Hotel Ciutat Vella Barcelona

This hotel opened on Sept 17, 2007, so we were among the first guests of the week. We were happy to stumble upon it while scouting hotels as our apt stay (booked through GoBCN- to be commented on another post) was unexpectedly cancelled upon arrival and we were stuck without a place to stay - this during the La Merce festival, Barcelona's biggest of the year. It's like trying to find a hotel in Times Square on New Year's Eve! There were vacancies because the hotel was 1. new, and 2. not ready for guests. How new? The hotel towels were straight from the factory, and therefore not washed, and therefore pilling all over you after your shower. How not ready? For the entire week we were there (Sept 21 to 28), we slept without a proper blanket or comforter - they hadn't arrived yet. It got chilly at night and they gave us a fleece throw (supplied by the sister hotel, Ciutat Barcelona Hotel, in lime green; the colour scheme here is red, black and white), could only spare one, and we were still cold. Another drawback is that the double beds are two singles adjoined, which hasn't bothered us at other hotels as much, but here the linens are also made up separately, so you have to fish out the sheets in order to sleep together as a couple, and fall through if you lie in the middle. Otherwise the beds are hard and firm, so-so quality foam pillows. One of the best qualities of the hotel is its location, very close to Las Ramblas, and so while you can hear the street noise somewhat, it's very walkable to attractions in Bari Gottic, etc. It's designed as a clean and stylish hotel (but not so clean as 10 rooms were still under construction, so things like cement drippings not scraped off the linoleum floor in our room, etc.). And, most importantly, the room safe not securely bolted to the floor.
I never travel with much cash, but we were coming from Korea with an unfavorable exchange rate, preferred not to use my Canadian visa card, and were unsure if our Korean credit cards would work overseas; as it turns out, mine did, my husband's didn't. So I carried a moneybelt for the first time in my life (like everyone, have heard of Barcelona's petty theft problems, and when witnessing the mass of humanity that Las Ramblas is, can see how your wallet can get separated from your person in the blink of an eye). When I saw the hotel had a safe, I stored the money in there, as explicitly advised by the hotel in a security briefing form given to all guests upon check-in: "Use the Hotel safe and do not leave valuable objects or large amount of cash in your room." There is no central safe at reception - they meant use the safe in the room.
On the third day of our stay, I discovered the contents of our hotel room safe were missing. I couldn't open the lock, my code wasn't working. So the receptionist came up with the master code and unlocked the safe...all gone! 1,700 euros and my husband's passport missing. We were incredibly shocked and shaken. Hours of police report and investigation, the staff were fingerprinted, our room brushed for fingerprints. And it was later discovered that a guest (with a fake Belgian passport and invalid credit card) in the adjoining room had broken in through the terrace into not only our room, but the room on the other side of her room, to steal a bag the day prior. She then came into our room, unbolted the shelving that the safe was bolted to, dragged the shelf (with our safe) into her room, and dragged her shelf and safe into ours. She switched safes! And used the rolling carry-on bag she stole from the other room to carry out the safe!!! Talk about an ingenious crime.
We suffered not only from this theft but also the aftermath, primarily dealing with the hotel manager, who also manages Ciutat Barcelona Hotel, who was not only elusive (he refused to meet us in person, only accessible by telephone through his staff), but evasive about how, when and if we would be compensated. In the end he says he expedited the insurance process so that our euros were returned to us finally on the day of our departure from Barcelona (we were going on to Venice that weekend) rather than waiting out a usually 2 month-long process - and for that we should be grateful, and we are - but would not compensate us for the costs of recovering the passport (my husband's nationality is Korean so, upon going to the consulate in Barcelona to discover it is only an honorary one and doesn't issue passports, we were informed that we'd have to go to Madrid to get a new temporary passport -- we traveled to Madrid by train the next day, a 9 hour+ return trip, another wasted day) - because his insurance would only cover the stolen money, he said.
After the theft, we were shaken enough that we had no energy or appetite to tour the sights (I've wanted to see the Gaudi buildings and Park Guell forever, since I was a teenager, and had planned for months for this trip - my husband himself has one week off in a year, notoriously short Korean vacations, we managed to link two weekends this time - so our vacation time is particularly precious) and we squeezed everything in on our last day. and our belongings never felt secure in the hotel thereafter.
They gave us a cheque compensating us for the lost euros only upon signing a document (in Spanish) that indemnified them against any other claims. We didn't want to sign this document and they said they couldn't give us the cheque. We needed cash at this point, and basically we were blackmailed into signing this document.
To add insult to injury, when we were checking out we were informed that our hotel bill was payable in full ("the robbery is one thing, and the hotel bill is another." When I balked at this, he offered 25% reduction. When I refused, he threatened to call the police for not paying our hotel bill! Unbelievable. (I think any other hotel would be extremely apologetic and offer no charge for the stay - as that night and the next 3 days of our trip were absolutely ruined). I told him we would have gladly paid the entirety of our hotel bill if our trip went just as planned, without such an incident caused by the hotel's negligence (lack of security, flimsy locks, not checking guests properly, not informing guests about room theft) that completely marred our stay in Barcelona. I said we'd pay for the room up until the theft occurred, and that we should be compensated for the costs of recovering my husband's passport. He reiterated that his insurance covered only the lost money (I don't see why this is true; usually insurance would cover the entire contents, no? the guests with the stolen bag would surely receive full reimbursement from the insurance company. i do plan to pursue this further with the hotel but wonder if it will be in vain) and was a real stickler, who didn't take any responsibility or liability himself ("It wasn't our fault, it was a guest. And you were unlucky."). In the end, we had a plane to catch, and paid for the nights up until the robbery and gladly left this hotel.
Incredibly (and this attests to the petty crime problem in Barcelona, an absolutely beautiful city otherwise), the hotel guest in the room on the other side of us got her bag stolen from under her restaurant chair as she was eating dinner. She was alone and shaken, and we accompanied her to the police station so she could file her report. When we returned, the hotel still hadn't fixed her phone connection, as she needed to contact her family and boyfriend in Germany, and appeared all together unsympathetic. I also had problems with the Wi-Fi connection. Before the theft, I found the staff to be fine, and afterwards, they (save the manager) were professional and apologetic over the theft. The manager himself offered the weakest apology the night it occured, and was hard-line thereafter -- it would have meant a lot if he met us face to face. It's the minimum he could have done - a sincere, heartfelt apology - in my opinion.
In all this, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Barcelona police - young, undercover and vigilant) were excellent and thorough - very impressive. We got the whole story about the theft from them, bit by bit, as they uncovered things, not from the hotel, who never gave us any news. As opposed to random pickpocketing (a problem that Barcelona should be working hard to resolve, if they don't want to lose tourists, and it also affects Barcelonins themselves), they treated the crime quite seriously, as it first appeared to be an inside job.
All together, it was an incredibly sad, disappointing and frustrating experience. How the hotel reacted affected things a great deal -- if they were stand up and proper, we could have felt free to actually go out and tour the sights after the incident, knowing they were working hard to recover our loss, instead of feeling even more insecure and victimized.
This hotel was clearly not ready for guests, and opened before they should have, before security was properly established. CCTV cameras would have been helpful, but there is not one at the front entrance, only affixed on the top terrace and at the back of the building. It's a very "night" area, still hopping into the wee hours, and C. Tallers, where the hotel is located, is more brightly lit to deter muggings, and there are 4 star hotels around the corner.
One of the receptionists himself said the hotel was overpriced for a 3 star hotel, although you're paying for location, newness and minimalist style of the hotel. He also said he never walks around with more than 40 euros in his pocket.
There are a wealth of good hotel rooms and apt stay opportunities in Barcelona (and the city itself is fabulous), I would encourage you to seek them out.