A chic newer hotel in a fantastic location.
Hi there, my name is Kevin and I make honest, unsponsored and to the point narrated video
tours about hotels and flights all over the world.
This is my 87th report coming to you today from The Almanac Hotel in Barcelona’s famous
Eixample neighborhood.
I hope you’ll stick around and let me show you all this property has to offer.
Welcome to The Almanac Hotel.
If you’d like to know the exact rate that I paid and my next five videos in queue, please
check out the description below.
For now, let’s begin to take a look around the lobby area on this overcast morning.
Opened in 2017, this 91 room hotel is the first in what should be a new chain of European
hotels.
They were due to open in Prague and Vienna already, but surely COVID has delayed their
development.
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From the lobby we are going to head up to the rooftop lounge Azimuth.
The soon to be Almanac Group frames up the experience they intend to offer by saying,
“Our luxury boutique hotels begin with the story of each city.
Inspired by the meaningful details that create the sensory experience of travel, each element
comes together to make the unique expression of each Almanac location in Europe.”
So before we go outside to check out the pool area, let’s take a quick look at the location.
Barcelona, the tourist mecca that it is now, is a moderately sized city of 1.6 million
people.
The airport is in the south of the city and The Almanac is near smack in the middle of
it.
The hotel is in the famous Eixample neighborhood, known for its characteristic square self-sufficient
blocks and is a short walk from the beautiful narrow lanes of the Gothic Quarter.
Located on Gran Via Avenue and just a block away from Paseo de Gracia, the hotel is ideally
positioned for any visit to Barcelona.
Would have been nicer if the weather was a bit more cooperative on my trip to Barcelona,
but that’s life and it doesn’t stop us from taking in the near 360 degree views of
the city that the hotel offers.
In the distance to the east we can see the Catalan Mountain Range where you can find
Montserrat, my favorite day trip from Barcelona.
On the other side of the pool we can see Gran Via and it’s intersection with Paseo de
Gracia.
Just a small part of the Azimuth restaurant and lounge is actually in doors, with the
majority made up of the different seating spread around the terrace.
While I’m not sure I’d consider this a great place for lounging at the pool all day,
with a bit of better weather, an afternoon vermouth and some tapas would hit the spot.
Finally, if we walk around the perimeter we can catch a glimpse of the spectacular but
still unfinished Sagrada Familia.
Now we are going to head down to the primary restaurant for the hotel, Virens where we
will take a look at the small breakfast buffet on offer.
If you are thinking of visiting the Almanac, please make sure you check directly with the
hotel for their hours of operation- as this was one of the two problems I had during my
stay.
When I checked in, I was told the rooftop would open at 6:00pm and I could have dinner
there or down here in Virens.
In reality, the rooftop wasn’t open at all and Virens didn’t open until 8:30.
Because of the miscommunication, the manager offered to apply my property credit towards
room service which otherwise was excluded from the credit included in my rate- fair
enough.
When I checked in, I was reminded of the $100 property credit I had and was told multiple
times that it did not apply to room service or the mini bar- that’s fine, but if you
tell me clearly what a property credit excludes, then I need to assume it would include everything
else on property.
Well, it didn’t and while checking out the front desk agent was actually raising her
voice at me refusing to apply the credit to a $35 laundry bill.
Not a huge deal, but it had to be in the top five of the most aggressive hotel employees
I think I’ve ever encountered and left a really sour impression.
13.
The buffet on offer was essentially a Continental spread which also included a choice of egg
dishes or pancakes.
I had plenty of their coffee and opted for an avocado toast with poached egg.
The room service menu was the same as would have been available at Virens during my stay.
I was able to pick a few things that stood out to me and it was all delicious, but I’ll
just note the menu was more than 50% vegan, which is fine- but it didn’t leave many
options to choose from for non-vegan dishes.
Feel free to scan the QR code to see their up to date offerings.
Now let’s take a more detailed look at the room itself.
The hotel merged two buildings, one occupying the corner and the other just beside.
The elevators open up to a beautiful corridor and my room was the first in that side building
annex.
Let me briefly speak about the design.
I like the design throughout, but so many hotels are designing with the same palate,
essentially cool neutral tones with pops of saturated colors- especially saturated color
velvets in the restaurants that it doesn’t feel particularly special.
Especially considering their own lofty words about being inspired by the style and design
of Barcelona itself, it just felt a bit, “this could be a hotel in any city on earth” if
you know what I mean, but, still It was all very nice.
The room layout was very comfortable and plush, but also had quite a few impractical bits
which I’ll point out as we go along.
The armchair was actually very comfortable, but you need to be of a very specific height
and sit in a very specific manner for that over shoulder light to actually be of use.
Next up, this children's sized sofa, bottle of wine for scale.
The seating was low enough to instantly make me think about the tiny stools we sit on at
eateries in Vietnam.
Fine for when eating Bún bò but not so comfortable for lounging.
On the coffee table was a bottle of wine setup as a welcome amenity and the ever so popular
wooden key cards that many hotels are using these days.
On this side of the bed we have what amounts to a whole lot of unnecessary and clunky tech.
The touch pad on the wall controlled the lighting, climate and curtains and that is all fine.
Then we have the separate tablet, which is essentially just a hotel directory and can’t
actually do anything.
If the lighting controls and such were integrated into the tablet, then it would make a bit
more sense.
The silliest part for me though was the old cell phone, which was the only phone in the
room.
While there was one number stored for Room Service and one for Reception, the staff also
had other phone numbers they’d call you from.
Finally, even though you had everything in the tablet there were still paper copies.
Give me a tablet that can do everything and a real phone.
That’s all we need.
The room had a decent amount of closet space and had a nice mini bar area as well.
On offer we had Nespresso pods, plus a pod-style tea machine which I’ve never seen in any
other hotel before.
Next up, the bathroom, which had beautiful finishings.
This part of the bathroom can be closed off by two pocket doors that meet at a 90 degree
angle.
When the doors were open it was nice and spacious but as soon as they’re closed, it did feel
quite small.
As nice as the all marble room is though, the bathroom products were generic and in
non-tamper proof bulk containers, a pet peeve of mine.
Lastly, one of the strangest setups in a standard sized room I’ve seen in a while.
The toilet is in a separate room- ok that parts normal, but it is in the entry hall
and that door has got to be on the firmest auto close I’ve ever encountered.
I imagine small kids would honestly not be able to open the door themselves and there
is no way to prop the door open.
A quick walk through the room to take us to the view of Gran Via below.
In the score, I mention traffic noise as a problem.
To clarify, it wasn’t a problem for me personally, when the windows were closed there was plenty
of noise dampening- but Barcelona’s climate lends quite a big chunk of the year to sleeping
with the windows open, so if you’re very sensitive to noise while sleeping, it’s
something to consider.
Now, we head to the basement level where there is a small fitness center and sauna.
So, overall, what are we looking at here.
I’d say the facilities are more than adequate and I can imagine how this branding can easily
translate into many different European markets.
But, I couldn’t help but feel like there was something missing.
Barcelona is the gorgeous vibrant city known for its colorful and abstract Gaudí and Gaudí
inspired architecture and the Almanac just seems, pretty buttoned up.
Now onto the Flip Flop Score.
Feel free to pause to take a closer look.
I really hope you enjoyed this video today and hope you’ll subscribe for much much
more content to come.
I’ll see you next week from the Edition Barcelona.