The lifts of doom

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October 27

cj hubbard writes:

The Hesperia Tower hotel in Barcelona is a very grand affair – but also rather odd. It’s one of those designer places where a) the architect apparently couldn’t quite make his mind up on the style so used several of them at once, and b) is so full of dark and glossy surfaces it surely can’t be uncommon for uninitiated punters to enter a room and either walk immediately into a mirror finished wall or not be able to find their way out again.

It’s also slightly disquieting for being located adjacent to some of the Barcelona badlands – a position chosen for its convenience to the airport – and given this somewhat creates the impression of having been dropped at random from a great height. An appearance enhanced no doubt by the domed restaurant on the roof looking akin to a bulbous glass sided ufo. I loved the place; others were less keen.

We were staying at there ahead of driving the new SEAT Leon Cupra R – 265hp of front wheel drive hot hatch, full first drive on the main MSN Cars site shortly. The main point of chagrin? The elevators.

Being a whacking big tower obviously it needs lifts – four of them, in fact. Making the point even more obviously, the only stairs we could find were on the outside of the building. Anyways, instead of the usual buttons, there’s a control panel, accessed by swiping your room keycard. This then tells you what lift you need to wait for. It’s no good getting in a different one, even if it should arrive earlier, because it won’t be stopping at your floor.

Fine. Weird. But fine.

Except in the morning, when everyone is trying to get to breakfast. And it turns out the staff have got over-ride keys. So you find yourself waiting 20 minutes for your assigned lift, only to then discover it’s been hijacked by someone else and you need to start the control-panel-card-request process all over again.

Finally, just when you begin to think it can’t get any worse, this happens:

So, just to recap. You’re on the thirteenth floor of a towerblock hotel. There are no stairs. And the elevators apparently aren’t available. Exactly how are you supposed to get down?

Genius. But if nothing else, certainly a talking point.

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Links:

SEAT unveils 265hp Leon Cupra R

Renaultsport Megane 250 first drive – the uncut version

The smallest of dramas on the Citroen C3 launch

Secrets of the Wolfsburg Ritz-Carlton

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