DrMaturin

Check out Plaza Santa Ana a few blocks from the hotel. Loads of outdoor cafes and an open, central area for kids to run around in. I see kids there all the time when we go there.

DrMaturin

Oh, sorry NetBrowser07, I didn't realize your post was from January. I hoped you checked out Plaza Santa Ana!

Medved

Just finished my first night here. It was Real-Atletico match yesterday, so hotel was sold out as celebrations for either side would be just in front of the hotel. Was pre-upgraded to exec room but asked for a suite upon arrival as I am expecting Mrs Medved and two cubs to join me this afternoon. All exec suites were long gone, some juniors still available according to spg.com. Took a while to find me one. Very nice FD agent Estephania apologized for long wait and scaffolding outside.
Fantastic room, fantastic hotel, fantastic breakfast.^ No free porn found though

aleksir

Thanks for the great pictures and report. We're staying at the Westin Palace in September for 3 nights, also on cash & points. Great idea emailing for upgrade options - I haven't done that before.

NetBrowser07

Thanks for replying. We did have lunch at Plaza Santa Ana and it was fabulous! Kids had a great time.

FrAAmer

We arrived at the Westin Madrid via cab from the Atocha Train Station. We had taken the Airport Express bus from the airport and mistakenly followed Rick Steve's guidebook that said that the last bus stop was the one we wanted. The bus now stops at Plaza de Cibeles (which is closer and an easier walk to the Westin) and also the Atocha train station. Being tired from our flight, and not knowing the area as we do now, we caught a cab from the train station and paid the €2.50 service charge for departures from the train station - The total fare was €8.50 for a five minute ride, but well worth it as we were tired, had luggage, and didn't really know where we were going.

The hotel is an easy 15 minute walk from the train station and we did walk there when we returned from Ronda at the end of our trip - though it is a bit uphill. Our bags were taken by the bellman and would be quickly delivered to our room.

Check-in was quick and we were offered our Gold amenity of 250 SPG points. We were told we were upgraded to an Executive Level room, which we were disappointed to find was directly behind scaffolding so there wasn't much of a view. However it would appear that many of the rooms suffered the same fate as the hotel is undergoing renovation and we weren't going to be in the room during the day anyway.















After staying at the Grande Bretagne in Athens, we expected that the Westin Palace Hotel would have been a bit more opulent. Since the hotel was undergoing renovation, all of the lobby furniture had been removed and there was nowhere to sit. Combined with the incessant jackhammering that rattled through the lobby all day (but never in the room) there really wasn't any reason to hang around the hotel, let alone eat there. So, we really can't give a fair review of the public spaces as they were blocked off and under construction.

Directly across the street is a wonderful coffee shop called, Faborit. We ended up having breakfast there daily and found the coffee and food quite good and reasonable.

We found long ticket lines at the Prado and Reina Sofia museums so we walked to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum which is right across the street from the Westin and bought a three museum ticket. There was practically no line! While the tickets needed to be "exchanged" at the Prado and the Reina Sofia, we were allowed to go to the head of the line, which easily saved us two hours of waiting in lines at the respective museums. The tickets were good through the end of the year, so we felt no pressure to use them on the same days. In fact, we went to two museums at the start of the trip and one at the end.



We were able to jump to the head of the line with our three museum ticket!


We started and ended our Spain travels in Madrid. We had two nights at the Westin at the start of the trip and one night at the Westin at the end, (@ 12,000 points per night) with our last night in Spain at the Madrid Airport Hilton (see my stay report in the Hilton Forum) because we had a 6:45 AM flight. Knowing that we were going to return to the hotel, and having come from Lisbon with purchases and clothing that we wouldn't need during our time in Spain, we asked if we could leave things with the hotel and pick them up when we returned. They were most accommodating and it saved us from carrying a lot of weight on the trains as we travelled. The train station was an easy downhill walk to continue our journey to Seville and points south.

For a comfortable place to sleep that was conveniently located to everything and with a staff that was friendly and eager to please (especially the concierge who gave us two great restaurant recommendations) we enjoyed our stay.

La Barraca Restaurante
Calle de la Reina, 29, 28004 Madrid, Spain ‎
+34 915 32 71 54
http://www.labarraca.es/?lang=en

Easy walk from the hotel. Very friendly restaurant with great Sangria
and excellent Paella, though we would have preferred more La Soccarat
(the slightly burned crust of rice on the bottom of the Paella pan) and would recommend saying so to the waitress.

El Rincon de Esteban
Santa Catalina, 3, 28014 Madrid, Spain
+34 914299289
http://www.elrincondeesteban.com/

Even closer to the hotel. Wonderful fish beautifully prepared.
Very friendly and elegant service.

DrMaturin

My wife and I just returned from staying at the Palace. Actually we had two three night stays interrupted by a trip to visit friends in Asturias. During the first stay we arrived early Sunday morning jet lagged and exhausted. Our Junior Suite wasn't going to be ready for several hours but even though the hotel was nearly full they gave us a room to take a nap in and to brush our teeth. A couple of hours of rest was all we needed to re-energize and it was really nice of the hotel to let us do this in a spare room rather than having to sit in the lobby exhausted while waiting for our suite to be ready ^.

The last night of the second stay I developed a bad stomach ache. My wife suggested some tea to settle my stomach. She called room service and explained what she wanted. The sent us the tea free of charge (we did, of course, tip the delivery person) ^^.

It's little things like this that really make us love the Palace.

Centurion

Had a great stay at the Palace when we flew to Madrid on the Delta mistake fare so many on flyertalk enjoyed. Did anyone notice the Palace was on the HBO news show VICE where all the young people were protesting in the streets and the police came with riot gas?

DrMaturin

I never saw the show but given the extremely heavy and visible police presence by the hotel last week it sounds like a documentary.

time2go1st

Well there are major government buildings right up the block, so in times of unrest it wouldn't surprise me to see a rowdy demonstration just outside the lobby. Could be something to think about for anyone with an aversion to that sort of thing. However, except in the most extreme circumstances, it wouldn't keep me away from this great property if I were planning a stay there.

lkar

We just finished a fantastic 4 night stay. It's hard to imagine the stay could have been better. Booked two rooms -- one on points and one with cash. We used suite night upgrades for one of the rooms and were confirmed into a Junior Suite five days out. At check in, they upgraded us to an executive suite and upgraded the non-suite room to a connecting premium view room. This was an outstanding set up for a family -- it essentially turned out to be a 1500 square foot two-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment in central Madrid. We had a view of the roundabout and fountain on the passeo del prado.

The hotel staff was outstanding. They had great restaurant recommendations, and were dogged in pursuing IB for our missing baggage, even though IB doesn't particularly seem to like to answer phones.

The location is fantastic. It's very close to the Prado, and adjacent to the Thyssen-Borenmisza museum. The Museo Reina Sofia is a 10 to 12 minute walk, and was worth it both to see Guernica and for an amazing Dali exhibit that runs through early September. The Puerto del Sol is an easy 10 minute walk, or 15 if you're walking slowly and the park is very close too. The royal palace is a bit further, but we were able to get there fairly quickly.

Breakfast is fantastic and served in a beautiful environment.

This was one of my most pleasant and enjoyable stays. This really is, quietly, a jewel in the starwood line.

Edit: Puerta, not puerto. Sorry amigos.

whenzuc

How many points do I need to use per person for buffet breakfast?

TravelinSperry

I noticed a bunch of renovations were occurring in May/June. Are they complete? I have a stay mid-Oct - but don't want to hear hammering all day. I'll switch to an alternate property if they're not done.

sierranevada

Also curious about answers to the two questions above. Will be early October.

aleksir

We just spent three nights (C&P) at the Palace. The location is great for a tourist. Across the street from two museums - the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. Walking distance to everything! Puerto del Sol, Plaza Major, even the Royal Palace. (BTW, don't ask the taxi driver to take you to the Palace (Royal), when you are staying at the Palace - they are understandably confused :-)

We had a wonderful Jr Suite (LTG) upgrade. A bottle of wine and personal note from the GM!

Some folks have complained that C&P cost went up, but when it did the Palace opened up the entire week we planned to visit. We jumped and I am glad I did.

This is the place to stay if you want to visit Madrid.