The hotel in Barcelona, Frontair Congress, was a very bad hotel. Hotel staff were rude. The room was dirty. The hotel in Lyon, Campanille, was also dirty and small. The breakfast was bad. Basic spoon, fork and plate were not available.
As for the guides, we were very happy with Abdel, Spain guide, and Diego Bueno, our Interlaken, Grindelwald and Lucerne guide. Both of them were empathetic on our needs. Their English was good. We understood them the entire time. Angeles, our guide in France, was nice but we barely understood her English. 
Over-all, we were very happy with the Novotel hotels we stayed in, both in Madrid and Paris.