Arriving soaking wet in the middle of the first snow storm the city has seen in 50 years is probably a good test of a hotel.

They made us feel welcome, even though we were dripping on the floor, (and had to drape all our soaked luggage round our room.)  Then they sent us up fluffy white dressing gowns so we could visit the sauna and steam room.

When we asked the concierge if he knew a particular restaurant he went a bit quiet on us.  Then we realised he was looking it up on the internet to check the reviews - and he called them to check they were still open (considering the snow!)

The highlight for me though were the artisanal cakes for breakfast.  Normally I wouldn’t order room service breakfast when there are so many cafes around, but my sister suggested it and it was a winner!  Huge jugs of great coffee, with fantastic creamy cheesecakes, apple cake and some honey cake that we just couldn’t finish.  We did try the eggs and bacon the next morning but it didn’t really cut it for me - so we went back to the cakes for the last day!  (Just writing about it makes me crave some great cheesecake... mmm... )

It was also really quiet - apparently they’ve done something cool with the walls - and the minibar prices were reasonable, the staff were friendly and the cost of the hotel was pretty much unbeatable - possibly because it’s in the business district.  Transport is excellent - 5 minutes maybe on the metro to the centre.  Not only that it was about 10 minutes walk to the main train station (Sants Estacio) and 20 minutes to our fabulous spa.

Very very hard to beat!

The only thing I would say is that, like a lot of hotels these days, the room has its own climate control.  Unfortunately for us we didn’t figure this out before we went to bed - so we spent a lot of the first night jumping up and down trying to switch it on because it was minus 2 degrees outside.  We ended up sleeping with our fluffy bathrobes over us!!  Of course we made sure to get it right the next night - but please, check your climate control before you tuck yourself in!

Also, although the hotel raves about its toiletries these don’t include conditioner, so I had pretty dry hair all weekend.  I would bring my own next time.