Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel

I recently had a 5 night stay here in a junior suite whose cost is right up there with some of the most expensive hotels in Europe. Unfortunately the only decent thing I can say about this place was that the suite was nice - two lounge rooms, huge bathroom & comfy bed. Everything else about the place was terrible.

The bad experience began before I even got to the hotel! 2 weeks before I was due to arrive I had booked a car to pick me up from the airport & had several emails from the hotel to confirm the details. After getting through customs & picking up my bag I came to the arrival hall to discover that there was no one there to meet me. The flight was delayed from London so there could be no reason why the driver should have been late. I phoned the hotel & was told that they were trying to locate the driver but in the meantime I should take a taxi & they would pay for it. Unfortunately I didn't get a receipt from the taxi driver & therefore they couldn't reimburse me. And they now maintained that they had no records to show that I had booked a driver in the first place. Later, after I had the emails faxed to me, their response was, "So what would you like us to do? Get the manager?". I explained that if this were my business I would be very concerned that my staff were confirming arrangements via email which were then mysteriously disappearing. They didn't really seem to care.

Upon being shown to my suite my suitcase was dropped off inside the door & the porter left. No explanation of the room was given, no information about the hotel was offered & I wasn't asked if I had any questions (which of course I did). This is really not the sort of arrival one expects from a supposed 5 star luxury hotel.

For the first few nights there was no turn down service. As I had never been to Spain before I thought that maybe they don't do that in this country, which I thought rather odd. It was very warm in Barcelona & if one showers upon waking & then showers again before dinner you're left with damp towels for the next morning. However, on the last 2 nights of my stay there was a turn down service. This kind of inconsistency is just not acceptable. And as I've mentioned the towels - they were thin & cheap. They left white fluff all over your skin & in your hair & if they got near to your clothes they left white fluff all over them too. At over USD550.00 a night I really expect something better.

One late morning in the cafe/bar I waited over 25 minutes for a toasted ham & cheese sandwich which arrived cold & was delivered by a waitress who obviously experiences difficulty in being polite or in smiling. Here I can say something good about the room service - it was prompt, indeed 3 times as fast as getting something to eat in the bar, & the food was hot when it arrived.

I attempted to use the Guest Services desk to find out about some places in Barcelona & how to get to them. The woman who dealt with me could not speak English & ended up by just giving me the local tourist map (which is available in the room) & pointed the way to the tourist bus stop. My idea of a concierge guest service varies greatly from theirs.

By this point in time I had decided that the best way to deal with this hotel was just to sleep there & try to avoid the staff & the restaurant & bar. However, trying to have an afternoon siesta in my room was not possible. The floors are wooden with carpets so someone with heels on in the room above managed to ensure that a nap was out of the question. My room also faced the inner courtyard which is basically a stone canyon surrounded by 3 other office buildings. They had functions in the courtyard right beneath my suite - you can imagine how the noise reverberates. Then one day there was someone out there with a loud speak & they used it for 40 minutes! Granted I could close off the bed area with sliding doors on all sides but then you block off the airconditioning vents from the bed area - essentially sleeping in a box with no windows & no fresh air.

Finally, when I was checking out of the hotel I presented the clerk with my list of what I had used from the mini-bar for my last night. She asked me if this is what I had had over my entire stay. I confess to being somewhat confused as the mini-bar was re-stocked everyday. It transpired that they had no record of anything I had used from the mini bar & she felt that it was somehow my responsibility to have kept an accurate daily record despite the fact that someone had entered the room everyday & re-stocked. I explained that in all the hotels I have stayed in all over the world I had never heard of such a thing & if they didn't keep records then that was their problem & certainly not mine. Incredibly she thought this rather amusing!