W Hotel Barcelona: Don’t Miss the Day

W Barcelona Hotel Review is part of the ANA, Take Me ‘Round the World Trip Report.

Getting There: There’s no Uber in Barcelona. I went in a taxi and was at the mercy of the driver. Fortunately, the cabbie took a credit card.

Getting There Boardwalk: Post club, there are rickshaws to bring drunkards back to the hotel (see Barcelona Party Guide). I thought I could walk it because it’s so prominent in the horizon. I tried to negotiate, but they knew their services were worth the price. After walking tirelessly, I gave in to the 10 euros I was originally quoted.

Checking In

I was thanked for my Bonvoy double platinum (titanium status) and was told I would be upgraded to a room with a view of the ocean. Check in took longer than expected because there was a printer malfunction.  To apologize for the ten minutes of waiting, the front desk upgraded my upgrade to a suite.

The Suite

W has the worst sense of style. It looks like a crackhead that did a line of gun powder before designing the room was put in charge of design to make sure everything clashed.

The suite is huge but it looks like someone’s nightmare.

Soaps

Westin, W, and Waldorf’s Ferragamo are my favorite.

Bathroom 

At this point, I should mention I checked in at 11PM and would be leaving late the next day. That’s a dangerous combination in Barcelona. While the Bliss Spa would have been comforting, the shower was my revival retreat.

Breakfast

Nothing like a good breakfast on the way in, 7AM, instead of the way out. W Barcelona gets high marks for breakfast.

Service

The next day, I had to call for extra water. When they, “whenever, whatever”, the W means it. It took 30 minutes and an extra call to bring two bottles of water.

Pool, Beach?

Seeing as I woke up at 4PM, I did not make use of the pool or the beach. That’s definitely a waste but these things happen. Post being fired from GM in 2012 (buy my book to read the whole story: Everyone’s Advice Is Wrong . . . Including Mine), here’s what the hotel looked like in the day:

View

Now for the question of the day: would you take a bigger room or an ocean view? On the one hand, the design of the room was terrible, so having more of it wasn’t something I needed. On the other, I didn’t see the ocean or the sun until I was going to the airport. Still, I think if I had an ocean view, I could have used the auto curtain openers to help with my detox and inspire me not to get over my hurt state.

Overall

I could stay at the W Barcelona for a week and make a mess of my life both during the day and at night. Like the W Scottsdale, the rooms are hideous. Like the W Scottsdale, trashy or not, it feels like home.

If you enjoyed W Barcelona Hotel Review read the ANA, Take Me ‘Round the World Trip Report.