Mandarín Oriental, Barcelona

“Splendid”

Location and service

“Worst hotel in Barcelona”

Room 223, Family Suite, Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, 26–29 May 2026, rate: EUR 7,205/night. -Terrible value. Avoid- We told hotel 3x we needed rooms around noon: aircraft 11:00 a.m., jet-lagged children. Each time: “should be possible.” Then, last min.: impossible. Reason seems clear: an Amex Gold guest apparently kept room in day use all afternoon. We know what afternoon day use is usually for: a few hrs in “good company.” Meanwhile, we booked the hotel’s most expensive room and spent 5 hrs in taxis with exhausted children because our paid room was unavailable. Irony: I have Amex Centurion and Black. I doubt there are even 10 Amex Black cards in Spain. Yet Amex Gold day-use counted more than a family paying EUR 7,000+/night. Insane. At 5:30 p.m., room smelled strongly of fornication. Bathroom not clean. At this price, unbelievable. Room 223 is sold as a Family Suite. It is not. Basically two EUR 1,000 rooms, across the normal corridor, joined by a ridiculous sliding accordion partition. Heating/A/C works only if doors are fully closed. Doors open = no proper A/C or heating. So the “suite” works only when it stops being a suite. Doors closed = 2 separate rooms, stitched with a cheap partition. Not luxury. Not a suite. A scam. Extra bed: unacceptable, more daybed/stretcher for a 10-year-old than real bed. Bathroom: ridiculous. Tiny sabot tub, barely 1.40 m, hair in bathtub, hot water like a trickle, industrial wall shampoo dispensers like ketchup boxes, tiny doses/use. Not luxury, cost-cutting disguised as design. Whole hotel very dark; bathrooms beyond belief. You can barely see yourself. We had to use iPhone lights there. Not atmosphere, design failure sold as luxury. Energy-saving obsession grotesque. Lights go off as soon as you move. Electricity switch cuts power unless real room key is inserted; credit card/cardboard does not work. Everything gloomy, impractical, uncomfortable. Terrace closed because stonework/parts of building were apparently falling into the street. Terrace sold with room but unusable because building is literally falling apart. See photo. Location: noisy central boulevard, traffic, police cars, street noise all day, poor windows. At EUR 7,000+/night, unacceptable. Huge mistake. We should have gone to Hotel Arts or W by the sea. General atmosphere: bad. No warmth, hospitality, confidence or luxury feeling. Poorly run, poorly coordinated, uncomfortable, joyless. Staff: mostly students/trainees/hotel-school recruits, many knowing nothing about hotel/city, some barely communicating in English/Spanish. Everyone lost, poorly trained. Five-star hotel without real crew. Airport transfer: another failure. They did not read request, passed it verbally, created errors. We waited 10 min: car not ready. Wrong name. Not under name requested. Driver knew our name, exactly what we asked to avoid. Driver knew also exactly our destination prior to go , against instructions. “Limousine” transfer absurd: electric car, unable to take 2 suitcases because trunk space is eaten by huge batteries. Luxury hotel should know airport transfer = passengers + luggage. Sending electric car with unusable trunk is idiotic. Everything seems designed to save hotel money, not comfort guests. Energy savings maxed. Guest comfort minimized. At EUR 7,205/night, Room 223 is one of worst hotel values we have experienced. Far from true five-star. Closer to 3.5-star sold at ultra-luxury prices. Avoid completely. In Barcelona, go to W or Hotel Arts…

“Staff friendly and efficient, polite and warm welcoming”

Comfortable, clean

Breakfast area a little average

Good breakfast