Our hotel in Barcelona won't have their central air conditioning working before our stay next week and have told us that they have put "Penguina's" in each room. These are room air condtioners (not fans, I'm assured) that are freestanding - they don't install in the window. I've seen them advertised in European stores and know they're popular in Europe, but have never experienced one.

Anyone have any comments about how effective they are? I don't need to sleep in a refrigerator, but I can't stand a hot, sticky room and Barcelona is quite hot right now.

I want to stay in this particular hotel for a number of reasons, however, I do have another hotel booked "just in case" and we're leaving in 3 days, so I have to cancel one of them pronto!

Thanks, Candice NYC