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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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by amandak
