Hotel Praktik Bakery - Barcelona, Spain
September 9th, 2015
I really fought for this hotel. I read an article in Conde Nast Traveler that talked about a boutique hotel with a working bakery in the lobby. Hotel Praktik Bakery. The price was within our budget (odd for CNT hotels). And did I mention fresh baked bread in the lobby?? I saved the hotel on TripAdvisor. And it was always the hotel I shifted back to when we were talking about Barcelona. Adele kept finding others. But I was adamant. Fresh. Baked. Bread.
Imagine my disappointment when the joy of the fresh baked bread couldn't make up for the hotel itself.
Now let me step back for a moment, the hotel was beautiful. It was hip and shiny and new. Crisp white lines everywhere. The hotel was inviting. Both the smell wafting from the lobby and the minimalist decor. It wanted me to like everything.
First things first. There is no parking at the hotel. There is also not really a loading area. We made it to the hotel during rush hour, so there was a concern we would have a problem dropping off our crap. Luckily, we found a spot that had been vacated moments earlier. I jumped out of the car to check in while Adele turned on the hazard lights.
You walk through the bakery to get to the front desk. The woman at the front desk was very friendly and gave me the scoop on where to park and how that works. You get the ticket in the parking garage (left at the end of the block, left into the garage) and pay for the parking at the hotel. Cool.
Our room was on the second floor at the end of the hallway. A common area was there for people to gather (no one ever really did, but it was nice that they could). A computer sat on the complete opposite side of the wall from where our room was. At first, I wasn't sure why there was a computer, but when we realized how crappy the WiFi was in our room (and in the common area), we understood. The WiFi was garbage.
The room itself was modern. A TV against one wall. Two beds against another. Everything was white. But what struck us both were the lack of important details. Drawers. Closets. Lighting. Places to store our steadily accumulated crap.
The bathroom was the same way. A shower stood at the end of the room, but there was no place to put the toiletries. Same thing with the sink. There was maybe a place to hang one towel behind a door. Two of us were staying in this room and there was no place for even one of us to keep our toothpaste and contact lenses. To make things fun, the light above the shower kept shorting out. Basically, we had a disco show going on during a shower. Which is so not what anyone wants to deal with while on a slick, wet surface. I did let the front desk know, but nothing ever got fixed. Maybe "strobe light" means something different in Spanish??
We realized the hotel was all form, but no function.
Breakfast at the hotel wasn't included in our room rate. We could have purchased it in advance, but we chose not to. We were dumb. Two of the three mornings, we ate breakfast at the hotel, paying for it after the fact. The third morning was a holiday and apparently the bakery is closed for the holiday. Boo.
Now, breakfast...that was amazing. Though slightly confusing. There was tea and coffee and a Keurig maker (or something like that). But you had to ask the front desk for the tea (and possibly coffee...I don't drink coffee, so I didn't quite pay attention to that part). I learned about this on the second day.
But there were pastries and orange juice and croissants and meats and cheeses. The breakfast spread wasn't as glorious as in Sitges, but was pretty darn good.
Overall, the location of the Hotel Praktik Bakery was spot on. We were able to walk to the Familia Sagrada, shopping, and the Starbucks which helped cure a mondo migraine from the night before). There's a really good Indian place around the corner. And a Thai place that doesn't look at you weirdly if you roll into the establishment in your jammies while dealing with another migraine (different person, different migraine).
At the end of the day though, the Hotel Praktik Bakery was just too hip for me. I guess I'd rather have storage and stuff versus the stylish rooms. The bakery though, that place was legit. It just wasn't quite enough to make up for the rest. Which is sad. Because I wanted this to be the hotel I could rave about. And unfortunately, it just wasn't.
I really fought for this hotel. I read an article in Conde Nast Traveler that talked about a boutique hotel with a working bakery in the lobby. Hotel Praktik Bakery. The price was within our budget (odd for CNT hotels). And did I mention fresh baked bread in the lobby?? I saved the hotel on TripAdvisor. And it was always the hotel I shifted back to when we were talking about Barcelona. Adele kept finding others. But I was adamant. Fresh. Baked. Bread.
 |
| Even the dog is excited for this place!! |
Now let me step back for a moment, the hotel was beautiful. It was hip and shiny and new. Crisp white lines everywhere. The hotel was inviting. Both the smell wafting from the lobby and the minimalist decor. It wanted me to like everything.
 |
| With bread and wine the way it goes (according to Google Translate) |
You walk through the bakery to get to the front desk. The woman at the front desk was very friendly and gave me the scoop on where to park and how that works. You get the ticket in the parking garage (left at the end of the block, left into the garage) and pay for the parking at the hotel. Cool.
Our room was on the second floor at the end of the hallway. A common area was there for people to gather (no one ever really did, but it was nice that they could). A computer sat on the complete opposite side of the wall from where our room was. At first, I wasn't sure why there was a computer, but when we realized how crappy the WiFi was in our room (and in the common area), we understood. The WiFi was garbage.
The room itself was modern. A TV against one wall. Two beds against another. Everything was white. But what struck us both were the lack of important details. Drawers. Closets. Lighting. Places to store our steadily accumulated crap.
The bathroom was the same way. A shower stood at the end of the room, but there was no place to put the toiletries. Same thing with the sink. There was maybe a place to hang one towel behind a door. Two of us were staying in this room and there was no place for even one of us to keep our toothpaste and contact lenses. To make things fun, the light above the shower kept shorting out. Basically, we had a disco show going on during a shower. Which is so not what anyone wants to deal with while on a slick, wet surface. I did let the front desk know, but nothing ever got fixed. Maybe "strobe light" means something different in Spanish??
 |
| Ahhh yes, there was that one place to hang a few clothes out in the open. |
 |
| I actually want this for my own house. |
Now, breakfast...that was amazing. Though slightly confusing. There was tea and coffee and a Keurig maker (or something like that). But you had to ask the front desk for the tea (and possibly coffee...I don't drink coffee, so I didn't quite pay attention to that part). I learned about this on the second day.
But there were pastries and orange juice and croissants and meats and cheeses. The breakfast spread wasn't as glorious as in Sitges, but was pretty darn good.
Overall, the location of the Hotel Praktik Bakery was spot on. We were able to walk to the Familia Sagrada, shopping, and the Starbucks which helped cure a mondo migraine from the night before). There's a really good Indian place around the corner. And a Thai place that doesn't look at you weirdly if you roll into the establishment in your jammies while dealing with another migraine (different person, different migraine).
At the end of the day though, the Hotel Praktik Bakery was just too hip for me. I guess I'd rather have storage and stuff versus the stylish rooms. The bakery though, that place was legit. It just wasn't quite enough to make up for the rest. Which is sad. Because I wanted this to be the hotel I could rave about. And unfortunately, it just wasn't.
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