Hotel: Hotel Arts Barcelona, A Ritz-Carlton Hotel/ Date: February 2024 (2 nights) / Program: Marriott Stars
Hotel Arts Barcelona is a top-tier luxury hotel located in Barcelona. Situated as the tallest hotel along the coast, it provides stunning views of both the cityscape and beachfront. Here is our review of staying at Hotel Arts Barcelona.
The hotel was constructed in the lead up to the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona and exclusively hosted Team USA during the games. It then closed doors and re-opened again in 1994 as a full-fledged hotel. It is an iconic landmark in Barcelona. You can read all about its history on this dedicated webpage and it also has a Wiki page!
Hotel Arts Barcelona is called ‘Hotel Arts’ for a good reason. It has a vast collection of art pieces and a private art gallery.
Booking: Hotel Arts Barcelona
We booked the hotel under Marriott Stars rate. At the time of booking, this option provided a better value compared to the non-refundable and Marriott Bonvoy discounted rates. Considering all the perks we received, this turned out to be an absolute steal, which once again proves why we strongly recommend Marriott Stars or Virtuoso rates to our clients.
You can find out all about the Marriott Stars program under our dedicated article here:
- Breakfast for two: This was served in the Lokal restaurant
- $100 equivalent hotel credit to use during your stay: We used the EUR 85 credit for evening cocktails and dinner at the P41 Restaurant
- Early check-in, subject to availability: Received check-in at 11am, including complimentary coffee on arrival 😉
- Late check-out subject to availability: Granted late check-out till 4pm,
- One-category Room upgrade subject to availability: This was a huge benefit. We actually received a four category upgrade from a Deluxe Room to an Executive Suite room.
- Local gift/souvenir: Candles
- Welcome amenity: Bottle of wine and macaroons, including a hand-written welcome note
Booking through us means that you will receive the benefits of Marriott STARS as well as your Marriott Bonvoy benefits. This is unlike online travel agencies (OTAs) where hotels recognise your booking as a ‘wholesaler’ booking and will not allow use of your Marriott Bonvoy status.
During this period, Bonvoy was running an extra points per stay promo which we also benefited from.
Hotel Arts Barcelona Location
The hotel is located in the Olympic Ports area, along the Barcelona beach and south of the Sagrada Familia. From the airport it is about a 25-30min drive and should cost approximately $40-$50 one-way. The Sagrada Familia is probably a 20min drive, accounting for traffic and should cost less than EUR 15 or so.
The hotel is well located for those wanting to stay away from the busy streets of Barcelona and want some quiet and privacy. This is because the driveway is only accessible to hotel and restaurant guests. Having said that, the hotel is easily accessible to most tourists sites and restaurants, via taxi/Uber and public transport. As we were in Barcelona for just two nights, taking an Uber to most spots worked well for us.
The hotel’s location is also good for those who want to access the beach during the summer. The Marina area has a great party vibe in the summer with several beach clubs and shisha lounges.
Hotel Arts Barcelona Arrival
We arrived at the hotel from the airport at around 10am. The cab dropped us off at the double-door entrance to the hotel and a small arrival area that had a small seating area and a beautiful centerpiece. The staff swiftly took our luggage as we took the elevator to the main lobby.
The main lobby was not grand as such but was tastefully decorated with a beautiful chandelier. There were some self-serve champagne available but I didn’t fancy that at 10am. I needed a proper coffee!
We typically do not expect to receive a room so early in the morning, a good five hours before official check-in. Generally, we would message the hotel in advance and check with the staff. If we cannot check-in early, we would either go directly to the city (if we do not have too much luggage) or drop our luggage at the hotel. However, we were fairly confident of checking in early, as long as the hotel had availability, due to our Marriott Stars partnership with the hotel.
Check-in Process
At the lobby, the front desk welcomed us warmly and completed the check-in formalities efficiently. All our benefits were explained to us, and listed on a dedicated webpage made available through a QR code. Thankfully, the hotel was OK to check us in early. We also received a four-category upgrade to an Executive Suite! Result !!
However, this came with a catch. Our Executive Suite room with panoramic city views would be available in 20-30min or we could downgrade and take a lower category room immediately. Errr downgrade…not happening…we only talk about upgrades.
We said we were OK to wait and in return, the hotel offered us a complimentary coffee in their restaurant. We sipped our coffees (which were great by the way!) and the room was ready as promised. Superb customer service!
The hotel clearly invested in maintaining its common areas as these housed several art pieces and beautiful floral decorations.
Room – Executive Suite (Hotel Arts Barcelona)
The Executive Suite was a proper suite. Two bathrooms, separate living room and bedroom and plenty of space. Not a suite repackaged as a ‘junior suite’ which is a slightly larger room with a work desk or TV to separate the bed and sofas.
The room had a separate bathroom to the right of the entrance, which led to a spacious albeit narrow living room. This had a separate TV, a large sofa and panoramic views of the city. The latter is a recurring theme in this room and possibly the highlight of our experience at this hotel.
A long corridor led to the bathroom and a solid woodwork desk that faced the city (with views of the Sagrada Familia). The corridor opened up to the spacious bedroom with floor to ceiling-windows.
Bedroom
The bedroom was huge and contained a comfortable King-size bed and two chaise lounges.
The selling point was of course the beautiful views of the City. From the bed you could see Sagrada Familia and the entire Barcelona city.
From the chaise lounge, you had fantastic views of the beach, Aegean Sea and W hotel in the distance. The lighting from the setting sun was fantastic during dusk and we spent the first evening chilling by the lounges and enjoying our coffee.
A cupboard housed all the usual amenities including a fridge and a coffee station. Interestingly they also had a selection of premium spirits to purchase in small 30cl bottles.
The hotel is quite big on sustainability. They had provided two water bottles with Hotel Arts branding for use during the stay and to purchase at EUR 35 each.
Bathroom
The bathroom was slightly dark as it was located between the living room and bedroom on the inside part of the room as opposed to the city-facing side. The shower and toilet were particularly dark in my opinion. We had a double vanity with his and hers sink as well as a separate bathtub.
Toiletries were by Diptyque which is the same brand as provided by Four Seasons Hotel Doha. This particular fragrance smelled nicer than the one provided by Four Seasons.
Welcome Amenity
Due to our early morning flight from London, we spent a bit of time in the room relaxing before heading out for lunch. Upon arrival, the hotel staff delivered the welcome gifts to our room including a handwritten note from the hotel welcoming us to their property. The welcome gift included a bottle of wine and a two-tier macaroon set. Very thoughtful and always a nice touch.
Most properties provide a welcome amenity if the stay is booked through us. This can vary depending on the hotel, the type of room booked and length of stay. The general rule is that the higher the room value, the better the welcome amenities get. We always try to work with the hotel to personalise the welcome amenity where possible and ensure that our clients receive a nice surprise upon check-in.
Turndown Service
On our first night we were relaxing in the room during sunset and had beautiful views of Barcelona city. The orange-yellow light in the room during sunset was stunning. We sat by the sofa admiring the views and enjoying our Nespresso.
The housekeeping staff arrived at this time for turndown service, cleaned the room, and left us a thoughtful card and Valrhona chocolates. It’s always interesting to see what gifts the hotel provides during turndown. It adds a touch of luxury and differentiation.
Breakfast
Breakfast was served in Lokal restaurant on the same floor as the lobby and a number of other restaurants. Food included a buffet spread and a la carte options with several types of eggs and pancakes.
The buffet included the typical cereal, pastries and bread options along with a number of continental breakfast options. There were a number of hot options as well albeit limited vegetarian options for those who don’t eat eggs.
The photos provide better details on the breakfast than I can, but we would highlight a few notable areas
- Fruit options were better than in most breakfast buffets and included honeydew melon
- Cava and orange juice was available for make-your-own mimosas for those interested in eating
P41 Cocktail Bar – Hotel Arts Barcelona
After our drive back from Andorra, we chose to dine in the hotel as we were too tired to head out into the city. We also had our hotel credit to use so thought this would be a good time to do it.
The hotel has a number of dining options but some of them were closed at 9pm and The Pantry (which is a cool restaurant hidden behind a pantry shelf) didn’t have appealing vegetarian options. Hence we headed over to the P41 cocktail bar which was on the lobby level (not the 41st floor), relatively quiet and had a chique vibe
We ordered a couple of cocktails from the menu and goth were very good. I would definitely visit the bar/ restaurant again for their cocktails.
The food menu was less appealing though. There were only a few different tapas options of which only one or two were vegetarian. We weren’t keen on either of the options as we had quite a few potato dishes the past two days. The staff however was great and allowed us to order whatever we wanted from the room service menu which had a number of vegetarian options.
Hence we went for one portion of Thai green vegetable curry with rice and a bowl of penne pasta. Both the dishes were quite tasty and we would happily order them again.
Special Mention – Hotel Service
Barcelona has a thriving hotel scene and in such a market, the hotel service usually sets apart one hotel from another. This hotel had excellent, thoughtful service and hence I thought we should draw out a few highlights from our stay which made this a memorable experience.
- The hotel granted us an early check-in that is totally at their discretion AND provided us a four-category upgrade. However, the room was not yet available and the front desk was quick on their feet to give a (complimentary) coffee. We would have been happy waiting in the lobby but this kind gesture set the tone for the stay
- On our last day, we wanted to head out to the Marina for a quick jog before breakfast and requested this through the Marriott Bonvoy app. It was promptly delivered to our room with bottles of water for our run
- The hotel staff noticed that we were back from a quick jog along the Marina. Within five minutes of arrival in our room, a hotel staff provided us with bottled water because ‘we must be thirsty’. Very thoughtful and great attention to detail!
- Generally, hotels are quite slow to reply on the chat service available on the app, if at all available. We never had to wait for more than a minute to get a response from Guest Services and were promptly attended to. We also asked for a sewing kit, and restaurant recommendations for vegetarian tapas
Check-out
Given that we are giving a glowing review of the hotel staff, it is imperative to be neutral and mention a slight hiccup we faced upon check-out. The hotel granted us late check-out until 4 PM.
Not sure what resulted in the confusion but upon arrival in our room, our luggage was not to be found. Later, we found out that miscommunication caused someone to send our packed suitcases to the luggage storage. We understand mishaps happen and this one was promptly resolved with apologies. If the hotel staff had handled our belongings without us having packed them away, we would have been extremely annoyed.
Family Pool and Infinity Pool
This is definitely the ‘piece de resistance’ of Hotel Arts Barcelona. It offers you stunning views of the Aegean Sea and the Marina area. It is definitely the place to be during a hot summer’s day.
During our visit it was understandably very quiet but we can only imagine the party spot this would be in the summer!
Ongoing Refurbishment
Hotel Arts Barcelona is undergoing a top-to-bottom refurbishment. By that, we mean stripping out floor by floor and completely redoing the interiors. It is much needed I must say, for them to maintain the top spot in Barcelona.
We did look into some of the newly remodeled rooms and they are absolutely GORGEOUS and I mean WOW. Not surprisingly, we weren’t allowed to take any photos but believe us when we say that they are true luxury rooms.
This means that for the next couple of years, some guests will get the current rooms and some will get the refurbished rooms. You can contact us for a guaranteed refurbished room.
Conclusion
Hotel Arts Barcelona would be my preferred destination in Barcelona during the summer as it has fantastic pools and easy access to the beach. It is also not too far from the city and is perfect for a weekend getaway or a longer trip. It will once again be the top choice hotel in Barcelina after its top-to-bottom refurb.
If you are in Barcelona for the shopping and want to be in the heart of it all, then there will be other better choices. However for couples and families alike, in our view it is a great place to stay.
If you wish to receive the same perks as us and ensure that you get allocated one of the newly refurbished rooms at Hotel Arts Barcelona, please fill out your details, and we will get back to you!
If you want details on what to do in Barcelona and Andorra, then read our blog here
