Melia Castilla - Madrid, Spain 

"Great"
Posted: Mon, Nov 23 2009
I stayed at the Melia Castilla with my mom and younger brother during spring break. I would suggest taking a taxi to and from the airport to the hotel because they to do not provide an airport shuttle. The approximate cost was 18-euros one way. This hotel was on the outskirts of Madrid. However, we walked about 5-blocks to the bus that you can hop off and on all day for one price, which includes stops at all the local attractions. The lobby of the Melia Castilla is large and includes everything from restaurants, a bar, stores, a travel agency, and hair salon. The entire staff was very helpful and friendly. The concierge were knowledgeable and guided us with the cheapest way to see the sights in Madrid. We were surprised to find out when we arrived that our rate included a buffet breakfast. The breakfast was large and the waiters went out of their way to be of assistance. The rooms were very clean and decent. Even though this hotel was not in the greatest location I would stay and recommend it to anybody traveling to Madrid.

Good value for money
Posted: Thu, Jul 24 2008
Stayed here for 2 nights in Jul 08. Location is fairly good thou trying to find it from Melia Castilla metro station is a little difficult. The hotel was extremely busy when I stayed. The rooms were clean, nicely presented & very quiet! The pool area is very small. I could not stay by the pool as it was full. Like others, I was mislead with the website saying free internet but you had to buy the cable from the minibar so it was not free. I had someone put their laundry bill on my account & it took 15 mins to sort this out when I checked out which delayed me getting to my meeting. It can take a while getting from the hotel to the main tourist area, Sol so if you are wanting to stay down town Madrid, I would not stay here. Even so, I would recommend the hotel to others if you get it for a good price. I'd say it's more like a 4 star.

Sneering Staff; Bed of Granite; Hooker Surprise; Great Breakfast
Posted: Sun, Jul 20 2008
This was to be the capstone of our 2 week trip to Portugal and Spain. I treated us to a 5 star hotel in Spain; but the hotel is NOT 5 star quality. I had let the hotel know by email that we would be late and needed another bed and 2 twin beds, not a king. When we arrived, there was no one to retrieve our luggage and I had to park my own car (another insult was the $27 euro charge for 10 hours at the car park). I was traveling with my 26 year old son, 16 year old niece and me, a seasoned over 50 traveler. When I went to the desk, the staff ignored me (I'm a woman in Madrid after all). The room, although large and having a nice bathroom, had a king bed, not 2 twins (none were available) and the rollaway was much to small and very uncomfortable. But nothing compared to the bed of granite, it did not move when you sat on it. That might satisfy the monk or some one who travels with a bed board, but my back was in great pain the next day (my niece as well). Then, when we went out to dinner, there were hookers at every corner, yes they were upscale hookers (not scantily clad), but still I did not enjoy having to expose my niece to that experience (my son was approached by one the next day and they must have thought my niece was competition, since one of them told her to move on!). There is a great fish restaurant right down the block, however, where we had a lovely meal. When we returned, it was to discover that the internet is locked in the 20th century and there was no possibility of logging onto any sites (this was a common topic of communication with almost every english speaking guest). The next morning, I spent over 1.5 hours trying to get the staff to change our room, they kept on ignoring my requests, hanging up on me and then not answering the phone when we called the manager. I had discovered on the 2 minutes that I could get on line that the hotel had a newly refurbished area with latex mattresses. I finally had my husband call from the states and he alerted us around 1:00 pm that they had agreed to move us to the newer section of the hotel. We then enjoyed our day in Madrid (but with those painful backs), only to discover when we returned that not only had they not moved our room, but that they had done nothing. I must say that I lost it in the lobby, announcing to all and sundry that the hotel mistreated its guests. The manager finally then came up to me and sneering, he basically told me that nothing could be done (of course, it was now over midnight and too late to book another hotel). I wanted to leave but my son reminded me that it was only for one more night. What the hotel then did was give us around 15 pillows over the bed to sleep on. I will say that the pillow menu was nice. The manager had been sweating because I reminded him that having hookers across the hotel is not 5 star quality. He offered us drinks and we parted cordially. Overall, don't go if you enjoy the Marriott, Sheridan or Hilton type beds, comfy, but supportive. The beds in most of the hotel are major under par, as is the possibility of having to view hookers; on the plus side, the rooms are very large, well lit, clean, the bathrooms are very large, there are good toiletries, and the breakfast (included in the booking.com cost) was very expansive, delicious and they also made eggs for you on request. Do not park in the underground parking next to the hotel, it is rip off city. You can park on the street overnight, but have to get up early and move the car or feed the meter. If you rely on the Internet and don't have a fancy plan where you don't have to rely on the hotel supplied internet, this is not the hotel for you. It is about 10 minutes by car (I am a veteran NYC, Naples city driver) to the center of the city, in a generally good area. The swimming pool is an added plus (outdoors, not heated), but it is only open for a few hours and there is no fitness room. Booking.com got me a good rate, but in retrospect, I should have booked at the Hilton, free parking, free internet and great beds. Also, if your trip to Madrid will involve tapas, late night eats, shopping and museums, there are much better, but more expensive hotels in the centro, like the Westin Palace or the Urban. If I had not spent over $1200 on 3 nights in Pamplona, those would have been my choices.