Hotel Icaria

Loved Icaria Hotel...

by A TripAdvisor Member

My husband and I stayed at Icaria Hotel for 4 nights during our two week honeymoon in August 2005. We had traveled to Paris and then we were going on a cruise, which left from Barcelona. Our travel agent recommended this hotel to us and we loved it! We liked this hotel because it felt a little like home (USA) yet with a European style. Out of all the hotels we stayed in when we were in Europe, this was by far my favorite!!

The sandy beach is just a two minute walk across the street and we had some of the best seafood at the restaurants on the beach! It can be a little pricey (depending on what you order) but its well worth it!! And if your not from Europe - dont be offended if the waiters take a while to bring you your coffee, food or bill - its just how they operate there. The Europeans are very relaxed and take their time when they go out to restaurants/cafes. As far as the beach - it was crowded, but probably because it was the weekend and most Europeans are vacationing during the first two weeks in Aug. The water was a pretty blue and warm - perfect weather while we were there! There is also a nice pool at the hotel; however we preferred the beach.

As far as the rooms, they were great! We were very excited about the hotel becuase it was reasonably priced (we booked online). Additionally, we were upgraded to a suite - which was like a small (studio size) apartment. The room was equipped with air-condition, a flat screen tv, a personal computer (with free internet access), a nice big (and comfy) bed, small kitchen sink and refigerator, and a spacious bathroom with a standup shower and multiple showerheads. As far as the food, we ate breakfast at the hotel every morning. I cant remember for sure, but I think it was included with the room. Anyways, the food was good - they had a good variety to please everyone.

The downside is that this hotel is not in the heart of the city. However, a cab is pretty cheap and we even walked a few times - the weather was great so we didnt mind. It's seriously maybe a 15-20 min. walk to all the shops/bars/cafes. We were actually exhausted from the sun all day, that we didnt go out and enjoy the nightlife. That's probably the only regret we had about our time in Barcelona. Also, I have to say that the staff was ok; however, they will not go above and beyond to meet your needs - unless you specifically request something. I do remember asking the front desk staff for restaurant recommendations and that was very helpful.

I would highly recommend this hotel! It was very close to the beach, had clean and comfortable rooms, and reasonably priced! I would definetely stay here again!!

Nice hotel, but poor service

by A TripAdvisor Member

My wife and I decided to stay in this 4* hotel over Christmas, from Dec 22 - 27th.

Upon arrival the hotel seemed to be fantastic, however the staff on the reception desk were not the most helpful.

The main thing that spoiled our time in the Hotel Icaria was the resturant.
Upong booking the room, I had left a question in the comments form asking to be informed of any special arrangements needed for a Christmas day meal, I was aware alot of place might be busy or closed.
A month later we had not heard anything back, so to be safe, I rang the hotel from England, I was told that it would not be a problem and that we could sort the meal out upon arrival.
On Christmas eve, after asking what time the meal would be the following day, I was told that the resturant was not open tomorrow.
This was the evening before Christmas day and we had just found out the resturant would be closed, Luckily there were other hotel guests in the same position as us, so between us we managed to find somewhere to eat on Christmas day, No thanks to the hotel staff.

On Boxing day, having had a tiring two previous days, we decided to eat in the resturant, when we went down to eat, we were told that 90% of the menu was not available, only a sandwich or burger!

Our room was very nice, if a little cold, however this seems to be a common complaint about the Hotel Icaria.
Like a previous reviewer of the hotel, our dvd player was also missing the DVD drive.

We won't be staying in the Hotel Icaria again, and that is a shame because apart from the resturant it really was quite nice, and the staff aren't really that bad.

Fantastic!

by TripAdvisor Member Vicky_H66

Three of us stayed for a week at the Hotel Icaria in July 2005.

We got cheap Jet 2 flights from Leeds/Bradford Airport....no transfer required as the taxi only cost about 30euros (between 3 of us) so it was good value.

It was great. I found the hotel on the internet for very good value for 3 of us sharing the room. It was great value. After searching for some time, there are very few, reasonably priced hotels, with a pool in Barcelona centre.

The hotel is in a quiet area (i looks like a business area) with a little shopping centre and supermarket nearby and a couple of restaurants. I liked the location as its only a short walk from the beach, and about a mile or two walk from the centre of town and other sites to see. It is also a short walk from the popular night spot, The Olympic Port (good but expensive). I do not however recommend risking walking home after a night out, as we got mugged....our own silly fault really.

The hotel staff were very polite and the rooms were lovely and cleaned every day. Not a very nice view from our room, but to be fare, who sits in their hotel room in barcelona and looks out of the window!

Overall, a brilliant holiday, and cant wait to go back

Nice new building - deserves better management!

by TripAdvisor Member dawntreader57

Hotel Icaria is a wonderful building, very clean and new, but for us, it was sadly let down by the offhand manner in which we were treated. We would certainly remove a few stars from this hotel.

We booked one twin room and one single for our party of three 2 months before travelling. On arrival we were told they could only offer us two double rooms, and that they were on different floors. We were then further informed that one room was not yet ready to move into. (This was 5pm in the afternoon). We had to dump all our cases in the first room until the other was cleaned and ready, about 2 hours later.

On the second day, my son's own towel (i.e., not one of the hotel's) went missing from his room. It turned out it was taken to be laundered, but we had not asked for this to be done. It was returned a few hours later wetter than when it was taken.

On the third evening the power in my son's room failed, along with a block of about 5 other rooms. It was finally fixed in the early hours and my son as woken by a staff member who entered his room uninvited using a master key card to check that the power was back on!

We found the staff at reception relatively efficient but also cool and detached. The Bar and dining room staff were rather friendlier. Breakfast was OK, but the coffee machines kept running out.

Don't be deceived by the official photos of the pool - its quite small.

We might go back to Barcelona, but not to the Icaria Hotel. We would settle for a less-plush hotel and friendler staff any time!

Great hotel

by TripAdvisor Member EmoDublin

I stayed at the Icaria Hotel for 5 nights (16th-21st of April). I thought it was a great little hotel. Its very clean and modern and the staff were friendly and helpful. Its got a lovely outdoor pool and deck area where they serve food and drink. The only drawback is that its a 30 min walk to the main Las Ramblas area, however we enjoy walking and it is a lovely walk by the beach, so it didn't bother us. A taxi home at night from las ramblas only costs approx €7. Also the no 41 bus runs every 5 mins from right outside the door of the hotel and brings you to Placa de Catalyunain approx 5 mins, also the metro is only a 5 min walk away. On the upside the location is great as it is 5 min walk to the beach and to the Olympic Port where there are lots of great restaurants and 10min walk to the Barcelonetta beaches. Overall I really enjoyed my stay at the Icaria Hotel and will definitely stay there again when I return to Barcelona.

Nice hotel, great location, poor service

by TripAdvisor Member san_aira

We have just returned from 5 nights at the Icaria Hotel. In general, we have a positive feeling about the hotel, but there were some aspects who dissapointed us. It did not always deserve the 4 stars...

Negative aspects:

-Service at the breakfast buffet: often there were not enough glases etc and it always took a lot of time when they had replaced it: it should have been replaced much faster, the food ran out very quickly,...

-Service at the main desk: not friendly, we did not even get a goodbye when we were leaving, we had to carry our bags to a little room by ourselves: my knee was hurt and I couldn't walk properly and nobody asked me if they could help me.

-Distance to the metrostation: it was a bit further than we expected. You have to walk 10-15 minutes to get there. But it didn't bother us that much, so it's ok.

-Some lights in our room were not working

Positive aspects:

-Location!!: very quiet, very close to the beach, safe, very close to port olympic, where they party until 5 am. Nice boulevard to the centre: if you are into a nice 45 min' walk.

-The room: very modern, very nice, amazing bahtroom, airconditioning, nice view

-Nice breakfast buffet

-24 hour desk

-the pool was small but ok

-the room was very tidy

I would probably go there again for the location and the nice rooms, but not for the service.

Not bad

by TripAdvisor Member Chaywest

We arrived late evening and our allocated room had a ginormous cockroach scuttling around we had to wait while someone came up to investigate, we were immediatley given a suite which was very well appointed and the bathroom was great, the shower could have washed you down the plug hole... The room was very cold the air con seemed not to want to be adjusted, however by this time it is 10.15pm we are tired and hungry so we went into the hotel restaurant the waiter told us that most things on the menu were finished so we ordered what we could. He went off into the kitchen and lots of screaming and shouting was going on, hmm we thought... we knew it was about our order 5 minutes later the waiter came back and told us that we couldn't have what we ordered but he will personally russle something up for us for free and we can also have the wine for free (it was a cold plate of salad and cheese with bread).

The hotel is in a good location the rooms are quiet and the pool area is very nice all in all it isnt that bad although the staff need a little training in hospitality and for the price you pay i think it is very good value.

Barcelona!!!

by queentravel

"Hotel Icaria"

We loved this hotel... The service was pretty good. We tried to get a list of restaurants in the area but the front desk staff didn't speak much English- it was no big deal because afterall we were not in America... We did find a nice restaurant in the Olympic Village area

"Club Life"

"Olympic Port"