Madrid Travel Guide
Tags: Anti-View / Madrid Hotels / Budget Hotels / Ibis Hotels / → All Tags
The View From This Madrid Ibis is Ibusted
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Things to see in Madrid: see a game at Bernabeu Stadium. Picasso's Guernica. The Plaza Mayor. The Royal Palace.
Things that can be seen from Room 18 of the Ibis Madrid, Valentin Beato: this.
This was shot by that_james and was posted to Flickr — granted, this particular hotel is "5.6 miles from the Sol district in the city center," according to the website, so maybe there's not a whole lot around here to see.
But we suppose you get what you pay for: this 128-room hotel (it has all "new rooms with air conditioning") will cost you 76.32 USD a night — or $69.26 if you want to book with a no change, no cancellation policy.
[Photo: that_james]
Tags: Madrid Hotels / Hotel Deals / ME Hotels / → All Tags
American Passports Earn Discounts at the ME Madrid Hotel
You know how in Europe various attractions and monuments give discounts to holders of European passports? Kind of annoying, isn’t it? Well finally, flashing your U.S. passport will get you something other than a dirty look.
Time’s got the scoop on the ME Madrid Reina Victoria, where an American passport gets you 20 percent off room rates when you book at least three nights, plus a bottle of cava and strawberries en suite, free breakfast, and 50 percent off dinner for two at the hotel’s Midnight Rose restaurant.
Rates start at about $240, and the offer is good through March, which might not be warm enough to take advantage of The Penthouse, the hotel’s Rande-and-Scott-Gerber-helmed rooftop terrace, but you will get to stay at one of Madrid’s more trendy hotels—and we know Madrid's got a lot of trendy hotels, but trust us on this one. When we passed by last May, the crowd was terrifyingly hip—so terrifying we didn’t go in.
Tags: Madrid Hotels / Hotel Bookshelves / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags
Madrid Hotel Makes Good Use of Your Left-Behind Reading Material
It looks like hotels' obsession with books will definitely continue in 2009. The latest is from the Gran Hotel Conde Duque, a hotel in downtown Madrid, which has started a library out of guests’ left-behind books--a collection that has turned out to be so diverse it includes Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons and a Spanish translation of the Book of Mormon. (How’s that for some light vacation reading?)
The fact that this hotel is starting an orphaned books club definitely makes up for their lack of stylish room decor. Check out that bedspread and headboard, eee!
Tags: Anti-View / Madrid Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags
Room With an Anti-View:: A So-So Scene from the Westin Palace in Madrid
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Thanks go to another HotelChatter tipster, tombarnes20008, who dropped this photograph into the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool. It's a picture of the view from the balcony of Room 433 in the Westin Palace Madrid, and while it's far from the ugliest anti-view we've ever seen, it's certainly a view we might be a bit disappointed to find.
Take a look around from this balcony in another direction and we're fairly sure we'll see a much prettier side of Madrid. But this view is so plain-Jane that we'd think we should've paid less than the $500 minimum you'd pay for a room like this. It's all a matter of perspective. Our expectations are just higher.
[Photo: tombarnes20008]
Tags: International Hotel WiFi / Hotel Hell / WiFi Hell / Madrid Hotels / → All Tags
International Hotel WiFi Hell: El Coloso in Madrid
We're working out of Madrid today, staying at the Hotel El Coloso. We're a bit hard-pressed to say anything good or bad about the room, the service or the location, mostly because we're so floored by the WiFi Fee: 17 euros, or $26, for 24-hours worth of access.
That's only if you want to surf the Internet and instant message people ("OMFG srsly? $26 for IM??!!?" is how we imagine those real-time chats will go.) But if you want to branch out and go wild with e-mail attachments, downloading files and opening a VPN? Well, that will cost you 22 euro ($34) for a mere 24 hours worth of surf time. Plus, this is a ticking clock, people--not one that deducts how much time you use in one sitting and then saves the rest for later.
To be fair, there is free WiFi in the lobby, which the seemingly embarrassed front desk clerk suggested we use when we inquired about Internet access. Perhaps we're just high maintenance, but when we have a day's worth of work to do, we want to be in the confines of our hotel room. And so we ponied up the Amex to the Internet provider, Swisscom.
We know upscale hotels have a penchant for ripping off guests when it comes to WiFi, but this hotel certainly isn't any Four Seasons. If you have a more horrendous story of WiFi extortion, share it with us in the comments. Don't be shy.
Tags: Spain Hotels / Madrid Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
In Spain, A Man's Hotel Is His Castle
Can someone tell us what is up with Spain's King Alfonso XIII? He's seemingly like the 19th century version of Andre Balazs, what with his demands that Spain have the most opulent hotels in Europe. That was the expressed intent of his namesake hotel, Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville, which is still widely regarded as the luxury property in the city, despite the presence of a few smaller but no less luxurious boutique hotels.
Then there's the Hotel Ritz Madrid, which was borne out of Alfonso's desire to build a luxury hotel to rival the Ritz in Paris. Ah, if only online guest reviews existed in 1910.
No matter, the Hotel Ritz Madrid continues to stack up pretty well against its competition in Paris and elsewhere. A member of Orient-Express and the Leading Hotels of the World, the hotel is often noted for its exceptional service and its location across the street from one of Madrid's most famed attractions, the Prado Museum.
Though some reviewers wish the hotel would update its décor, others noted that the dated design was all part of the charm.
The Hotel Ritz Madrid seems to attract all types: families, honeymooners and celebratory travelers--at least those who can afford it, given that room rates start at $885, including VAT. Hey, if you want to live like a king you've got to expect to pay like one.
[Photo: Rahego]
Tags: Madrid Hotels / Art Hotels / Spain Hotels / → All Tags
Madrid is For Art Lovers
If you're the type of traveler who only visits cities steeped in art history and who requires that the place you lay your head be it's own work of art, we've found your dream hotel package.
Madrid's art scene is so embedded in the city that even hotels are in on the action, particularly the Urban, a Design Hotel that not only is avant-garde in its design, but also houses it's own art collection, featuring original Oriental and Egyptian art work.
Through the end of the year, the hotel is running a promotion that includes two nights in a double room, a welcome bottle of Spanish red wine, daily buffet breakfast and newspaper, parking, late checkout and a Madrid Card for a day, which earns you free entry to all Madrid's museums, including the famed Prado and Thyssen. Per person prices start at $355. Be sure to mention package code GCMD121 when booking.
Photo: [Raffles.dk]
Tags: International Hotel WiFi / Madrid Hotels / Best Western Hotels / → All Tags
International Hotel WiFi: Hotspot in Madrid's Best Western
Good hotel WiFi isn't always found where you'd expect. In relaxed Spain, our expectations aren't too high, but at the Best Western Arosa in Madrid, they're very proud of offering free wireless internet access throughout the entire hotel.
Judging by some recent guest reviews, the Best Western Arosa has only one major drawback--it's quite noisy, and you can hear other guests, the street, and even some bathroom noises. But everything else is pretty much okay, with a good central location, good service and some recently-updated rooms, and the price is reasonable too, averaging under $200 a night. Curiously, they also have 16 Japanese-style rooms, which complement their well-regarded Japanese restaurant.
But beyond the normal hotel basics, quite a few people have been enthusiastic about the free WiFi service. The hotel itself advertises it multiple times on its website and previous guests suggest that alone is a good enough reason to pick the Arosa. And unlike the Japanese instructions in Hiroshima, this Japanese-themed Spanish hotel doesn't seem to make it too hard for guest to get online.
[Photo: lindale]
Tags: Madrid Hotels / Spain Hotels / Boutique Hotels / Mini-Hotels / Budget Hotels / Monica Guy / → All Tags
Small Hotels in Big Places: Hotel Abalu in Madrid
Huge hotels in huge cities are the norm. Sometimes, though, in a city with a million inhabitants, several million tourists, and even more stray dogs and cats, you really need somewhere small and cosy to disappear to.
Madrid is one of those places. Hotels are generally either 400-room monstrosities for which you pay through the nose, or tiny 10th-floor bunk-bed dormitories with leaky showerheads, whirring fan heaters and noisy drunks outside.
We heard about the Hotel Abalu in Madrid from a groovy Madrileño friend and it sounds just blimmin' perfect.
Tags: Design Hotels / Madrid Hotels / Monica Guy / → All Tags
A Design Hotel to Start the New Year: Puerta America
So it's the morning after the night before and you're in Madrid looking for a post-New Year's Eve hotel.
Something classy, something to look at and talk about, something to take your mind off the huge stinking hangover you're suffering from. Try the 5-star Hotel Puerta America, possibly the most ostentatiously, self-consciously impractical yet at the same time fascinating design hotel in the world.
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New Years Eve Hotels: Feliz Año Nuevo en Madrid
Come New Year, the Spaniards have an excellent custom to celebrate this momentous (well okay, annual) occasion. They fill their mouths with grapes - one for each and every clang of the bell at midnight - then rush around to kiss each other Happy New Year and quirt grape juice over everyone's cheeks. And Spanish supermarkets haven't heard of seedless grapes....
Join in the New Year fun in Madrid - here's our roving Europe correspondent Monica Guy's top three choices for where to stay.
1. De Las Letras: De Las Letras is a real paradox of a hotel. Stunningly trendy, colour-contrasting interior décor intermingles with period statues, a 19th-century exterior and a Turkish hamam.
Spend New Year on the rooftop terrace peering up at the stars or in the much-talked-about restaurant. You're a few steps away from Madrid's upmarket bars and restaurants so you'll have no trouble finding chums with which to celebrate.
Double rooms from €110 ($155) for two people per night.
Tags: Hotel Renovations / Hotels Doing Good / Park Hyatt Hotels / → All Tags
Madrid Hotel Ships Old Beds To Peru
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We heard it again and again in grade school, but it's only now becoming the cool thing to do.
In our story yesterday on all the hotel renovations craze, we mentioned a Spanish hotel that is jumping on the marketing-meets-charity bandwagon by announcing its plans to donate old beds and other furniture to earthquake victims in Peru.
The Hotel Villa Magna, run by the Park Hyatt chain, is closed for renovations until October 2008. The Spanish architect and designer Thomas Urquijo is in charge of the interior decoration. The room configuration will be modified from 182 to 151, and the landscaping will be updated.
Instead of tossing the old beds, chairs, sheets, towels, and bathrobes, everything will be boxed up and shipped to South America and other regions. These countries, ravaged by natural disaster, now have enough tiny shampoo bottles to washing their laundry in contaminated water indefinitely.
Related Stories:
· Peru Travel [Jaunted]
· Hotels in Madrid [HotelChatter]
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