Holiday Inn Express Sant Cugat, Sant Cugat

It seems almost redundant to review a Holiday Inn Express. This is the sort of hotel that just about every traveler has gone to, and it manages to do exactly as one would expect, providing a competent hotel experience. Sant Cugat is not necessarily the most obvious location for such a hotel, being a small community on the outskirts of Barcelona that is pretty remote from the places one would want to go to in Barcelona, but the hotel itself is a pleasant enough one. This hotel is by no means flashy–it has friendly staff and manages to do what it does with competence–but in a world full of uneven performance this even competence is enjoyable enough.

So, what sort of things does this hotel do well? Well, it provides a worthwhile place to sleep, even if two of the three nights I was at the hotel I was unable to sleep in because of the timing of flights, unfortunately. At least the other evening was enjoyable. It provides an enjoyable breakfast experience, although I only got to enjoy breakfast once, since we had to leave before breakfast started the other two mornings, again because of travel concerns. The hotel also does a good job of calling for taxis, even if taxis are pretty expensive to get anywhere and it is by no means convenient to get to local trams, even if they are enjoyable to travel on as well. If the place is not close to any restaurants, at least it is a good enough place to stay in its own right.