Disappointed by Employee Treatment. I am currently staying at this hotel and unfortunately, I am writing this review under distressing circumstances. A significant portion of the hotel staff are on strike and it was eye-opening to engage in a conversation with them. I discovered that since 2019, their collective agreement has been untouched and their salaries have remained frozen. This situation is concerning, especially given the increasing cost of living. The hotel group is well-established and prosperous, yet it's deeply disheartening to see how they have been treating their hardworking employees. The staff members have been patient and understanding, especially considering the challenges brought on by the pandemic, yet their plea for fair compensation has been met with silence. Despite their predicament, these employees have attempted to engage in civil conversations with management to address their concerns, but to no avail, resulting in their strike. The inability of such a successful group to negotiate fair terms is a huge letdown. As a hotel guest, I am in full support of the striking staff. Their courage to stand for their rights in such an unjust scenario is commendable. My experience with this situation has led me to decide not to patronize this hotel group in the future. I urge potential customers to consider this information when choosing a hotel. It's essential that our spending supports companies that treat their employees fairly and with respect.

Overall the hotel is good, rooms, service, restaurant, breakfast etc. I forgot there my personal item there and the hotel was holding it for couple month until I was able to come back and get it. I am very thankful for that. The questionable thing about this hotel is location. I chose it because it was easy for me to get to the work place but next time when I was with family I picked a different one, closer to downtown.

Unfortunately, we have not had the experience we were expecting at this hotel. There is a workers’ strike ongoing where very loud drums, vuvuzelas and drill noises over speakers are played directly outside the hotel and adjacent to the pool. We can hear it inside our room. Many of the amenities are not available due to the workers strike (eg bar/cafe, laundry service). I am glad they gave a partial refund to us but to be frank I do not think this covered it. The staff have been very friendly and polite and I have no other issues other than the above. I am sure the hotel is lovely normally. I would much rather they pay their staff fairly. We spoke to one of the striking staff who said their salaries hadn’t changed since 2017 despite inflation and a cost of living crisis. Personally, I won’t be booking with Barceló group again having learnt about how they have treated their staff here.

Lovely hotel not far from the metro, nice pool. We were disappointed we we're not informed before arriving that some staff were protesting and striking outside. Made alternative arrangements for breakfast because they couldn't guarantee service. However we had a few issues in our room that maintenance sorted very quickly. Parking very expensive! Some reception staff were above expected in being helpful although some were unhelpful.

In general I am happy with my stay, however we realised from the first moment that some workers of the hotel did have a strike outside due to the poor salaries and working conditions. In my opinion the hotel should have informed us in advance because the sound was unbearable from the 7th floor not to say from the swimming pool that we bearly used. I had to complain to the reception and I got relocated to another room cause I could not even sleep. The hotel is a nice one, very clean, nice amenities. Distance from the center is not that big but is on the hill which might make me rethink if I book it again. Doing the way to the hotel on foot was quite a challenge. Barcelo group if you see this review, think about increasing salaries. Happy employees are happy clients…

Hotel is actually quite good when it comes to rooms and services. I give a 2 stars rating due to the false and misleading representation. The hotel does NOT have a spa, indoor pool nor a gym. These amenities are indeed located in the same building, but are completely independent of the hotel, the hotel just sells tickets. The price is 20 EUR per person per entry (not per day) and, worst of all, persons under 18 are not allowed.

We had to stay in a long que for getting SPA ticket. Most of the time there was only one receptionist. The breakfast didn't worth the price. Lobby had a nice view but unfortunately there was not many options to eat. The location of hotel is a little bit far from the center and good restaurants and cafes and walking was almost impossible due to large numbers of strairs in the journey.

Whilst the hotel (room and breakfast) is lovely, dont expect space by the pool. You will pay to sit on a towel on the ground as there is not enough chairs/umbrellas for the guests and the public. Even when you ask when to arrive to plan your day, you get the wrong information from the reception. Note that whilst the pool opens 10.30, apparently the area where you’ll fight for a space and a chair opens already at 10.00. You are better of staying at a more central hotel and then lay on the grass in the park. I appreciated that the reception realized that it was unfair and offered us a refund on the second might.

Please beware of, that the pool isn't heated. The hotel has very friendly staff, clean rooms, good bar and lobby area. The restaurant is medium compared to a 4 star hotel. The location is good, with only about 15 minutes' walk from the old town.

Not even checked into the hotel yet and already extremely displeased with the staff for poor and deceptive communication. Originally booked the reservation for 5 days through Expedia, I ended up needed to cancel the last two days and attempted to do this in a timely fashion according to my reservation. My first attempt to contact the hotel about this via email as I’m traveling international, I received back that this refund and partial cancellation of reservation could only be done through Expedia with authorization of hotel managers name. I emailed the hotel about this with no response, I sent them 6 emails as I’m en route to the hotel and an extremely displeased with this unprofessionalism. They are now saying they cannot honor the agreement because of peak season even though I was originally told this could be done with the cooperation of hotel and Expedia. Very disappointing service and response.

Nice staff and rooms are alright but lack style. Don't book if you want gym and pool. It is €20 extra and is not accessible to people under 18. The outdoor pool is only open in summer. Not an easy walk to get to the hotel as it is up large and steep slopes

Beds were not solid furniture. More like mobile platforms. Had 4 feet and 2 wheels. Felt like im sleeping in an extra bed i ordered despite i was expecting a room with a proper queen size bed. Everytime you move it moves under you and you fee like you have to be careful not to slide down. Sleeping at a hotel that i pay 100€ per night?? it was like a joke. Says hotel has parking but here is the tariff: if you stay full duration you pay 20€. if you come to your room for a shower and refreshment and decide the leave for dinner by car, you pay around 10€ AND 20€ the next morning. Good way to make money. i ordered the room including breakfast. But guess what? it starts at 8.00. when ur visiting for business, waiting till 8.00 for breakfast is usually too late. Starting should be 7.00 latest. When i wanted to exclude the breakfast front desk said they can prepare a take-away for me and i said that would be great. They didnt deduct the amount and take-away never came during my whole stay. i paid for the breakfast i could never eat. on the comments it says hotel is pretty close to the center, in walking distance. it is pretty close but no one mentions the hundereds of stairs you need to climb on the way back. dont think that you can walk to center and back if you are not ready for a good climb. last and not least, i choose the hotel because it has a pool and i was thinking maybe icwould enjoy it if i had the chance. But you are limited to a maximum of 1,5h at the pool and you need to book in advance. Never seen such thing in my life, i felt like i was scammed by whats told here about the hotel.

Nice hotel. My one gripe would be referring to the hotel pool in the advertising when one has to pay €20 to access it. Outside pool was closed so without paying additional one would have no access to any facilities. For a couple that would be €40. Don't think I've ever come across that before in a hotel. Besides that nice breakfast and location was ok very near transport to get into the city centre.

The hotel lobby, bar and restaurant are great. The rooms… to be honest, they are not on par with the rest of the hotel and specially its price. The walls are very thin and we could perfectly listen to the tv from neighboring rooms. Service at reception was also very poor, specially from what turned out to be a grumpy old man. VERY POOR wifi. The gym does not belong to the hotel and costs 8€ extra. Great breakfast.

Staff were very unpleasant and treated us like unwanted. Food on the bar counter was not being cooled and had flies on it. Pool had not enough sun-beds for guests and was full of outsiders with their own towels. No access control whatsoever. If someone opens the doors anyone can get in. For three visits we were laying on the floor. If you want to have a drink from the bar they don’t ask you if you are taking them to the pool, to find out at the pool that you need to go back to the bar to get a plastic cup and then you’re allowed. Unbelievably disorganised hotel and anti management society. Even though we paid for the car park for the entire stay, we needed to wait on a queue at reception to get a ticket every time we needed to leave the car park. Procedure requires improvement. There is no shade around the pool. It would be good if the host builds some pergolas or similar. Cigarette buds all over the floor all the time at the entrance near the smoking area. Hardly gets swept. Billiard table has worn off cloth and broken cues. Very noisy cross fit activities start before lunch happening on the ground floor, so getting enough sleep is not possible. We were told we can’t have drinks at the bar put on the without opening an account but despite paying in cash there was still a charge to pay at check out.

Omg, this place is awful! The rooms are small and poorly refined. No double beds for a start, no storage space for clothes, not sound proofed, someone was having a rave downstairs and we heard it all day!!!! You don’t get a complementary water top ups, The restaurant is not open due to staffing strikes that have gone on for months…which we where not told of…the spar and gym facilities are extra because they don’t actually belong to the hotel, this would be fine but we where lead to believe it was all in the price!!! That’s an extra £20 each!! And the staff in there are less than useless. The cleaning staff don’t clean!!….we came back to the beds made but no bins emptied, glasses not replaced or bathroom cleansers, dirty plates left on the side. Walking to or from the hotel from the old town is like walking through a horror/kidnapping film set up, it’s just awful! Do not come here just for the pool, it’s really not worth it. The saving grace (if you can say that) is the bar and reception staff are friendly

We have to compare this hotel with another chain hotel we just had in Madrid. Which is similar overall to this hotel , but was just at a bit higher level of standards as the occidental Bilbao. Even with a longer stay at a lower price level. So high fives in this case aren’t given. The good: Friendly staff Good location Good pool The bad: Varying breakfast price per day. Wifi throughput very very bad. Fallback to own 4G. Loose squeaking floor. Restaurant can’t be call a true restaurant for diner. Not enough sun beds at pool. Parking price a bit too high as guest. But we needed a safe parking.

I wish I could write a separate review for the bar and reception staff here, who are absolutely wonderful... Poorest hotel I have ever had the misfortune to stay in, we are actually leaving 2 days early despite pre-paying. The advertisements, and some glowing reviews were incredibly misleading. Cheap, tatty looking, poorly designed and dated rooms. Lots of noise from neighbouring rooms (including an all afternoon rave from downstairs somewhere!), not at all adequate storage or hanging space, tea and coffee facilities a joke, a drinks fridge churning away right by the side of the bed all night for a start. There were only twin rooms available with two single beds. No help on request to rectify this... We paid €20 each to use the gym and spa, and were met by rude and unhelpful staff, who huffed and puffed about giving us towels, didn't explain the complicated lockers, or think to mention that we needed a swimming cap to use the pool - resulting in us getting shouted at by a pool attendant which was both embarrassing and distressing. The gym is actually a private members gym and not part of the hotel at all, so is incredibly busy. The hotel is a 20 minute walk steeply downhill to the old town, through a very rough neighbourhood.. I would not recommend doing this walk alone at night. Worst of all, after over a month of staff strikes due to poor pay and working conditions, the hotel still has no functioning restaurant and skeleton staff, trying their best to keep the guests happy. Absolutely disgusted hear this.

Lovely hotel. Has a train station down the road that can bring you up and down the hill. We found the walk good. 10 mins from old town. Great breakfast. Very nice staff. Would recommend.

Nice breakfast Expensive parking Gym is paid separately and expensive There is not so small, not so pretty and not so kind person attending. By the way, you can find free parking at 5m distance. Look for streets close to Europa Park. Other than that, the showers are great! 😉

Nice hotel with friendly and helpful service. Above all, the hotel scores with a good location and transport links and no height restrictions for cars. Rooms are neatly furnished, clean. Been there twice and certainly not the last time. In addition, Bilbao is a great city you must visit in the Basque Country.

Pretty disappointing for a 4 stars, rooms are worn out, location is a tat out of center and away from most of the POI, along a road and no restaurants or bars around. It has a parking, 20 euro a day, rooms are quiet if on the back watching the city. I was changed rooms 3 times, the entry type rooms at 78 euros a night are only twin beds, you need to pay another 15 euros for a queen bed (never seen this in my life), then I was put in a room reeking of cigarette smell, last one was passable on 7th floor, with a nice view. For 1 night on a business trip this place is tolerable. Defintiely not a good tourism hotel nor practical in any way for much business travellers neither. Breakfast was good though, nice choice and quality products too.

BEWARE this hotel! Because of the new covid spike we had to make adjustments in advance of our trip... They would not refund ANY of our 8 night booking and would not even let us reschedule. The manager and staff were completly uncaring and would not give any flexibility at all. They wouldn't do a partial refund, reschedule, or even a future stay credit. They just wanted to pocket our money. Avoid this greedy uncaring business.

Great Hotel. Friendly and helpful staff. Comfortable and clean rooms and wonderful showers. Will use it everytime I have to go back to Bilbao.

Spa and pool is not a part of the hotel! You must pay the same as anyone else to drop in

Great hotel, also the only one with swimming pool in the city!

Nice rooms, good pool but avoid the restaurant.

Ohh Emma and her good hubby can highlight us.. Outside town no hussle easy to find to and economic....

Staff were an absolute delight...so friendly and happy and couldn't have done more for us.... particularly everyone at reception and David in the bar were so helpful and really made our stay a very enjoyable experience a massive thanks to you all. Super hotel would highly recommend. Thanks again all

The reception desk was so friendly. Especially Jaume. I have zero complaints about the staff! My room was cleaned every night. Everyone was friendly. I have two complaints: 1) when I walked up to my floor I immediately smelled smoke 😭 2) I wish the bathrooms had space to put stuff on. I’m not used to bathrooms having no space near the sink to put makeup etc on.

It’s an mediocre hotel. The bed is big and comfy and they have a front desk with kind personnel but other than that the room is sterile, the location is not great and you have to pay extra for any amenities. Not what I expected for a “4 star hotel”… would rate it 2 stars comparable to others.

Beautiful hotel. The staff were so friendly & welcoming when we arrived & took the time to ask what we were interested in seeing & printed out some timetables & gave us some really useful info. Dining room is large & a massive selection of items from the breakfast buffet X Really close to the metro station Santaxtu so easy access into the city

very beautiful hotel. clean and big rooms. parking 20€ per day is not the cheapest.

Nice place to stay, excellent customer service.

I only stayed 1 night but it was pretty good. The room was pretty basic, similar to cheaper hotels honestly. But the service and the space made the difference, everyone was rlly kind, nice and helped with anything. The only thing I didn't like was the location tho, I had to go to the Guggenheim and bc we were 3 people I had to spend a lot on public transport to get there. Personally I don't like using the car and the public transport is rlly good here but it's still rlly annoying having to use it every time you wanna go out. I also hate walking and I didnt have my bike so...

Beautiful place to stay with family and friends

Standard mid-range chain hotel mainly serving bus tours and business travelers. There were no issues with comfort, quality or cleanliness. The neighborhood is not touristy at all, and up a steep hill from the centre of Bilbao. It's an enjoyable but long stroll through a characterful suburb if you're up for the exercise. If not, Santuxu metro station is 2 minutes from the hotel. The area was lively and felt safe even later at night. I didn't get far speaking English around the area, including with the hotel reception staff, so you are definitely at an advantage if you know some Spanish/Basque. The differentiating amenity is access to the Metropolitan gym below the hotel. It's an excellent, full-service upmarket gym with wellness which otherwise doesn't offer day passes. Hotel guests can buy passes from the hotel reception. Another unique highlight is the roof terrace overlooking the entire city (although it is admittedly not a particularly photogenic skyline). The rooms are spacious and stylish, but have open-plan bathrooms which narrows down the type acquaintance you might want to share a room with.

Fabulous hotel and a fantastic place. Staff lovely and food fab. Really in joyed the stay. We'll worth the money

I only had 1 night. Could have stayed longer. Lovely hotel & staff. Its a great location to see what the city has to offer. Great value for your money 👍 Hope to stay again.

The hotel is 14 min by car from the airport. There is a parking lot if you rent a car. The service is super nice and their friendly. We had the double room. Everything was so clean and the breakfast is amazing. If you want to go on a sightseeing tour. The metro is 4 min. walking! We had a great time here.