Barceló San Salvador

“Business trip stay best choice in San Salvador”

Excellent hotel for either business or pleasure, staff is super friendly, you feel like you’ve met them from before. Room is big and cozy. Surroundings are plenty of options, bars, restaurants, malls however, if you like, the food at the hotel restaurants is quite good at fair price. Special thanks… more

Excellent hotel for either business or pleasure, staff is super friendly, you feel like you’ve met them from before. Room is big and cozy. Surroundings are plenty of options, bars, restaurants, malls however, if you like, the food at the hotel restaurants is quite good at fair price. Special thanks to the supervisor Mrs Vanessa Ventura.

less

“We would stay here again!”

Just stayed here last week with my wife. First time in San Salvador, so we booked this for our first night. Since I booked direct online and did the 50% prepay, we got a good deal on price and stayed on the Premier floor (10), which has a lounge for breakfast, snacks and drinks. Views are good, … more

Just stayed here last week with my wife. First time in San Salvador, so we booked this for our first night. Since I booked direct online and did the 50% prepay, we got a good deal on price and stayed on the Premier floor (10), which has a lounge for breakfast, snacks and drinks. Views are good, beds confortable (we got a king room), and there are many retaurants in the area (walkable). Its about a 20 minute uber drive to the historic center of town. We would stay here again.

less

“Design defects causing serious noise issues”

We stayed at Hotel Barceló in December ’24 for 7 nights. Due to sudden, loud creaking noises coming from above the ceiling of our 10th floor room, we were unable to sleep properly for 5 of those nights. The noise only happens at night, when the wind is gusting strongly (the wind drops during the da… more

We stayed at Hotel Barceló in December ’24 for 7 nights. Due to sudden, loud creaking noises coming from above the ceiling of our 10th floor room, we were unable to sleep properly for 5 of those nights. The noise only happens at night, when the wind is gusting strongly (the wind drops during the day). Mercifully, we were able to sleep for the last two nights, because the wind dropped. We changed rooms four times during our stay, but all the alternative rooms we were moved to were also on the 10th floor, and all suffered from the same problem. Due to it being high season, there were only one or two limited options on other floors, each with its own problems (as to which see later). After so many nights of being awoken on repeated occasions through the night, a feeling of light-headed sleep deprivation was the norm for us during most of our stay. We spoke with reception about this issue on several occasions. There was a clear desire to help and, significantly, a clear knowledge of the existence of the issue, but a reluctance to talk about it, or even to acknowledge it. It appeared to me that staff are instructed not to acknowledge the existence of the issue, and to dismiss it simply as “the weather”. However, strong winds seem common (at this time of year at least), and the hotel construction should be such that it is strong enough to withstand them without compromising the comfort of its guests. The prevailing wind appears to be from the volcano side of the hotel. Perhaps the issue is less pronounced if staying on the opposite side of the hotel. We tried this. However, on this occasion we were kept awake until 2am by loud music from a party on the rooftop of a nearby multi-storey building. Such parties appear to be regular events. Another of the 10th floor rooms that we were moved to suffered not only from the noise referred to above, but also from being directly below the gym and subject to all of the usual gym noise (running machine noise, banging etc). Yet another room we were moved to suffered from a very loud ice machine (working 24/7) on the opposite side of the room wall. It was barely noticeable during the day due to the usual daytime noises. However, the constant droning throughout the night was a nuisance. The reception staff were clearly aware of this issue. Quite why the hotel management doesn’t change the ice machines for quieter ones is beyond me. They’re so loud that they sound almost like trucks. We enjoyed our time in El Salvador. However, we’d be reluctant to stay in Hotel Barceló again (though accept we may have no choice, given the limited options available). None of the above is intended to reflect badly on the hotel staff. They were, without exception, warm, friendly and helpful, and always did their best. The rooms are generously sized and comfortable (but synthetic pillows over-filled and uncomfortably thick). Without the wind noise, I'd have given the rooms 5 stars.

less