Its hard to feel the benefits of that 'campus atmosphere' when you are staying in a hotel 20 miles from the venue. For all the crime and criminal hotel prices, I would choose Barcelona over Cannes any day of the week. Sure I miss the croisette, the yachts, and Farfalla, but I don't miss the daily commute, the lack of taxis, or the ridiculous dash between meetings from one end of the Palais to the Noga Hilton.

I was just in Barcelona for an unrelated event, and the hotel pricing seemed to be quite peculiar. It changed from day-to-day, sometimes double the lowest rate. I asked about this and they said that the rate adjusted to demand, so the fewer the rooms available, the higher the rate. Regardless of the fact I had booked for 10 days. I asked about a fixed rate, and if I had gone with that, it would have been higher overall than the floating rate.

Other than that, I had a great time in Barcelona, except I lost my camera.

I live in Barcelona, and i can say that the true thieves are the hotels' owners. Rooms that had a cost of 50€/night where bumped to 700€/night during the congress. What will they earn ? The Congress getting another place far far away. That's what they will get.