GSMA says there's nothing wrong with Barcelona
RESPONDING TO criticism of Barcelona as the venue for the prestigious Mobile World Congress here, a GSMA spokesman has told the INQ it will stay in the city "for the foreseeable future."
Indeed, David Pringle claims that crime was down from last year's event. Approximately half of the reported crimes happened within the Fira exhibition centre and the other half outside.
On the subject of hotel rooms, Pringled claimed, "We will pay particular attention to the rates charged by hotels." He admitted, however, that he is still seeking data on what the typical premium is on hotel rates. The hotel the INQ stayed in almost doubled its rate. Today a room would cost €145 while during the show it was €256.
As far as the 2009 Congress is concerned, the GSMA says that will it definitely take place in Barcelona and – all things being equal – the MWC stay in Barcelona after that, too.
Many delegates complain, however, that when the show was in Cannes it had a small 'campus' atmosphere whereas in Barcelona they fell lost in a big city. µ
Share this:
ShareBusiness Intelligence Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Accounting Software
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Systems Management
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.
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.
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.