Best Western Barcelona Suites

My girlfriend and I recently stayed here for 2 days and 3 nights.

The first day we were there, she opted to hang by the pool while i was out of the morning. Upon returning to our room, her key card did not work. She went to the desk and the desk argued with her telling her that she was trying to enter the wrong room and that the correct room was on the other side of the hotel. They made her go to the other room on the other side of the hotel to confirm that it was her room...and it wasn't.

She continued to tell them that we were checked into the room she said we were checked into. They said that was impossible because they just gave that room to someone else. Apparently someone the night before had moved our room without telling us and then checked other people into our room. The owner went with her to check that our possessions were still there. They were. When I talked to the owner upon my return, they apologized but did not show any real concern.

That same day we saw housekeeping move past our room. I told the housekeeping woman that we needed her services in our room. She nodded. She left. We went to the desk about 1PM prior to leaving to tell the desk that we needed housekeeping services. They had probably skipped us because we were "not checked into that room." Two desk people said it would be taken care of. Upon returning to our room after midnight, nothing had been done. I called the desk and they made us come down and get our own towels.

Next day we were woken by phone calls from housekeeping at 8AM, 8:15AM, 8:30AM, and 9:15AM. I spoke to the owner about all of our trouble again. She looked surprised but did not offer any solution to the problem. I asked if my rate could be reduced as this stay had been absolutely horrible. She confirmed when we were leaving and made it seem she would be there to help us out rate wise when we were leaving.

When we checked out the next day, she was not there. The desk person was unable to change the rate as she was not a manager or the owner. We called the hotel to speak to the owner each day for 4 days following our stay and each time she was not there.

Finally we got in touch with the owner's husband who was a co-owner. He argued with us telling us that everything had been taken care of when he verified that all of our possessions were there. When we reminded him of all of the other problems we had and he repeated that all of our possessions were there when he checked the room. He had horrible people skills and refused to give us a break on the charge they made for the room.

1. They gave strangers keys to our room.

2. Housekeeping skipped us.

3. The desk failed to send housekeeping up.

4. Desk made us get our own towels at the desk.

5. Housekeeping woke us with phone calls 4 times first thing in the morning.

6. Owner did not help at all when we discussed the problems on multiple occasions.

This hotel was absolutely horrible to stay at.

Excellent place to stay plus a good value for your money. The Barcelona Suites does not look or feel like your typical motel. It has underground parking and a beautiful massive lobby area with stained glass skylights and nice paintings on the walls. We felt the underground parking provided better security than most motels. All rooms are suites with 2 large rooms - a living room and a bedroom that has a door separating it from the living area. The building has a very quiet central air conditioning/heating system just like most homes. No noisy window units - like most motels - that wake you up every time the compressor starts. Each suite has a thermostats to control the temperature. In the evening, the motel provides complementary warm, home-made chocolate chip cookies for the guests - they were great. The complementary breakfast is prepared by a chef.. The morning of our stay the hot breakfast consisted of eggs cooked the way you wanted them, hash brown potatoes, bacon or sausage, and toast. It was the best motel breakfast we've had in a long time.

The Barcelona Suites is not on the freeway so you won't see it as you drive through Albuquerque. It is located about 10 blocks South of I-40 on Louisiana BLVD NE. It is easy to get on and off of I-40 at Louisiana Blvd NE. The motel is located is an area that has no highway noise and congestion. Louisiana Blvd NE is where the main shopping malls and many excellent restaurants are located. The location of the motel is convenient to everything in Albuquerque.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay on June 12, 2008, at the Barcelona Suites. The staff were professional and friendly. Our suite was great and very quiet. We will stay at the Barcelona Suites every time we are in Albuquerque. If you are staying in Albuquerque, you should stay at the Barcelona Suites to see how nice a motel can be.

Good things: 1) rooms were big enough to sleep six 2) we paid the weekly rate and 3) the atrium has a decent southwestern décor.

Now the bad: The entire front driveway is a fire lane - where do you park to check in? Vehicles over 6'8" can't get into the underground parking deck & must park on the street. The parking level was dirty; the trash cans overflowed. Only one elevator worked all week. The southwestern-style dining area was OK but the mismatched furnishings came from Costco: Billy-the-Kid meets Office Space.

The key took 4-5 swipes to unlock the door; someone was always down front getting cards re-keyed. Bathroom towels had paint or other stains on them. The floor towel had a boot print on it. When I called down for more threadbare towels, I was told that none were available. I had to use the couch cushions to prop up the sagging hide-a-bed mattress because it was missing springs. The beds & pillows were so uncomfortable that my wife awoke on day 3 with a walnut-sized knot in her neck. It took 15 minutes with a massage therapist to work it out.

Monday evening the A/C quit. A maintenance person was supposed to fix it but when I called 45 minutes later, I was told that we would be moved instead. My third call got us moved - the girl came up to the new room with me & did a quick inspection. The shower backed up & room service was intermittent. Outdoor pool & game room were closed all week. We tried to move but no other hotels had suites available.

On our last night, a couple walked into our room with a key. Apparently, the front desk had not changed our registration when we moved. This 'unkeyed' our cards so I had to re-key my card again.

At check-out, we were not registered correctly so it took 10 minutes to get the correct room charged to my card. The polished response, "I do apologize" was less convincing each time it was repeated as we checked out.

I rarely saw uniforms. One staffer wore a black tank with gold chains & "droopy drawers." My favorite was the woman behind the desk displaying her chest tattoos under her spaghetti-strap top. With the exceptions of the girl that gave us the weekly rate and the one who reassigned our room, the staff was impatient & unprofessional; as if my requests were an inconvenience.

In conversations, I discovered other guests' experiences were bad too. Reviews indicate Barcelona Suites has sucked for awhile. It's location probably ensures that people will continue to stay there so improvements are unlikely. Best Western should be concerned that it's name is out front. Fix it up or take it down. Instead of being a decent place to unwind, this place was a dump that ruined vacation by creating more stress than it relieved.

The hotel had a very convenient location. It was quiet.

The location and the price were ok. The cleaning staff had not properly cleaned the room, including some very personal trash left in the bathroom, for which the manager apologized but he was not quick about removing it. Do not expect a comfortable night's sleep if you have to use the fold out couch. It failed both as a couch and a bed and it was the worst night's sleep I ever had. I would rather have had a bed in each suite rather than a bed in one and the couch in the other.

This hotel made me feel welcome: The check in staff and the manager were very friendly.