re: Where to stay in Barcelona?

Everyone disagrees with my travel habits, but I also have close to 1,700 nights with one brand alone, so I'm a bit peculiar. You've probably already picked up I'm a heavy shoulder season guy for leisure. My basic principle is that if you insist on going where everyone else goes, when they go, you'll make it to Europe or Asia every couple of years. If you're willing to endure some weather uncertainty, you can go more often. Doesn't seem that complicated to me. My parents were pretty cheap, so we spent a lot of time hitting grocery stores overseas and picnicking, and almost no time in restaurants, and it obviously took.

I was a military brat that was overseas as a kid a lot, so I'm generally more confident in how to get problems taken care of, and how to avoid them overseas. I'm willing to take some risks, when prudent, but do not do questionable stuff like fly American from Texas to JFK, fly LH from JFK to FRA, etc. to save $80. And, the obligatory, OTAs suck, and overseas, they absolutely suck.

I spent 10 years explaining to my ex why we shouldn't use my Farriott points to stay at a hotel in Dallas ($200 a night), and should save them for the Prince De Galles ($1100 a night for a basic room,) and everyone just goes, "but you have points!"

Good job on using points for a balls out experience. It looks awesome. Have you stayed at the W in Barca? It's obviously a standout landmark, but it screams millennial to me, (not just because it's a W that
probably has odd hallway music and fuchsia lighting at night.)