Rey Juan Carlos I Hotel, Barcelona

Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I
Avenue Diagonal
661-671 Barcelona
08028
Spain

(t) +34 933 644 040

Language: Catalan
Currency: Euros
Climate: Mediterranean

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Background
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The hotel is a complex, known locally as the Royal Complex, which comprises the 5-star Rey Juan Carlos Hotel, the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya (Conference ...
...world as members. The Rey Juan Carlos is considered to be the 35th best hotel in the world.

Although, modern contemporary is my favoured style, the grandeur of the atrium and the atmospheric nature of the hotel, particularly in the evening really grabs my attention and gives me a sense of warmth. The facilities and service are first class, and the gastronomy is a definite must, even if you have been recommended some good seafood restaurants ... more

Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I
Avenue Diagonal
661-671 Barcelona
08028
Spain

(t) +34 933 644 040

Language: Catalan
Currency: Euros
Climate: Mediterranean

~~~~~~~~
Background
~~~~~~~~

The hotel is a complex, known locally as the Royal Complex, which comprises the 5-star Rey Juan Carlos Hotel, the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya (Conference Centre), along with extensive leisure facilities. The hotel is very modern hotel, but with traditional routes, still evident within the hotel.

"The Leading Hotels of The World" market the hotel, which is a marketing company who have a number of the finest hotels in the world as members. The Rey Juan Carlos is considered to be the 35th best hotel in the world.

Although, modern contemporary is my favoured style, the grandeur of the atrium and the atmospheric nature of the hotel, particularly in the evening really grabs my attention and gives me a sense of warmth. The facilities and service are first class, and the gastronomy is a definite must, even if you have been recommended some good seafood restaurants by the harbour.

If you are visiting Barcelona for business or for pleasure, the Rey Juan Carlos must feature highly on your list of hotels.

This was my 3rd stay at the hotel over the last 5 years and I can state with confidence that the experience has been equally as comfortable each time, with the quality of the product maintained throughout that period.

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Location
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The hotel is located at the top of the Avenue Diagonal, which geographically speaking is actually the south west side of Barcelona. The area is both a Commercial and Educational area, with many of Barcelona's multinational companies based along the Diagonal. Also, within a very short walking distance is the city's main University building and associated educational faculties.

There are a number of hotels located in this area and are only a 10-minute walk from one another along the Avenue Diagonal. Moving down away from the Rey Juan Carlos is the Princess Sofia Hotel, then comes the Hilton Barcelona hotel, and a little further down but set back off the Diagonal is the Melia Barcelona hotel. All the hotels mentioned are all full service business hotels providing a range of facilities.

There also used to be a lot of prostitutes in this area, but they appear to have been moved on. Darn! (Joke). Actually, when I first visited Barcelona for business back in 2001, I was staying at the Hilton with my then boss and now close friend Dean, and we were jogging from the Hilton up towards the Rey Juan Carlos and back. During the jog we passed quite a lot of prostitutes, one such lady of the night approached me as I had slowed down wary of an asthma attack (I was a little out of condition at the time!), and beckoned that I should consider joining her for the evening. Of course, not speaking a lot of Spanish, I commented back in English that I was already hot, sweaty and short of breath, but I think the joke was lost on her … "Hablas Inglés? No?" … No, I didn't think so. Needless to say, my asthma attack was not in mind as I duly sprinted off, wary of any Pimps who may be after me!

The stadium of Football Club Barcelona, the "Nou Camp", is located a 10-minute walk from the hotel, along with their "training" ground, which is a stadium that would dwarf many Premiership football stadia in England! Both stadiums are visible from the upper floors on the hotel.

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The Hotel
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The hotel is now "..one of the best city complexes resorts in the world, called 'Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I - Business & City Resort' thanks to the addition of the Royal Fitness, The Royal Catering, the restaurants and pools located in its spectacular gardens and the state of the art Catalonia Palace of Congresses."

The hotel is rather imposing with its 16-storeys and huge atrium, almost triangular in shape and with guest rooms located on either side of the atrium from the 2nd floor upwards. The atrium has a central area of seating, complete with piano, which perfectly sets the mood in the evening, along with perfectly selected trees located around this central area. It is perfect for relaxing in the evening.

The conference and business facilities are located on the ground and 1st floor, with the largest function space, the "Mare Nostrum" catering for a cocktail reception for up to 1,500 delegates. This room divides down into 6 separate rooms, all capable of hosting meetings for 100 or more delegates.

There are also a number of food & beverage outlets, small retail outlets located on the ground floor, extensive leisure facilities and gardens.

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Bedrooms
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There are 412 guest rooms in all, with 5 different room types: standard, junior suite, euro suite, presidential and royal.

The differences in the room types are simply the size of the bedrooms, the décor, and the amenities that are on offer within the guest rooms.

I stayed in a junior suite on the 15th floor on this occasion, as the Presidential and Royal suites are obviously unavailable! (Tehehehe)

The junior suite would retail for anything from €350 to €500 per room per night, and the main difference between a standard room and a suite is the inclusion of a lounge area, separate to the main bedroom. The junior suite also provides a guest toilet, in addition to the main bathroom.

The room was decorated with beige / cream carpets and walls, with yellow curtains and chairs. The fixtures and fittings were largely mahogany, to provide a really rich and warm feel to the guest rooms.

The bathroom floors are tiled with black marble, with the walls tiled with a bluish-grey marble, and the usage of silver chrome finishes the spacious bathroom off. The toiletries are Hermes of Paris and are lightly perfumed; yet despite the luxury the toilet paper does cut your arse to ribbons! ;-)

The bedrooms offer the following facilities;
- Satellite colour TV with remote control
- Direct dial telephones next to the bed, the desk and in the bathrooms
- High-speed Internet connection and Wireless connection (Wi-Fi)
- Individual temperature control
- Dimmers and lights sensors at the head of each bed
- Private safety deposit box
- Modem connection
- Fax connection (optional)
- Daily stocked minibar
- 24-hour room service

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Internet Connectivity
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This was actually one of the simplest processes I have experienced for connecting wirelessly within a hotel. As some of you will know, as I was chatting to you on-line from Spain on Friday night before going to bed!!

I went to Barcelona on business, but also to see friends from Thursday through to Saturday, and after spending the day working in the city on the Friday, it was important for me to dial into the office and check emails once I returned to the hotel.

There are 2 methods in which you can do this, by either asking reception for a wireless Internet connection code or by requesting a code via your bedroom television set.

If you utilise your television set, then you press menu on the remote, which brings up four options, one of which is "services". Upon pressing services, there is an option for Internet connectivity, which if pressed provides you with a 5-digit code.

If you boot up your laptop and have wireless capability, then all you simply do is fire up the Internet browser, which will direct you to a hotel page requesting your room number and the code. Once you have entered both, connection to the Internet is possible, with 5-hours costing €20.

One problem I found was that my laptop did keep dropping the Internet connection and I had to continually re-connect, which may have been down to the signal strength on the 15th floor more than anything else.

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Food & Beverage
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There are 3 food and beverage outlets within the hotel, but I have only sampled the Polo Café.

The 3 outlets are;
1) The Garden ~ A la Carte restaurant set with the peaceful tranquillity of the complexes gardens and open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 1.30pm to 3.30pm and from 9.00pm to 11.30pm.

2) The Polo Café ~ Open everyday from 7.00 - 10.00; 13.00 - 15.30; and 20.00 - 23.30, a buffet style for breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with a fixed menu. The food is of the highest quality and I thoroughly enjoyed both breakfast and dinner, which were both very Mediterranean.

3) The Aris Bar ~ Located just off the main lobby and open everyday from 09.00 to 02.00, serving a range of cocktails.

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Staff & Service
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The staffs are very friendly and the service is as impeccable as you would expect from a 5-star hotel, with all your needs catered for.

English is the International business language, fortunately enough for us Brits who speak very little of an other language! Therefore, English is widely spoken by most staff and to a very good level. They don't understand the Scouse dialect but that's no indictment of the staff, because neither does most English people!!

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Leisure Facilities & Gardens
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Full leisure facilities are available complimentary for all guests staying within the hotel, but some do come with additional charges, such as massages, classes, hire of tennis courts.

The outdoor swimming pool is a good size for doing lengths and general fitness, and the area is set within landscaped gardens providing serenity for sunbathing around the edges of the pool, complete with sun lounge's and poolside bar.

There is a full indoor gym and spin room, which is manned and open throughout the day and evening for guests to keep up with their fitness programmes.

The hotel also has extensive gardens for strolling around, and are very well kept / landscaped. The gardens belie the fact that you are located within the city, and the trees actually do help to deflect some of the noise from the surrounding traffic of the busy Avenue Diagonal.

Thanks for reading
Newty
 

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