Hotel 1898, Barcelona

Hotel 1898 – Barcelona
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Hotel 1898 is a mid priced hotel situated on the main tourist strip Las Ramblas in Barcelona’s Gothic district. Built in the former building of the Philippines Tobacco Company it has been converted to a very high standard with all the facilities you’d expect from a modern city centre hotel while maintaining the character of the pre-existing architecture.

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Location~
Hotel 1898 is sited a couple of hundred yards south of Plaza Catalunya, the dropping off point for coaches from the airport and a hub for public transport and has entrances on Las Ramblas and Pintor Fortuny. The central location means that many of the city’s attractions such as the port, Barri Gotic, shopping districts and Gaudi buildings are within easy walking distance. Other sites such as Montjuic, Park Guell and the ... more

Hotel 1898 – Barcelona
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hotel 1898 is a mid priced hotel situated on the main tourist strip Las Ramblas in Barcelona’s Gothic district. Built in the former building of the Philippines Tobacco Company it has been converted to a very high standard with all the facilities you’d expect from a modern city centre hotel while maintaining the character of the pre-existing architecture.

Part of the Nunez Navarro chain it is one of several hotels they have in Barcelona and like their other properties offers a high standard of accommodation geared towards the modern traveller.

Location~
Hotel 1898 is sited a couple of hundred yards south of Plaza Catalunya, the dropping off point for coaches from the airport and a hub for public transport and has entrances on Las Ramblas and Pintor Fortuny. The central location means that many of the city’s attractions such as the port, Barri Gotic, shopping districts and Gaudi buildings are within easy walking distance. Other sites such as Montjuic, Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia are all easily reached by public transport.

Rooms~
Hotel 1898 has 169 rooms available for occupation. Ranging from standard rooms with double beds and no view to large suites with private jacuzzi’s, balconies and gardens overlooking Las Ramblas.
We had originally booked into the Hotel Jazz, part of the same chain, but due to an error on their system they had double booked us and transferred us to this hotel. Due to arrive on the Saturday they e-mailed me on the Friday explaining the mistake and followed this with a phone call to make sure we were happy with the rearrangements. Given that Hotel 1898 is more expensive, has better facilities and is better located we were quite happy with the move but discounting that I was impressed by the customer service and was left with a favourable impression of the company and their staff.
For this reason I am not entirely sure which class of room we were given but as we had booked a basic room in the first hotel I imagine we were given an equivalent room in Hotel 1898 although sneaky glances into rooms being cleaned showed that ours was far from the smallest available.
Our room was divided into three spacious areas: sleeping area, dressing area and bathroom. A window opened onto a small courtyard where you overlooked, and were overlooked by, other rooms.
The sleeping area contained a large king size bed, writing desk and chairs. The dressing area had wardrobes, drawers and other storage and the bathroom had a modern marble bath and sink suite with dark granite worktops. The bath has both a hand held shower and a full height rain type shower.
In keeping with the rest of the hotel the room is decorated to a high standard in a cool art deco style, it comes with a large plasma TV and a clever mood lighting system where all the room’s lights can be adjusted simultaneously depending on need.

Facilities~
Hotel 1898 has a full range of business facilities available with meeting rooms and business centres. Each room has free ADSL and wireless internet connectivity. For the private traveller there is a fully equipped spa with gym, sauna and steam rooms, attractive pool and treatment rooms. There are two bars, a public one on the ground floor and one on the roof terrace. Also on the roof is the pool and sun deck with excellent views of the city. There is a restaurant serving a range of foods all day and room service on demand. Apparently there are also two libraries but I didn’t see these.

Prices and booking~
Obviously prices vary throughout the year but at the time of travelling (mid June) started at E200 per night, this price will not include breakfast. Booking is a straightforward affair and can be done online or over the phone with your room secured by a credit card. Online you book directly through the hotel website or through any number of hotel ‘best price’ sites although I found these offered no noticeable discount and went directly with the hotel.
You can check in after 15:00 and check out is generously set at midday.

Opinion~
I found Hotel 1898 a wonderful place to stay, the rooms and all public areas were impeccably clean and beautifully decorated. Staff were courteous and accommodating at all times and the whole ambience of the hotel genuinely enhanced our stay. The location is excellent and allowed us to see most of the attractions without expending time and money travelling unnecessarily. Despite the central location the sound-proofed rooms meant that you are never distracted by exterior noise.
Two reservations I have are easily avoidable and probably go with the territory, bar prices are on the steep side and at E20 a head the breakfast is massively over priced. Although impressive in the range of cold foods available, at that price you should expect a far more extensive selection of hot food and that isn’t the case. But like I say there is no need to worry too much about these as there is no shortage of places to eat and drink in the vicinity.

Hotel 1898 is far from the cheapest place to stay in Barcelona, but given its location and quality you do see value for money. If you’re going to Barcelona and this is within your price range I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

Further details are available form http://www.nnhotels.com/eng/hotel1898/index.php 

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