Beachside hotels in Barcelona

When I am looking for a hotel in a specific location (beachside,near train station, etc.) I like to look on Google or Apple Maps, satellite view, and zoom in on the area. In this case, looking at the Barcelona beach, this W hotel jumps out immediately:

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/bcnwh-w-barcelona/overview/

Barcelona beaches are nothing special - which is probably why there are so few hotels right near the beach. The nicer beaches are a little way along the coast in towns like Sitges.

You could try the Poblenou Bed and Breakfast. It isn’t high end, but it’s clean and safe, the staff are great, and it’s a 5 minute walk from Bogatell Beach. Poblenou isn’t exactly central but it’s usually 1 bus or metro to major sights. I recommend having a look at it!

Feeling chatty today...

@ AussieNomad, the right answer is that the commercial space in Barcelona is particularly at a premium because there isn't much available... hence the reason there aren't many hotels on the beachfront.

Furthermore, there are historical reasons why the beach wasn't a popular venue with Barcelonans until the second half of the 20th century.

• A large chunk of the coast, near the Poble Nou neighbourhood-which for over 100 years had been the manufacturing cradle of the city, with over 800 factories- was occupied with warehouses that stored the goods.
• Beyond this area, towards the edge of the city delimited by the Besòs river, there were shanty towns (ie the infamous "barri de Peking" or, later, the "camp de la bota")
• Closer to the city centre, parts of the neighbourhood of La Barceloneta were an iffy area that most Barcelonans didn't go to, also, being too close to the harbour the quality of the seawater wasn't healthy. In fact, until after the 1950s, most Barcelonans preferred the open-air swimming pools, such as Banys de San Sebastià located near the modern W hotel -which, obviously didn't exist at the time.
• Last but important, socially, "going to the beach" in Barcelona wasn't a thing. People went to the summer towns for that.

It was only in the late 1980s that most of the beach coast in Barcelona was recovered for beach use as we know it today. And again, the beachfront was already populated by residential buildings.