Ooh la la!

Here’s the thing about me, I hate hotels! I find them to be clinical and impersonal and I feel suffocated at the prospect of staying in one for more than a couple of days, given the choice, I will pick an apartment over a hotel any day. Saying that, I really love finding hotels that are innovative, comfortable and have oodles of character – kudos to the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona for being one such hotel! Barcelona is such a cosmopolitan, vibrant city and I think this hotel really reflects this character. I can picture myself being right at home here! Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola is responsible for the interior design as well as some of the furniture design. I absolutely love the chairs throughout the hotel, particularly the unusual chairs in the Mimosa Garden! Also, how fabulous are those patterned wall hangings and the floor designs in the lobby and restaurants?

I read an article in the Independent about this hotel that really made me smile – particularly this line:

“Before setting out from the Mandarin Oriental for a day's sightseeing in Barcelona, I left the novel I was reading face down but open on the bed. When I came back, the book was closed with a bookmark at the appropriate page; and not just any bookmark, but one in the shape of a closed fan with a burgundy silk tassel dangling from it. In my book, hotels come no classier than those in which chambermaids are trained to mark your page with a burgundy tassel”.

 

IMAGE CREDITS: Mandarin Oriental Barcelona