TraveltheWorld

I'd stay at least two days to take everything in, but perhaps 3 or 4 days if you enjoy sitting around and relaxing. It's really isolated from most tourist activities so you'll be spending much of the time at the hotel.

theTITUS

Travel + Leisure once again covers this hotel in June 2007's It List.

From T+L:
"Hundreds of hotels open their doors each year, but how many open your eyes? After anonymously road-testing countless contenders, we narrowed the field to an elite group of promising newcomers: 25 hotels that are redefining service, design—even where you’ll be going next. And so that you know what (and what not) to expect, T+L has sussed out the finer points of each. Scoring the coveted reservation? We’ll leave that to you.

Marqués de Riscal, Rioja, Spain
Frank Gehry creates a modern destination in one of Spain’s oldest wine regions.

Location: The 149-year-old Herederos del Marqués de Riscal winery, in Elciego, a drowsy Rioja village of medieval vintage, 90 minutes southeast of Bilbao.
Pedigree: The 43-room Marqués de Riscal is Pritzker Prize-winner Gehry’s first foray into hotels; Starwood’s Luxury Collection group manages the property.
Style + Design: Gehry revisits his fascination with titanium (his first big success with it was the Guggenheim Bilbao). Fat, twisting ribbons of pink and gold metal are meant to suggest wine rushing from a bottle.
Service + Amenities: A knockout Caudalie Vinothérapie spa with wine- and grape-themed products and treatments. Surprisingly, there are Caudalie products in only some of the guest rooms.
Value for Money: The hotel could probably charge twice as much and architecture buffs would still feel they were getting a bargain. The rest of us will probably feel we’re being overcharged by about 25 percent.
Needs Work: Booking agents should make it clear that only 14 guest rooms are located in Gehry’s titanium fantasy. The balance are in an annex designed by his firm, and not all have views of the main structure.
800/325-3589 or 34/94-518-0880; www.luxurycollection.com; doubles from $1,140."

SanDiego1K

dogmom11 and Travel the World said that the 85 euro fixed price dinner was a great bargain. SpaceBass was not pleased with his meal. These reports are more than 6 months old, during the first months of the hotel being open. Has anyone eaten here this year? If so, what did you think of the quality of the food? What is the current fixed price for the dinner?

Are there great restaurants within an easy drive outside the hotel? What about Echuarren el Portal or Echuarren?

The T&L article said that some of the rooms but not all of the rooms have Caudalie amenities. Is there rhyme or reason as to which do?

fljbrs

I was there in Christmas, and I basically agree with previous posts. Great hotel, with wonderful staff. We receiva instant Platinum recognition and were upgraded to the "Gehry suite". It's not exactly what I would call asuite, but it's beautiful and has a magnificent view and a terrace. Anyway, probably the rooms in the other building are larger, and if the views from athere are of the Gehry building, then I'm not so sure what's better.... The spa was also very good, and it's trye the only dissapointment was the restaurant. It's not as good as it should be. Sincerely, I was hungry after the complete menu, and nothing had been impressive at all. We got very good recommendations for restaurants in the area from staff members, and there are quite a few small charming villages not far away, so the place is really woth a visit.

Sam P. Goodman

Redeemed for 2 nights at Marques this month. We booked as soon as it opened for booking so we got it for 12K points/night. The best rate I could find for our nights was 650 Euros so I felt pretty good about that value. The hotel is pretty amazing. From the minute we spotted it from the road we were blown away. We were greeted by two bell hops with a tray of grapes and iced tea. Our room was not yet ready so we had to wait about 45 minutes for it. I had read about the hotel’s “dirty little secret”—how most of the rooms are in the annex—so I requested a room in the main building and we were rewarded with one with a spectacular view of Elciego. The room was pretty small, but had huge, odd shaped windows with leather benches along the whole span. The bathroom had both bath and shower divided by a narrow corridor. Definitely one person at a time in that area as it was pretty cramped. The shower door was a bit askew as it didn’t close completely. We had a few thunderstorms that wreaked havoc on the design of the hotel as water poured off in large sheets and leaked through onto several exterior areas. When I asked the bellhop he laughed and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just the Gehry roof.” We booked an ATV tour (165 Euros for 2 people on one ATV), but had to cancel because Mrs. Goodman came down with a 24 hour stomach bug. She pointed out that there were worse places to be sick as there isn’t much to do around there and the view from the bed was great. I walked into Elciego and there wasn’t much there. It was cute, but dead. We did drive to LaGuardia (about 5 minutes) and had a great (but expensive) lunch on the recommendation of one of the bellhops. Food at the hotel was also very good. The couple next to us did the tasting menu. We did not. Interestingly, we got several of the smaller items served to us between courses. Ordered room service one night since I was dining alone. Had a sandwich with Jamon Iberico that was excellent (as it should be for 20 Euros). Breakfast is normally comped with paying rates. We called and asked about this and they let us have it for free even though we were redeeming. Pretty nice spread of fruits, cereals, ham...

The hotel has bikes and Segways for guest to use. We did take the Segways for a spin (a first for us). Two nights was just about perfect for this hotel. Enough to take it all in and say you’ve done it. Much longer and we probably would have tired of it.

SanDiego1K

Our stay here was a pleasure. We drove around the Guggenheim in Bilbao on our way out of town; we then arrived at this hotel later the same day. It was a visual delight to see the contrast between the enormous Guggenheim with its curved metal all fit against other pieces, and this much more human scale, with its metal ribbons fluttering off. It also dramatized the difference in color Gehry chose for the titanium at the two properties. The Marques de Riscal is very vivid with pink and purple titanium, whereas the Guggenheim is golden.

The staff is young and helpful. We were given an executive suite in the annex. We were told that all the suites are in the annex, as is the spa and the swimming pool. Our suite (really a very large room) faced the hotel, with a great view of it and the village in the background. Our room had a king bed, a love seat, a seat with a footstool, and a desk. The bathroom was the length of the room, and had a separate walk in shower from the bathtub. We had Caudalie amenities; it is my impression that only the suites have Caudalie.

Our amenity was a bottle of water. We saw bottles of wine being delivered to many rooms, but we were given none. The staff did not give us our platinum amenity card. I asked about it, and they were perplexed. Further explanation seemed to elicit acknowledgement, but the stay has posted without the 500 point bonus.

Breakfast is included with the room, as is free internet. There is also a computer in a nook behind the front desk, free for use.

What I particularly enjoyed about this hotel was the wealth of places where we could sit. It was possible to enjoy Gehry's design from many perspectives, whether under a ribbon of metal, or facing the property, or out on a terrace. There were terraces both out from dining floor and from the study. The weather was perfect, a pleasant contrast to rainy Bilbao and San Sebastian.

El Portal del Echaurren is the closest off property gastronomic restaurant. It is about a 50 minute/50 km drive away. There are two restaurants in this property, one run by the mother with traditional, family foods, and one run by the son. It is the son's restaurant which has the Michelin star. The son's restaurant is closed on Monday night; don't make the trip if only the mother's restaurant is open.

We had the pleasure of meeting Jeroen_SW, who was very helpful in advance of our trip in putting us in touch with the concierges for the three Basque Starwood properties.

SpaceBass

I think I have to un-subscribe from this thread...it makes me miss this place too much and it will take me a while to save up enough points (or cash) to get back any time soon

SanDiego1K

I caught up on my rag magazine reading while traveling this past week, and learned that Brad and Angelina stayed at the hotel a week before me. There was a 2 page spread on their trip to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim, then to Elciego to stay in the hotel. They stayed in the Gehry suite, and ate in the hotel restaurant. It's not surprising they would stay there, given Brad's love of architecture.

Life_Platinum

We just completed a two night stay using points that William Sanders helped us book more than 16 months ago. Needless to say, my wife and I believe this has been the finest stay we have had at a Starwood Hotel. We had looked forward to our stay at this hotel for almost two years, in part because a number of years ago, we lived in Santa Monica, California, the same town where Frank Gehry lived. When some friends visited from out of town, we usually gave them a tour of this famous architects accomplishments in town, beginning with his house which made many of his neighbors furious, as well as such famous buildings as the "Binocular Building" and ending with a couple other of his masterpieces.

We arrived from Burgos at about 10 AM, and were told that our room was not ready yet. Christina recommended that we should walk the hotel and then go to the library on the third floor where we could relax until called. In the interim, we arranged for a noon wine tour at the Marquis de Riscal, as it was the only tour that was held in English during our two day stay. Within 30 minutes, Marcos found us relaxing in the library and said he would accompany us to our room. As he gathered our luggage and walked us across the bridge to the Annex, we were dissapointed that we would not stay in the main building. However, upon seeing our Executive Suite, room 30, our dissapointment turned to delight, as the room contained a combined bedroom and sitting room with a large bath leading from the living room. Within the bathroom, was a glass enclosed shower stall that must have been 10 feet long, and there also was a special room for the toilet and the bidet. Two sinks enclosed in glass added a nice touch and complimented the marble that was thoughout the bathroom. Our second floor room overlooked the winery and rows of grapes came up to the path that extended around the annex building.

Upon checkin, we were asked if we wanted the points and we agreeded. Other perks that appeared were a daily bottle of 2003 Marquis de Riscal Reserve, and enough complimentary bottled water to fill our bathroom. We also were given vouchers for a glass of wine in the wine bar which turned out to be Marquis de Riscal 1860. As we started to take the 5 minute walk to the wine tasting, Marcos came trotting after us and said he would lead the way as he did not want us to get lost. He then introduced us to the hostess who would lead us on the wine tour, which began with a short movie introduction with about 50 locals about the history of the winery. Our guide then took us on a private tour that lasted about 90 minutes and ended with a tasting of another bottle of 2003 Marquis de Riscal Reserve as well as a bottle of Marquis de Riscal verdejo. We then were left with the nearly full bottles and told we could stay as long as we wanted. As the afternoon progressed we became hungry so we purchased small plates chorizo and Iberian ham from the winery so that we could continue to enjoy the wine.

Others had commented about the food at the hotel, and my wife told me that she read that the chef that had opened the kitchen was no longer with the hotel, and his replacement was getting rave reviews. We had a very enjoyable dinner set in the second floor main restaurant. It was interesting that because there were so many reservations, many of the diners ate in the room that was used as the breakfast room, a less spectular room in our views.

We ate breakfast in the hotel, and upon checkin asked if breakfast was included with our reservation. We were told it was not, but my Platinum status allowed us to have breakfast with them. The hotel also provided their wine tour because of our support of the Starwood Chain--they even had written down the number of points I had available on my door key packet.

Others had remarked about the Wine Museum that is on the site of the winery Dinaste Vivanco. Fortunately we had participated in a Spanish Wine tasting about two months prior to our stay, and the hostesses was the representative of the Rioja Chamber of Commerce. She told us that reservations were required to visit the wine museum, and the reservations easily could be made on the web. When I asked the Spanish Wine Expert at our local wine store, she told me that the wine museums in Spain all require reservations, as the collections are exceedingly valuable. That may be so, but there were so many tourists, I suspected the real reason was to limit the visitors. We thought the wine museum was better than expected with the highlight the final room containing the largest collection of wine openers in the world with over 3000 examples.

We had a lunch and dinner in LaGuardia, a gem of a town about 5 minutes from the Marquis de Riscal. This is a walled city with many wine caves carved into the rock under the places of business. While there for lunch, the town was in the midst of a celebration with musicians walking the street, dancers holding the spotlight in some of the public squares, and an exhibition of tractors and other farm-wine machines. The largest exhibit belonged to John Deere, with about 15 different models available for purchase.

Others had commented about the companies who used the hotel for perks or meetings for their employees. Upon arrival, we spotted a line of about 8 brand new BMW M6s, which shortly took off, and then returned two days later. We suspected the drivers were journalists who were trying out the cars for the respective automobile magazines. Another group we met were some members of the Bordeaux Porsche Club who drove down for a night. One of the members told us that his son had purchased the BMW M6 and it would be one of the first delivered in France at the end of the month. We enjoyed squeezing our White-topped Chili Red Mini Cooper into the row of M6s and then managed to take a picture with the hotel serving as the backdrop.

The two days ended much too quickly, and we vowed to return again in the near future. If we had more time, we would have tried to extend our stay in a flash for another day of two. I must also report that my wife and I toasted William Sanders twice for his help in making the reservations with Marquis de Riscal Limonisin during dinner, and then at one of our breakfasts with the French champagne that was served.

As we drove off, we marveled at the two spectucular days we had spent at this wonderful hotel.

Sam P. Goodman

Apparently quite popular with the high end car clubs. While there last June, there were over a dozen Porsches lined up out front. I think they were just in for lunch.

SanDiego1K

My real regret in our Basque trip last summer was only staying one night at this hotel. It is such a gem, it really deserved a second night. It was wonderful to read all that you got to experience, Life_Platinum.

cpsri99

Does anyone know the best way it is to get to this Hotel from Madrid? Is it better to take a train somewhere and then drive? We are planning on staying here for 2 nights and then going to San Sebastian. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Sam P. Goodman

I would drive. We rented a car in Bilbao and drove to Marques and then drove from there to Madrid. Pretty easy drive. Also, there's not much in the immediate area of Marques so it's nice to have the ability to drive while there. The town of La Guardia is nearby and had some nice restaurants and much more activity than Elciego.

Life_Platinum

I also would recommend that you drive, as the many sights in Rioja such as the Calatrava building, the wine museum, and other wineries and wine towns such as LaGuardia can only be reached by car. We have a rule that we should not drive more than 2 hours a day unless absolutely necessary, so after leaving Madrid, we stopped at Rascafria, and then Burgos prior to arriving in Elciego. We mapped the distances on the Michelin driving directions web site as 60 miles, 123 miles, and 84 miles between our destinations. However, these destinations are not in a straight line between Madrid and Elciego, so that driving non-stop between these two cities is much less (the Michelin web site was down so I could provide the exact distance for you).

Our experience with a car rental is that Kemwel is the least expensive, and one can always cancel without penalty. Kemwel claims they will beat anyone's rates, and we have been very satisfied. They have a web site or an 800 number in the U.S. Our calculations were that we paid about $7 per gallon for gasoline in Spain during our trip for the Mini Cooper we rented. If you need any help with the car rental, feel free to PM me.

cpsri99

Thanks for the info! Can't wait to stay at this hotel!