvous-ed with our two adult children (20 & 22), so we booked two rooms. We received a surprise visit from our nephew who was studying in southern France and the hotel staff were able to accommodate both him and his car (for a very reasonable price) with no previous notice (cot in my kids room). I view this as beyond the call of duty. The staff were also very helpful and patient with my Spanish. I realize that they all spoke good English, but they patiently worked through all of my requests and transactions in Spanish (which I interpreted as very mature and accommodating). The rooms were well though-out and comfortable. Great mattresses, pillows and linens. We didn't try the in hotel one star Michelin rated restaurant, but we ate twice in the tapas bar/restaurant adjacent to the lobby. Without a doubt, these were the best tapas we had during the four days we were in Barcelona. Very reasonable prices (38-50 euros/person, wine, beer, and plenty of food). Last, but not least was the roof pool/sun deck. Very good views. Excellent beverage/food service. Good music/good fun. Very relaxing! Nice place to escape the street hustle and bustle. Would do this trip again, and again...

hotel was in good location, but rooms were too small and too plain. the hotel needs some color if it strives to be so trendy. they should learn from the W hotels who have mastered that brand.