August 2009- This year, CNBC Business has refined its criteria for ranking Europe's best hotels for business travellers. While we still insist upon outstanding service and facilities, in these straitened times, value for money must be considered, too. We're not necessarily prescribing austerity — an ionised pool and snappy room service would make most business travellers more productive — and luxury and value are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, there is a case that those four-figure thread counts or lobby harpists are good calls for the chronically insomnolent or the highly strung go-getter.

So this year we are honouring the best hotels for business in terms of location, service, amenities, style, ambience, and value for money. Oh, and we've also considered the ease of website booking – after all, time is money too.

19. ME Barcelona, Barcelona At the centre of the city's architectural and cultural must-sees — and also close to the Barcelona International Convention Centre — this is a supremely stylish and well-priced hotel, with an impressive roof terrace, spa, well-equipped bedrooms (with free Wi-Fi) and lavish bathrooms. Despite the slightly groovy Austin Powers vibe, this hotel is serious about business; there are two large-capacity, all-purpose meeting rooms and a whole slew of smaller rooms. me-barcelona.com