Stayed at Grand Derby with 2 children. Location is not great, but easy to get taxis and buses and move around. It is halfway between the stadium, Passeio de Gracia and Montjuic. It is a business/residential area. There are 2 strip clubs a few doors from the hotel, but we never saw any dodgy looking people in the area. (I think they must go out much later than we did!) There is also an AMAZING patisserie around the corner. The first room (duplex) we were given, although very spacious was quite smelly as there is not direct light coming to it. We arrived late and the night porter was nice but not very good at solving problems and giving directions... We changed rooms the next morning to a junior suite. The guys at the front desk (during the day) were extremely nice. They were very good at recommending and booking restaurants, finding train times and giving us directions. The swimming pool is also a bonus at the end of the day.

My boyfriend and I went to Barcelona for a weekend city break and found this hotel on the internet. We thought the price was reasonable considering some of the prices of other hotels in Barcelona. I was a bit concerned before arriving due to some of the reviews I had read...but was relieved when I got there. I wouldnt say it was totally up to 4 star standards but I was acceptable. I was slight confused when I got there - the hotel seems to be linked to another hotel across the road. I never really got to the bottom of this but I think the restaurant, bar etc is in the hotel across the street. This I wasnt really keen on but we ended up on the la Rambla every evening so it didnt really matter in the end. Our first room was one of the duplex suites - I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with it - the sofa was very worn out looking. The window looked out onto a small tunnel with other rooms facing directly onto it...it just wasnt great. However, like another reviewer we were given the option to upgrade. We were shown 2 different suites and were allowed to choose which one we wanted. We accepted the upgrade and it was 20 euros per night. The upgraded room was far nicer - there was a glass panel from the shower into the bathroom! There was loads of room, a big tv etc Finally I do have to admit that the hotel was quite far out from the city centre. Though we decided to buy a 2 day pass for the hop on hop off bus tour and there was a stop 5 mins away from the hotel so we used that to get about combined with taxis. It worked for us.

My boyfriend and I stayed at this hotel in mid-February for 4 nights. We booked it last minute and without doing much research ahead of time. When we arrived, we were told that the hotel has renovated many of its rooms, and that for 20 Euro more per night, we could have an upgraded room. We asked the man at the front desk to show us the non-upgraded room we had reserved as well as the upgraded room available for the additional fee. The upgraded room was amazing! Shiny hardwood floors, plasma television, separate living room with another television and sofa, sunk-in bath tub, animal-print accents, modern lighting fixtures, etc. All for just 20 Euro. We quickly agreed to stay in the upgraded room, since our total cost for the room per night was still only going to cost approximately 140 USD. What a steal for this nice of a room! We stayed in numerous hotels throughout Europe before we got to the Hotel Gran Derby and paid the same price, but got a lot less. The service at the hotel was also great. Every morning we ordered coffee with milk through room service. Our coffee also arrived within ten minutes and was absolutely delicious (and only cost about $10 USD with tip). Although the Hotel Gran Derby is located in a business district, a subway stop is only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel (the stop is Hospital Clinic). Once you get to the subway, you can go anywhere in Barcelona easily, including to the Las Ramblas. Thus, although there are certainly hotels that are more centrally located in Barcelona, you can't beat the value you get at the Hotel Gran Derby. Plus, on the walk to the subway, there are a couple excellent pastry shops which had some of the best sandwiches and treats I have ever had. This makes the walk to the subway something to look forward too :)

Clenliness was not to the standard I would expect from a 4* hotel. Room in great need of re-decoration. Location not ideal for accessing centre of Barcelona. Overall, very disappointing.

The good news: hotel staff very friendly and helpful; rooms spacious, but not in a real 4 star shape anymore, lots of edges and corners better not to be looked at too carefully; I had a big living room and a separate sleeping room and bathroom upstairs; nice furniture, two tvs (who really needs that?), nice bathroom with stylish amenities; very nice breakfast, not too many choices but really beautifully set up. The bad news: no view out of the windows since the room was minus 0,5 levels from the ground floor (bedroom beeing plus 0,5 levels above the ground floor, but still facing a wall in 2 meters distance); metro stations at least 15 minutes walk, which is not too pleasant to walk in the middle of the night; tramstation nearby, but without connection to the center; neighborhood typical of spanish big cities, but not really a beauty. Next time I would try to stay near the ramblas or placa Catalonia or in Gracia, which is a very nice neighborhood. Barcelona is a great city!