Gran Hotel La Florida

Breathtaking landscape views of Barcelona, stylish decoration in the rooms and common areas, excellent pool area. Overall great comfort in the rooms with top-notch bedding. The buffet breakfast is of excellent quality, and offers a variety of quality products (special mention to the apple pie). Restaurant at dinner was OK but not exceptional. Especially the Christmas Eve menu seemed too expensive and not elaborate enough.

Unfortunately this very stylish hotel is being let down by some basic flaws for an establishment of this category: we were not offered help with our luggage at neither arrival nor departure, the free-of-charge hotel shuttle to the city center was unavailable during our two-days stay. These may seem like minor details however when one books a five-star accomodation he would expect the appropriate level of service. We came to this hotel from the Casa Fuster Hotel located downtown (ironically part of the same hotel chain), where upon departure we were assisted by three gentlemen - now that's service! Also the attitude of the front desk staff was below what I am used to in 5-star venues - again, if this was a 3-star budget hotel I wouldn't complain but for this level of service and price range I would expect more. I had requested taxis to be booked for us and with the request to be told when it arrives, at some point I went to check if the taxi has arrived and saw the driver waitin with the meter running... We had two rooms booked with the hotel and short before departure I realised that our room was supposed to have a coffee machine (my in-laws had one in their room). Finally, having booked through a third-party website, our city tax fee was included in the booking price. To my surprise I realised I was charged twice for the city tax as the fee was also included in my invoice for the restaurant. I've emailed the hotel and it's been two weeks and counting that await an answer. Which is a terrible let down because as I have spent over 1,500 euros is two days with this establishment (counting meals and beverages), I would not expect them to hide over an expense of 20 euros! It is a matter of principle and I deem to consider that I want to be charged fairly for my stay! So in essence this hotel overs stunning views and atmosphere, however I was really let down by the lack of professionalism.