Zenit Borrell Barcelona

Service & facilities: - when i first got to the hotel it was sunday afternoon and i was really hungry. i picked up the phone and called the room service after i had a look at this tempting menu they have planted in the rooms. a voice replies to me in spanish, i tried to communicate and that voice could only speak spanish!!! after a while, was transferred to the reception desk and the gentleman tells me that it was 4pm and the room service are closed daily from 4 to 8pm!!!! - the fridge (minibar) was less cold than the outside temperature and it's not that mine was the only one not working. my friends in the other room were lucky enough to have a balcony where they preferred to keep their drinks than to keep it in that useless fridge! - the tv and tv channels were a disaster. all channels are in spanish. the only non-spanish channels were cnn, raiuno, mtv europe and al-jazeera. try spending one day in bed there and believe me it's a torture! hotel staff: - back to that story on room service, what kind 4 star hotel in a so called "touristic" city like barcelona would hire someone who can only speak spanish?! - this is how nice and friendly are the staff members of zenit borell: we bought a nice bottle of red wine on our way back home but of course none of us remembered to get a wine opener. so we call the reception and ask for one. the gentleman replies that the hotel cannot provide us with that or help us open it the hotel can only open wine bottles that we buy from the hotel!!! - finally, the last straw. while checking out we asked the staff to call a taxi to pick to the airport. the "nice" gentleman at the reception desk apologizes because the phone lines are down in barcelona! that was really unacceptable. i gave my mobile phone to the gentleman and ask him to make an international call to call a taxi for us because i wasn't going to walk out there in the rain with my luggage and look for a taxi myself. so he suddenly "remembered" that they might have a mobile phone inside. he disappeared for a minute and our taxi was here in 10 minutes!!

Staff could have been more friendly

They charged my debit card a night's charge the day before i arrived then charged me the two nights at the edn of my stay. after a couple of phone calls the amount was re-credited but that meant my account was €130 short for a week. they said it was my bank but how could that be as they originated the original charge. a bit worrying.

Breakfast, not enough fruit on offer, too much cakes and biscuits. dinner, menu changed once during week. hotel a good 20mins. walk to la ramblas.

My wife and l stayed 8 nights at hotel zenit borell in barcelona from 18 to 26 sept. upon our arrival l was asked to pay half the bill in advance and half after 4 nights, or a first half after 4 nights and the other half at the end of our stay. this is not standard practice and no such pre-conditions were set out in the booking confirmation. when we returned from lunch after the 4th.night, we could not get into our room. both our keys were useless as the doorlock was blocked. all our valuables were in the safe in this 4-star hotel room where both l and my 50-kilo wife have to walk crabwise to avoid bumping into the few pieces of inadequate furniture. our second suitcase had to go under the table as the mini-fridge with the safe took up half the wardrobe. except for our first 2 nights there, aperitif was in an unlit bar with 5 gaping holes in the ceiling stuffed with cloth. towels, buckets and a big container litter the floor to catch dripping water. luckily there was only one full day without hot water in the room for a shower. breakfast was a fair spread, while of the 4 main courses on the menu card, 2 were unavailable when we dined there on our first 4 nights. we stopped taking our meals there and certainly we will never patronize zenit hotel again. thank you for posting my comments on your site.

No mirror in the bedroom/no teas maid in the room. language barrier - english not good with some of the staff.

Beware - the food is typical catalan. we were on half board but could not stomach most of the food on offer. in fact we ate out on the second night because the menu was the same and there was nothing we liked. we asked for some explanations of the menu but staff did not speak english (that's not a criticism!).continental breakfast was however ok. for the price paid it was not the experience we had expected and in hindsight wish we had booked a 3* in a more convenient location for similar or cheaper price.

Apparently easy to book had messed up the booking and the hotel were alittle unsure if we were coming fortunately the receptionist held the room open and although we did not arrive until 10pm the room was ours.this had happened to a few people

Bar staff a bit slow (but prices good when considering its a 4 star hotel)!

Small rooms, service at the breakfast