Location is one of the defining factors when choosing a hotel. This is something the occasional guest at Barcelo Malaga seems to have overlooked. I saw more than a couple looking bemused and asking, “Where’s the beach?”
The Barcelo is not a typical Costa sort of hotel. This is somewhere that’s got such a strong design ethos that it’s featured in wallpaper*, and visitors often pitch up just to gaze at the floating lamps in the lobby.
The lobby, frankly, is worth making a detour for. It’s the most avant-garde expression of the hotel’s style. Designed by Catalan maverick Jordi Torres, you can imagine Björk settling down here if she happened to hook up with a Bond villain. Which is to say that shooting a film here wouldn’t be out of the question. After all, a ceiling studded with white triangles, a curved wall embellished with transparent tiles and a giant pair of white lips aren’t going to do a lot to help a guest check in. Though the stainless steel slide from the first floor back to the lobby might help them check out again more quickly. Oh yes, a slide, and it’s regularly in use — this is art installation as playschool.
Another thing the beach brigade should have considered is the hotel’s purpose.
Resolutely for business travellers, there’s free WiFi throughout, plus six meeting rooms with space for up to 750 delegates, kitted out with some of the most uncomfortable looking chairs I’ve ever seen.
You also get privileged access to the conference centre, with space for up to 1,200, next door in the new AVE station (where you can get a super-quick train to the airport). Also making a stir are the bathrooms, where the smoked glass doors are virtually see-through — don’t share unless you’re pretty intimate with your roommate. There are no baths, but the showers are powerful with hydromassage jets. Bedrooms have large beds, a brightly coloured tub chair, and a feature wall with a photograph of a scenic local building or spot of beach. Air conditioning is a bit on the fierce side, and the only way to open the windows is to ask a member of staff to unlock them. The fitness centre is well appointed, the restaurant dishes up Andalucia-meets-Asia dishes, and the B Lounge, with its tapas-style buffet, is a good choice if you’re in a hurry. Which guests often are here, as proven by how many chortle their way down the stainless steel slide.
Estacion Vialia Maria Zambrano, Heroe de Sosota 2, Malaga, barcolomalaga.com
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