Warning in Barcelona: Do not stay at any Som Nit Triomf

How did you find this place and how did you book?

Did you report this to booking.com and hotels.com. Did you pay with a cc? If so, report this to your cc?

so sorry for your terrible experience.

Update: I went to booking and this hotel / hostel has good reviews.

Is this the place?

https://www.somnittriomf.com/en/

I would not expect it to be a 'hostel'

yes, joe32f in Edmonds, that is the place. It gets good reviews on booking.com.

The people who gave it good reviews either paid much less per night, so their expectations were different, or they somehow knew it was a hostel if they booked in a different language. We paid 400/night, so our expectations were not met in the least. Eduardo does not deal well with complaints, and probably treats male guests differently than female as was often my experience noting how my grown son was treated differently.

I took a look at this hotel. It's listed as a guest house. I don't see anywhere that it is listed as a 3 star hotel. I did see it ranked as 3 out of 5 in regards to quality. I wonder if this is where the confusion is coming from.

When I googled Som Nit Triomf, I only see it referred to as a hostal or guesthouse, not as a 3-star hotel. Also the website of Som Nit Triomf itself doesn’t claim it’s a hotel, they call themselves a hostal. The e-mailaddress listed on their website for instance ends with @hostalsomnittriomf.com
If 3rd party booking websites refer to it as a 3 star hotel that’s not really the fault of Som Nit Triomf.
However when I checked booking.com they too don’t claim this place has 3 stars. Instead it is awarded 3 square symbols by booking.com. At first glance it appears to be 3 stars, but when you check actual hotels on booking.com you’ll see that the star symbol used for hotels differs from the square symbol used by booking.com for guesthouses and private apartments. I fully agree this is a bit misleading, but booking.com does explain the square rating on their website, so I can guess they can get away with it.

There may be some linguistic confusion here. A "hostal" in Spain is not a hostel. A hostal is a casual lodging place with regular, non-dormitory rooms. I don't know what the requirements are for categorization as a "hostal" vs. as a "hotel", but I wouldn't expect a hostal to have all the services of a hotel. However, in casual conversation I wouldn't make the distinction.

Som Nit Trionf has a 7.7 rating on booking.com. I've stayed in plenty of places with ratings in the low 7.0 range, but I know not to expect them to be perfect; for example, at that level you often get what I call "dorm-room decor". You need to go at least above 8.0 if you have high standards.

$400, if that was the per-night rate for one room, seems very high for a place with a rating of 7.7. Perhaps demand was unusually high in Barcelona at the time because of a special event.

The e-mail address contains the word hostal. A hostAl is a modest hotel, not a hostEl. Maybe this word is used in all of Spain, I do not know. I have personally stayed in a hostAl in Barcelona a long time ago and it was indeed a simple but adequate hotel.

Maybe the manager used the word hostal, and the OP interpreted this as hostel.

EDIT: I see acraven beat me with a much better description!

Looks like acraven did indeed explain it very well; there appeared to be a misunderstanding about hostal versus hostel. Reference "Hostals, Pensions and Hostels, what is the difference" in the web link below:

https://www.benidormseriously.com/spanish-hotel-star-ratings-explained

Som Nit Triomf appears to fall into the hostal category, and as the website states, "Hostals only have a three star rating system." As also explained, the price may have had something to do with a special event or yearly festival in the city. So the manager wasn't stretching the truth if the accommodation had the amenities advertised (location, air conditioning, free wifi, TV, etc.).

To the above who are responding. I would not say it was listed as a 3-star hotel, if it was not listed that way. I have pictures of the listings. It was the manager who was really the problem, his argument was that it was a hostel not a hotel, though it's listed as a hotel, and it was very expensive indeed for what we got. I would never have paid 400/night to stay at a hostel. The real burner is that he told me I could check out for my second reservation and be fully refunded, so I did. I left and he never refunded me and no response after 3 emails to him. So, as I mentioned above, my advice is stay elsewhere and then you won't have to deal with deceitful management. What that hostel does have going for it, is a good cleaning staff.

And to Lynn, I am not confused. I will email you all the screenshots I took of the places it is listed as a 3 Star Hotel.

I think the reviews on booking.com indicate quite clearly that this is a budget level accommodation with most people being basically satisfied, despite some drawbacks, as they paid an acceptable price for a great location. There is nothing to indicate that this is a high level establishment. 7.7 is actually a pretty low review score on that website.

Per their website, the most expensive room is approx €154 ($170)/night. There must have been something special going on in Barcelona at the time that would cause you to have to pay $400/night. It looks to me to be a decent place for €154 or less/night. However, that still does not excuse any rude behavior on the part of the manager, or the poor customer service.

Another issue might be the expectations of a 3 star hotel based on US standards. European hotel rating standards are different and any hotel with A/C, ensuite bath, or other amenities will rate 3 stars in Europe, but not necessarily in the US.