How to book hotels in Barcelona

[tofarfromsea]

We are new to the board and going to Europe this summer. Our cruise leaves from Barcelona and we are going in a day early. We are wondering if booking rooms on priceline, booking.com, etc. (have never used these) is the way to go or should we contact the hotels directly at their websites and book a room. Do most people just take a cab from the airport? Thanks for your help.

[Clarea]

We are new to the board and going to Europe this summer. Our cruise leaves from Barcelona and we are going in a day early. We are wondering if booking rooms on priceline, booking.com, etc. (have never used these) is the way to go or should we contact the hotels directly at their websites and book a room. Do most people just take a cab from the airport? Thanks for your help.

Last year, we took a cab from the airport to the Hotel Jazz (near Las Ramblas), and I believe it was around 25 Euros for two of us, plus 3 bags.

[LondonTowner]

To get the best rate for your hotel you need to do a bit of research. First of all decide where you want to stay. Then check how much the hotel costs via a booking website or direct from the hotel.

 

The current cost for a taxi from the airport is 30 Euros one way. There is an airport bus which costs about 10 or 11 Euros for a return journey or you can take the metro.

[Pet Nit Noy]

We are new to the board and going to Europe this summer. Our cruise leaves from Barcelona and we are going in a day early. We are wondering if booking rooms on priceline, booking.com, etc. (have never used these) is the way to go or should we contact the hotels directly at their websites and book a room. Do most people just take a cab from the airport? Thanks for your help.

 

Some general comments about booking in Europe:

o The hotel booking web sites don't have access to rooms as far in advance as the hotels themselves. If you try a hotel web site (e.g. Venere) well in advance and get a message saying nothing is available, that simply means try back later. I don't think that applies in your situation. "This summer" isn't far away in terms of reservations.

 

o We typically book directly with the hotels. We find the hotel's prices are no worse than the hotel booking sites and we prefer having a direct "handshake" between us and the hotel where we'll be staying. If we have a question or need help with something (e.g. booking restaurant reservations) the direct relationship with the hotel pays off. In addition, the room categories on the booking web sites are often not as precise or varied as the actual range of room categories at the hotel.

 

Although mass transportation -- bus -- exists, cruisers generally are toting more luggage than land travelers, so taxi or private car service is very popular. The Barcelona airport is relatively close to the city so that keeps costs down.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Pet Nit Noy

[pris993]

We generally book thru a "western" hotel chain 800 phone number for Europe, have done so for Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, England etc, i.e., Hilton, Marriott, Wydham hotels have properties in Barcelona. We don't book packages or prepay, if rates go down, we call and get the reduced rate by calling the same 800 number before arriving.

 

Taxis are easy and reasonable in Barcelona. There is a Wydham Tryp hotel at Barcelona airport. Airport hotel rates are less, and it is easy to take the airport bus to the city center.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I do my research on places like Tripadvisor, Fodors.com and CC, pick out the hotels I'm interested in, and let the different booking engines give me competitive rates. Then I usually check the hotel website and see what their rate is. Sometimes it's as cheap as Booking.com or Hotels.com. If so, I book through the hotel--good for them, don't don't pay a commission.

 

I also look for rates that are refundable. I don't mind paying up front, but want that option. Our two Spanish hotels this winter were both refundable and not prepaid, which is even better.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Wendy The Wanderer

[calliopecruiser]

I prefer to book with the hotel directly, as I often find their room descriptions (and the options of rooms) to be more accurate and the prices are the same if not cheaper. Yes, sometimes cheaper. I use a lot of those booking sites to do research on what I want and to compare hotels, but I'd rather book directly with the hotel so I know I get complete and accurate information and if there's a problem there's only one group to talk to (i.e. the hotel itself).

 

Every hotel website I've looked at for European hotels has had an English translation to their website, so language is never a problem.

[3ssn]

We love booking.com. The reviews are quite reliable. Another advantage: you can book with a free cancellation option. If you check the current prices regularly, you can rebook and cancel your original reservation. In Barcelona we ended up in the Grupotel Gran Via 678. Great hotel.

For our transportation from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port, we use clickairporttransfer.com.

[campolady]

We live in Spain and find it is generally cheaper to book via lastcheck.co.uk or travelrepublic.co.uk than direct with Spanish hotels - we book hotels through both sites several times a year. Booking.com is also good but not quite as cheap.

 

Occasionally hotels have agreed to match these prices when we have emailed them in which case we go direct with the hotel but in most cases they have not been able to offer a comparable cost.

[Crusin6]

I use venere.com for Europe hotels. No prepayment hotels only are the only ones I book and pay by credit card upon arrival

 

 

FYI. I always have enough euro cash on me though just in case of a credit card. ATM. Problem.

 

I have never had trouble using my trusty Old fashioned non chip and pin cards but always travel with cash back up and additional credit and debit cards attached to different accts.

 

Of course we have special travel only credit cards. And checking accts

Edited January 23, 2014 by Crusin6

[sunsetbeachgal]

I did my research on tripadvisor and then booked with hotel website. I started off with my wish list: good location near las Ramblas, less than 100 € per night including breakfast, at least three star rated and receiving mostly positive comments on trip advisor. We traveled during the summer last year and it had no trouble finding a nice hotel but booked it four to five months in advance.

Edited January 23, 2014 by sunsetbeachgal

[Stelladoro]

While we've booked hotels on Priceline in other cities, such as London, we've never had any luck using this website for booking hotels in Barcelona.

 

As others have commented, I do lots of research on Tripadvisor, ie. hotel location (usually look for a hotel near Plaza Catalunya), price and mostly positive reviews from other travellers. We like to book in our currency (CDN - no extra charges by bank), and usually book on expedia or hotels.ca.

[Adventures ahead]

We booked an apartment through air b n b dot com. We're staying a full week but some apartments may allow one-night stays or could have two-night minimums. For people on a tight budget, the site also offers a room in someone's apartment.

 

I haven't used this website before; my niece has and hasn't had any problems. She said to just pay attention to the reviews. They also charge a damage deposit which we expect will be fully refunded. Be sure the building has an elevator (or the apartment has A/C), in case either of these are deal breakers.

 

I've used bidding or 'secret' hotel websites before, but decided not to chance it for Barcelona. Renting an apartment was a good alternative and budget friendly. The convenience of a kitchen for a longer stay will be great.

[nickie2000]

ok,, new poeple, welcome, i've been using booking.com for over 5 years and find they are very good, honest, they don't charge your credit card just use it too reserve your room, your pay in the contry currency to the hotel, also if you book the ones that you can cancel with no penalty up to the day before that is a bonus as your researching best places to stay and all.... we stayed on la rambla, very small room,, but most are like that, plus your there just to sleep so why pay so much for luxery,,, when you can use that money for better things... now depends for mean of transport some take cabs some of us are more adventourous and take bus and metro like what we did cost for that one way was 12 euro for 2 people versus cab ride of 30 -35 euros one way for both and we stayed on la rambla by cab its about 20 minute ride bus 30 minutes so its close center of barcelona

hope this helps enjoy

[kestrel]

I have also used booking.com for our last several trips to Europe. I highly recommend the site.

[Milhouse]

We "won" the Silken Gran Havana Hotel via Priceline during our post cruise stay in Europe the first few days into November. Total Priceline price per room for three nights (after taxes & fees and less a Priceline coupon) was $292.77USD. However, the hotel did tack on a few more Euros on the end for a city tax. I estimate we saved almost 40% off of what we could have found for the Silken Gran Havana compared to what we were seeing for it on standard booking websites. Based on info on historical wins, we kind of had a good idea we were going to get the Silken Gran Havana based on our bidding parameters. However, I caution using Priceline unless you learn how to "work" the bidding process (ie Historical wins, free re-bids, the zones, etc)

 

We ended up taking the airport bus to Plaça Catalunya and walked a couple of blocks to the hotel which saved us a few dollars compared to a taxi. On the return, we just cabbed it. We thought it was kind of a wash in terms of convenience and cost between the airport bus and taxi.

[tofarfromsea]

Thank you to everyone who posted comments on hotels. It really helps to talk to people who have been there. I feel more confident now.:)

[flarad]

I just booked the hotel indigo directly in their website. It was more than €30 cheaper than on any of the websites I found, it is a no cancel reservation, but that's why I have trip insurance.

 

 

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[travelplus]

I did some research for our upcoming cruise from Brazil-Barcelona in April. We will be in Barcelona in May and went onto Expedia and other websites and the rates varied from $100-$300 a night. I went onto Hotwire.com and saw the L'Exiample district for $80 per night+$50 in taxes and fees etc. Its for a 4 star hotel. We won the Amister Art Hotel which is a Boutique Hotel on Avenguida de Roma so its a great deal.

 

We did not want to stay on Las Ramblas as it can be loud but wanted to be close to everything. The Air Bus is a 10 minute walk when we go to the airport etc.

 

Do you think we got a good hotel for the price and location?