Gallery Hotel, Barcelona Spain – Hotel Walkthrough
It was my first time in Barcelona and I cannot express how memorized I was with the experience. The capitol of Catalonia, this urban area is a mixture of old Roman buildings, designs by Antoni Gaudi and some pretty impressive graffiti. But my focus is on a hotel in the heart of Barcelona – the Gallery Hotel.
Going in December means an average high of 55-60 degrees (12-14 Celsius) but a lot of rain. In the week I was there it was only sunny 2 of the days. Coming from a wintery area, the rain smelled more like spring to me and I was fine with that.
About the Gallery Hotel
The Gallery Hotel is found down the street of one of the major shopping areas in Barcelona on Carrer del Rosselló and only a block from the subway (Metro Station). This six-story hotel features an outdoor pool-bar, weight room, conference area and continental breakfast with eggs, various meats, cheeses, fruits and pastries.
Gallery Hotel also offers a sauna with solarium (shower), massage sessions, patio garden on the ground floor in a courtyard design, and business center to get work done. There is even an Oyster bar, which I did not partake.
Hotel Walkthrough at Gallery Hotel
Rooms are pretty average in size with a 12×12 main area, bathroom, TV and some rooms overlook the streets of Barcelona. The bathroom features a shower with adjustable height head, makeup mirror, hotel supplied amenities such as toothpaste, toothbrush, comb, hair drier and more. Of course, the bathroom also has a modern bidet – douchette for those who don’t use toilet paper.
Spain uses the AC-20 plug outlet, so pack plenty of adapters. You can use a two-prong or three-prong adapter with almost any US plug. The two prong adapters hang down for the ground to touch in a grounded plug. Nonetheless, you can get a AC-20 USA to Spain Plug Adapter at Amazon.
Floors are all hardwood in the main area and tiled in the bathroom. Doors had full exit plans in 4 different languages but no peep-hole. Plenty of shelf space for clothes, but no iron in the room.
The twin beds are together to create a King bed. Larger pillows with a throw and chocolates on the bed make for an inviting and relaxing experience. The rooms also have 2 chairs – one by the business desk and a more comfortable sitting chair – a mini bar with favorite drinks, personal safe and robe / slippers for lounging.
The Samsung Smart LED TV was very impressive in the room. Best part was all ports were accessible and could be used. At times I used the 2 USB ports to charge devices since I only had a couple adapters. The Smart TV wasn’t connected to the internet and no apps were loaded.
Awesome Perks at the Gallery Hotel
To save luggage space, I had clothes laundered. The prices were pretty comparable to US hotel laundries, but instead of bagged return, your clothes were put into a wicker basket and laid on your bed by the end of day.
Since we were there for the rainy season, the hotel placed umbrellas on your door with a note asking for its return when done. I definitely used that umbrella a few times in the week.
The key system is just that – a key. When you arrive at the hotel, you obtain your key. When you go out shopping or for dinner, you leave that key with the concierge. Pick it up on the way back.
Gallery Hotel’s continental breakfast is a flavor explosion of foods. Their hot bar featured eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes with a sidebar of various meats and Bree cheese. The fruit bar had Kiwi, pineapple, oranges, fruit cheese and fresh squeezed juice. Finally, a full array of pastries including chocolate doughnuts.
Cons at the Gallery Hotel
The biggest problem for travel in the past was Internet connection. In the US I have been able to tackle that problem with alternate Wifi, but going out of the country meant those methods were not available. Therefore, I had to rely on hotel Wifi to keep my data roaming charges low.
The Gallery Hotel’s Wifi is probably one of the worst I ever experienced. The system drops packets and resets frequently. The system requires you to logon, but every time you disconnect, the server forgets your device. Whereas laptops and some tablets could remember the username and password, I had to re-type the credentials on my phone multiple times.
Prices at the minibar and snack tray in the room were high, but no different than in the US. The room was on the honor system and you had to cover charges at the end of your stay.
Overall Stay at Gallery Hotel in Barcelona, Spain
The stay was awesome. Coming in I had major jet-lag and the curtains in the room kept 99% of the light out of the room so I could catch up. The TV included radio stations – since I didn’t know spanish I could find channels on radio and TV that I could understand.
Speaking of which, the front desk was able to speak Spanish, English and French to a degree of communication. I found a lot of Barcelona was tri-dialect, which made me feel guilty that I didn’t know any Spanish. The rooms are clean and the external sounds from other rooms were not heard as much (besides a bump of the wall) – I don’t remember hearing a cleaning crew or vacuum during the whole stay.
Prices are reasonable but more expensive in certain seasons. The food was awesome and my needs were always met or surpassed. An awesome experience my first time in Barcelona.