Hi MM!

What I meant was your directory, not the honest reviews on the message board. But never mind, I'm going nuts with this hotel reservation business!

Thank you for the Toledano tip.

This is from a Dec 05 review from trip advisor about Residencia Australia:

"The worst thing about this hostel (which is not mentioned in any other review so I must mention it!)is that it is at the top of a tall 'townhouse' and is 5 steep flights of stairs from the ground! There is a very old lift which can take you up, but which is too dangerous to bring you back down again."

Any thoughts, MM, as you were there recently? My mom freaks about elevators and she has a bad knee. (I personally don't mind burning calories and walking up the stairs). But if the above review is true, it would totally rule it out for us.


Here is the URL you requested.

Hotel D\'uxelles

Word of caution -- the home page is very dramatic! The rooms, however, look very stylish!

Back soon --

Churrito

churrocaliente wrote: Yes, that's true. You can only use the elevator to go UP and not down and I never found out why. The lift itself is quite nice, historic, but if you can only take it UP... And as for the stairs, I don't recall that they were steep at all. Just normal steepness. But going down 5 flights with a bad knee would be, wellll, challenging for anyone.

Saludos, MadridMan

I stayed at Hotel Toledano in the summer of 2000, and I found it pretty depressing. There was no A/C, no fan, so it was unbearably hot, and our room overlooked the Ramba, 5 floors up, and with the heat and the windows open it was NOISY, though, earplugs obviously would have helped. The room was dark and dreary, and small for a quad, with old cheap furniture and saggy mattresses. We only had two days in Barcelona, and we spent part of the time looking for a different place to stay, which we never found. I personally would never stay there again. The only people that might put up with it would be young backpackers with low standards. I was shocked that it was mentioned by Frommers as a possibility for families. There are plenty of other options mentioned on this board.

aidance, wow, thanks so much for your review! Do me a favor if you have time, go to the Hotel Toledano website @ http://www.hoteltoledano.com/habitacionestoledano.htm and tell me/us if it seems to be the same as how you saw it. I'm going to guess they've renovated since you were there in 2000. I only say that because now, in the description, they say SOME of the rooms have air conditioning, WiFi internet, TV, telephone.

Saludos, MadridMan

Well, the mattresses still look saggy to me, but it's possible that they've renovated some of the rooms. The location is great, but it's hard to tell what the other improvements may be. The tile floors appear to be exactly the same. Our room was directly off the lobby, so that might have added to the noise.

When I was departing Residencia Australia after my week stay there, Thomas (Tomas) the owner, let me walk down stairs, then he put my suitcase in the elevator and sent it down to me. It was people that should not ride it down.

My stay at Residencia Australia, was like staying at Thomas’s home and like everyone’s home including my own, we have a small problem or two. I never found it to a problem walking down stairs.

Churrocaliente, if your mom has bad knees I would not recommend Residencia Australia because of the walk downstairs and since it is five flights of stairs can only increase the risk of injury to her knees. I never had to walk up because the elevator I found was always working.

Bill

Good news everyone!

Well, I spent the better part of what seemed like a hundred hours looking for a hostal to stay and never found one that could even accomodate us, and if they could it wasn't for all three nights.

Hostal Ramos did emaile me saying that they now had an exterior-facing room for all three nights on the first floor (previously we would've had to change rooms. Residencia Australia also responded, but they only had two nights instead of three.

By then, it was too late, because I found a GREAT deal at the Silken Gran Hotel Havana -- a triple for 123 euros a night! This is because they have a pay for two, stay for three deal that lasts until Sept 3!

My persistance paid off ... My dad figured, why pay 90 euros when for a little more we could stay at a 4-star hotel near las Ramblas?

Believe me, I had given up and was calling pricier hotels around town and was more than happy to find this. Other hotels were charging nearly 200 euros or more for a triple.

At this point, I didn't even bother to find reviews on the Hotel Havana. But I will surely write one when I return!

The Silken chain has a points-earned club, plus other specials. I think it's worth checking out, starting at their main website: Hoteles Silken

It's possible that some of these great weekend or short-term deals (and some long-term) are there to appeal to Spanish travelers, but heck, if we can take advantage of them, why not?

Anyway, I am meeting my folks this weekend to plan out our itinerary and then will be searching for other lodging on our way to Cabrales. Based on what my dad says, though, from previous experience traveling this time around the year, Barcelona is the toughest place to find a relatively inexpensive room, although we really should be thinking about Madrid as well. It's our last stop.

Thanks everyone for your help!

If I have any additional questions about other cities, I'll post in a new thread that's not about Barcelona.

Saludos,

Churrito

Your reserved Silken Gran Hotel Havana is in the L'Eixample district. I walked by this location several times on my way to/from the Hostal Martina but don't remember the hotel exactly. But the boulevard on which it stands is quite nice with a middle walkway, very green on the edges, lots of people taking walks, walking their dogs, bike-riders on the bike path. You and your family will like the area, very residential, very elegant, fewer tourists on the streets here.

What a great deal you got! We all look forward to your review!

Saludos, MadridMan