Atenea Calabria Apartaments

We (family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 ninos (5 and 6 years old) stayed three days in this hotel. To make it short: we found the stay quite pleasant. The room was basic and old, but functional. Nothing for self-indulgence or luxury, but it did the job. Really remarkable is the amount of gadgets the hotel delivers: from soaps, shampoo, razors, sponges, comb, tissues, toothbrush and toothpasta, shoe cleaner, knitting set etc etc was all included and available on the room. I travel a lot but I have never seen another hotel delivering these fast amount of (useful) gadgets. The room was big enough for the 4 of us but could for sure use some refurbishments. Some complains: the hotel does not really cater to business travelers: first, there was no WIFI (but a broadband connected computer in the first floor. And yes, it was possible to reuse the ethernet connection for my notebook...) Second, I could not get the receptionist to deliver documents to a courier (FedEx). I had to wait personally for the courier and hand deliver them. Third, I needed to sent a fax to the US and they wanted to charge 3 Euros per page - the highest fax-sending-fee I have ever encountered anywhere Forth, the late afternoon and night receptionist understands and speaks only English when he wants to and was a difficult to deal with for non-standard requests (like delivering documents to the courier). These problems, however, are mostly relevant only for business travelers - and then again, why would they want to stay in this hotel? Only cases like me with some business going on even on family travel run into trouble. Would we stay there again for family travel? You bet.

We spent three night at Aparthotel Calabria last week and were very impressed. We were group of three but wanted to share a room, Calabria met our needs perfectly. The room was very clean, plenty of space and a very modern bathroom, beds made every day and towels replaced. Each morning we were able to start our day with a wide range of choices for breakfast and the dining room was never so full as to be uncomfortable. The reception staff were mostly helpful and the reception area gave a very accurate impression. Although situated on a busy road as long as the window was closed there was no disturbance. At night the room was a little stuffy and we couldn't get the air con working, we couldn't leave the window open because of the noise in the morning! I'm sure with advice of the hotel staff this would have been overcome should we really need the air con. An extremely pleasent experience and I would recommend it to anyone.

I hosted here 7 nights during december 2005. If you read this during 2006 or later you must know there were on works so the apartments may change. First of all: Barcelona is a expensive city and for the price of the Calabria (in my case 75 euros with buffet breakfast) is a good option, becasue the location is great (a very safe zone between Plaza España and Universidad, 100 mtrs from subway stop Rocafort with some restaurants, bars, theaters and cinemas) and you have a small kitchen to dinner if you want (and a supermarket is beside the building). But the apartments theirselves are another thing: although they are spacious (you have balcony, tv room, bedroom, a small kitchenette and a bathroom) they are very old fashioned. We had to change from apartment two times because the conditioned air was broken (and they didn't know) and after cos the kitchen of the new apartment was very... "slow" (45 minuted to boil water, for instance). Another troubles: the remote control of the TV didn't work so they had to change it and you have to ask de hair drier on the reception desk everytime you want to use it. The staff is not unpleasant but not also very efficient and the parking fares are (in my opinion, excessive -18 euros + 7% VAT each day-. So they are a good chance (for the kitchen, for the location and specially for the huge breakfast) but they could be better. Maybe the works are because they have dettected it and want to make the building better!

I spent three nights at the Calabria with my adult daughter. We both highly recommend the hotel. For 65 euros per night we had what would be deemed a spacious apartment in most major cities. Water in the shower was hot, plentiful, and had strong pressure. There was a small kitchen area complete with sink, two hot plates, a fridge, and a supply of utensils. The sleeping area was roomy and had plenty of wardrobe space. Past the bedroom was a sitting area with a desk and comfortable chairs. A sliding glass door opened up onto a balcony. We had an interior room, and it was very quiet at night--no need for earplugs. The rooms were clean, and the service was excellent. Even better was the location. We had a short walk to the Metro (which runs trains four minutes apart and will take you anywhere you want to go in Barcelona),, and there was a well-stocked supermarket adjacent to the hotel. The last pleasant surprise was breakfast, which was included in the price. There was an elaborate spread of ham (serrano and york), cheese, breads, cookies, fruits, cold cereals, scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage, juice, coffee, tea, hot chocolate--everything you could possibly want or need to fortify you for each day's adventure. Should I return to Barcelona I would again make a reservation to stay at the Calabria.

If you plan on getting any sleep on your stay in beautiful Barcelona avoid this hotel if at all possible. This hotel was, hands down, the loudest hotel my husband and I have ever stayed in anywhere. While it is true that the hotel is located in a quiet neighborhood it should be noted that it is also right next to the neighborhood parking garage which seemed to be open 24 hours a day. In addition to the constant honking of horns the street cleaners, maintenance crews, and trash trucks start work around 4am. As other reviews have noted the walls are very thin allowing you to hear everything your neighbors do and say. The rooms were fairly clean but very cold, impersonal and in desperate need of remodeling. Fortunately, the staff was very helpful, the breakfast buffet was well stocked, and the hotel is very close to a metro stop.

mini apartments for 2,3,4 people well equipped, absolutely clean , large enough and the structure has the quality of services of an hotel. Breakfast s excellent . Moreover, it is cheap and very closed to the central Barcelona. A 4 stars hidden by a 3 stars on the tag! Recommended!

We stay at this hotel four nights in Decembre 2004. The rooms were very big, and the breakfast was ok. The location was in a quiet an friendly neighborhood, 15 minutes walking from Plaza Catalunya. The only problem is really the walls, which are very thin and you can heard everything from next room. Fortunately, we only had neighbors on the last night. We would stay there again.

We just got back from staying 5 nights at the Aparthotel Calabria. We read all the comments beforehand and decided that the price and location were what we were looking for. We got it for around 80 euros/night given it was during the holiday season in mid-late september. The location was good, it was in a quieter neighborhood, about 100m away from the rocafort metro stop. There were restaurants, supermarkets, and stores close by within walking distance. As the previous reviewers have said, this place looks like it's from the 1970s. we had some problems with the bed, the bed spring was broken, but they were kind enough to let us change rooms. The negatives were: despite switching us to another room, the beds were awful. The walls were thin and so any movement from someone across the floor or next to you you could hear. If you had a room by the main street, you would be woken up all night since the noise is loud and the walls were not thick. We asked for a wake up call on a number of days, but they never called us. we eventually bought an alarm clock or else we would have missed our flight. the showers were hit or miss if they worked. The positives: staff were courteous and nice. they offer breakfast though we didn't have it there. the rooms were clean, practical, and did its job. the rooms were larger than most rooms we've stayed in europe. they had a kitchenette with a simple stove and refrigerator.

After reading raving reviws on this piticular hotel, i felt it obligatory to add some honest truths about it. Yes it was in a practical location and very clean, but disappointingly cold, in both terms, temperature cold and atmospherically cold. it was a weird blend of compleatly practical to a shivvering degree. i would only reccomend this hotel if BASIC is what you are after. No soft, cushsi extras avalible. To be fair not terrible, it was very clean and breakfast was good, but it was very true to the word SIMPLE. If a little bit of self indulgence is required on your holiday, then this place should be avoided at all costs, as i dissapointingly found out for myself.

Have just returned from a fantasic holiday in Barcelona and wish I could go back. When I do return, I'll be sure to AVOID this hotel again. Where do I start? The hotel or "apartment building" looks deceivingly attractive from their website and listing on Expedia. This is just a ploy to make you think that you are going to stay somewhere nice. Upon check-in, we were told that our room was not ready, which was understandable as it was not quite noon. We asked to put our bags somewhere and was granted this only to have to find our way to some dodgy looking storage room with wires and junk all over the place. Eventually got to the room and were amazed at how bad it looked. It was in serious need of some refurbishment and looked like something out of the 1970's. As we were here for nine nights, we didn't want to make too big a deal of this as it might spoil the mood. But, we were faced with several problems throughout our time there: The balcony door broke on the first day and was impossible to lock. Despite informing front desk of this, nothing materialised and was broken the whole time we were there. The air conditioing system started to leak and there were huge puddles of water all over the "kitchenette" floor. Also, when turning the A/C to different levels, sparks were coming out of the device. The fridge in the room had some awful smell omitting from it and we daren't put any food in there. When the maids did clear the room, they seemed to forget to make one of the beds and left all the rubbish behind on one occasion. When we first arrived in the room, we found some lipstick and makeup underneath the sofa bed. The floor was filthy and looked like it hadn't been washed in ages. Had to make sure that we had socks or shoes on all the time. Some of the plug sockets were literally hanging off the the wall and are in need of immediate attention before someone electrocutes themselves. Simple request of an iron was met, but no ironing board. How can you iron without this??? Had to use the TV cabinet of all things to iron on. The most important thing didn't work: the safe. The lock just seemed to have disappeared! Nothing was done about this. I'm sure there are other things that my two other friends would like to add to this, but I'll let them write up their own reviews. Overall, the hotel was below stanard for what we paid (and what was advertised). Despite being extremely close to a Metro stop (Rocafort), I would advise anyone to book a hotel closer downtown as the Metro closes at midnight and that means a cab ride and many of the drivers rip you off - that and you're just in such a better location downtown.