Hotel Majestic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

The modern, clean lines of the cool reception area of the Majestic are impressive, as is the location on the fashionable and endlessly entertaining Passeig de Gracia. The bar is one of the more inviting, and chic-est, of those in town, decked out in plain mahogany wood panels with good modern prints and not a book in sight; but the standard ‘executive’ rooms are a little disappointing. They are mostly of a uniform cut, plain, colourful and on the small side. Smooth, pale yellow plastered walls yearn for some interesting pictures, but those that are here are insipid numbered modern prints. Fabrics are in green or red with blue curtains and carpets, but all the colour going on these small spaces makes it all feel a little claustrophobic. The 300 rooms are kitted out with made to measure furniture in rich, inlaid, dark wood, with big mahogany bedsteads. The bathrooms are generally small and of travertine marble.