Estelle Sarney and Grant Bradley check in to Chic&basic Ramblas in Barcelona.
Overview: A reasonably modern building with 97 rooms and styling of the 1960s and 70s (the chic part). The hotel's doors frame images and portraits taken by "Gauche Divine" photographers from the Catalonian city. The first thing you notice is a car in the lobby, it is a tiny SEAT 600 variously nicknamed "la hormiga" - the ant, "el ombligo" - the navel, because everybody has one, "la bolita" - the little ball. It was the car that put Spain on wheels from the late 1950s and helped drive an industrial economy.
Location: Within about 70m of the bottom of the famed La Rambla tourist boulevard (hit by a terror attack two weeks before we arrived but was packed with tourists - and watched over by a few conspicuously heavily armed police). It's a €35-€40 (NZ$60-$68) taxi to and from the airport.
Check-in experience: Perfect. We arrived about 8am after a slog on a budget carrier from Budapest but to our delight our room was ready. These are moments when you feel like hugging a stranger.
Room: On the third floor, not huge and slightly odd shaped (the basic part) but it came with a kitchenette and plenty of storage. Air con and a big TV with mainly local channels.