PRAKTIK RAMBLA

Not fancy but an excellent hotel We stayed at Hotel Praktik Rambla, Barcelona for three nights. Our first impression was it’s old and small but we soon found out it was a gem because of the hotel workers from concierge to cleaners who are all courteous and thoughtful in quiet ways. People at the desk were great at recommending places to eat. The seafood tapa place was so good that we went there for three times. We trusted them that they would always follow through with our requests including calling a taxi at 5:00 AM for our train for Madrid. We loved the hotel’s old structure with modern touch of a new bathroom and a comfortable bed. We hope to stay at Hotel Praktic Rambla whenever we visit Barcelona.

Classic elegance, with a foot in the old and in the new Classic elegance in a restored space, nestled in between the Gothic quarter and L'Eixample - so just between the heavily touristed and the high end retail areas. Hotel location is a few blocks from two different Metro stations so covering all the main lines. Lot of late night activity on the street below so gets a bit loud, simple earplugs helpful to pack - not provided. There is a small elevator, a common area with filtered water and coffee available 24x7. Also a large tastefully decorated terrace for guest use. Plain and chocolate croissants provided in the mornings. Found staff to be generally helpful and moderately friendly. Was able to check-in early on the first day and store luggage on the last day. Bed was comfortable, small single room plus a more than adequate bathroom, rainfall showerhead.

Simply wonderful! This place is more of a boutique hotel. Has a common area that’s cozy and kind of luxurious at the same time. You feel like you’re in an old castle. The rooms and bathrooms are huge! It has an odd layout bec the bathroom is facing the street with full windows blocked by a somewhat smokey and thick glass window. No elevator which is common in Europe but overall, the hotel itself is quite an experience. They have fresh croissants daily too!

Disappointing - be careful Really disappointed about my stay. I was there for work and was given a double room, no desk, no chair, no place to work. Had a small window that looked out to a back corridor with dismal view of the air-conditioners. I asked to change but was told nothing available. Breakfast was just croissants, juice and coffee from a pantry lounge. the TV channels didn't work but it was a small tv attached to the back of a cabinet. yes it has a historic feel to it and that aspect was nice but just poor quality rooms and low value for the money. If you are thinking of staying here, be very careful. there are plenty of other nice hotels, like the one across the street. I will not return

NOS ENTRAN A ROBAR MIENTRAS DORMIMOS Someone broke into my room when we were sleeping and the hotel DIRECTOR took 0 accountability. It took me a couple of weeks to be able to revisit the traumatising situation I've experienced in this hotel. At the end of January me and my boyfriend travelled to Barcelona and decided to stay in what apparently was a cute and well rated hotel. When we checked-in, we were located on the first floor, where the hotel communal terrace is. At first, I was a little concerned, as the building has a characteristic architecture and as a consequence some of the room features, such as windows seemed "weak". As I was exploring the room, I've noticed the bathroom, which is separated from the bedroom by a glass door, had a second sliding door which I thought was to protect the light coming in when is bright (later on I came to the conclusion that might be just because there's no safety whatsoever in this hotel). First night came by and everything seemed normal. WELL, that didn't last long. On our second and final night, we came back to the hotel, sat on the communal terrace for a while then headed to the room. As I was already sceptical with the window lock, I asked my partner to double check everything was securely closed before going to bed. As I'm getting ready myself I decided to triple check all windows one more time, everything was LOCKED. I also made sure that the strange sliding door was also closed, then I headed to bed. The morning after I woke up, I opened the sliding door and saw the bathroom window was open. I didn't think anything at first as I thought "might have been the wind". Had a shower and when I'm looking for my travel bag, I couldn't seem to find it. I woke up my partner who, when trying to help me find my things, realised his travel bag was also gone. I then mentioned the window was open when I woke up and we both decided to head to the terrace, which again, was on the same floor as our room and communicated by the window. To my surprise, all our personal things were spread on top of the chairs (of course just the ones the person who broke into our room didn't take). I now realise that someone has been in our room while we were sleeping and THANKS to a random gut feeling, closing that second door the night before probably saved us from a bigger robbery (laptops, phones, cameras, jewellery, cash, passports...were inside the bedroom) or even worse, it saved us from an attack. I went to the reception in pure panic, trying to explain the situation to the person there (Sandra, who I have to say, tried to help as much as she could) and the severity of this happening in a hotel where we are supposed to be and feel safe. She contacted the "hotel director" and I put it in brackets because what happened next goes beyond embarrassing for someone in charge of a hotel. This person, who never shared his name, showed 0 empathy with the situation and more importantly, took 0 accountability for what happened. He came to the room after we were told to pack our things, look around and say "I have someone for a job interview downstairs, you need to do a police report, there's nothing I can do at the moment". No apologise, no prioritisation, no comfort, no accountability, no solutions, NOTHING. We then went again to the reception, where they said that unless we do a police report, there's nothing they can do. At this stage we're not even worried about what has been stolen, but the severity of what could have happened and the incredible lack of ownership from the hotel management. Anyway, we went to the police station, where they told us the waiting time for reporting a robbery was 4 hours, and as we had a flight to catch in the next 3 hours, they suggested we go to the police station in the airport. Back to the hotel. We've been gone for 1.30h and when asking for updates, camera footage... anything, they say "we don't know". I then see the director coming downstairs, walking with 2 people and laughing, like a normal Monday in the office. We're the ones that seem to have initiative about what just happened and when asking the director for updates he says "oh yes, we saw someone jumping in from the side building and going into your room, after a few minutes"he " left". I'm looking at him and can't believe the lack of interest or willingness to give us an actual solution. When I proceed to require an explanation and an actual solution, the director carries on with his absolute lack of management and professionalism and says "I can't give you a solution as you were the ones leaving the window open". As I explained here and to him several times, we DID CHECK multiple times. After 25 minutes of pure frustration where a hotel director ACCUSED US of lying and kept repeating "I'm not going to do anything about it" I've asked for a full refund for the stay. He of course said no as once again "it's our fault". 10 more minutes came by and with a very condescending attitude, he looked at me and ask "is money going to solve this issue" at what I responded "the minimum you could have done as hotel director is take ownership of what happened in your hotel and apologise for it, as you didn't do that and are unable to fix the TRAUMATISING experienced we just had, then yes, the next minimum thing you could do is indeed, give us our money back". He turned to the receptionist and very rudely said "REIMBURSE THEM THE STAY" . We did end up getting our money back, but what we had experienced in this hotel was by far, the worst treatment I ever had. I travel for work very often and after this incident, I have visited a couple of hotels where I find it very hard to sleep, fearing something like that might happen again. I don't think anything could justify the way we were treated by the hotel director and I'll make sure everyone knows staying at Praktik Rambla IS NOT SAFE. There are several lovely options to stay in Barcelona and if you can, please avoid booking a room here.