I am here now, and have been since Sunday.

Quite an experience to be in Madrid and seeing Spain win the World Cup final. The horns were honking all night.

We were put into a very large two room suite on the 6th floor. I am a platinum, and as it was a special occasion, there was a lovely treat waiting in the room upon arrival, courtesy of the hotel manager and my Starwood Ambassador. We were treated royally even though this was a points stay.

Our room has a balcony, but the door was locked. We had to sign a release waiver to get them to open the door so we could use the balcony! No problem, but I guess they have lawyers on every corner in Madrid as well.

Yes, the bed in the suite is a queen, not a king. We managed just fine.

We had room service one night, and it was excellent. Delivered on time and hot, it was a spectacular meal, far above Room Service standards in the USA (especially at a Westin).

One night we at at the restaurant downstairs that surrounds the rotunda. Aptly named "La Rotonda," we had a beautiful full service meal with appetizers, main courses, a dessert to split, and two glasses of wine for about €100, which is not cheap, but it was a lovely meal.

The Prado and Botanical Gardens are right across the street (EUR€8 and €2.5 respectively) and both hugely worth the money and time. Thyssen is right next door too.

I will comment that the taxi from the airport showed €25 on the meter, but he insisted upon €40 due to the bags and some sort of airport fee. My Spanish is not that good, and I couldn't win that argument. Truthfuly, I had budgeted €50 for the taxi ride so it was ok. In Switzerland that taxi ride would have been twice my budget.

Note as mentioned several times, there is no pool, unfortunately.

All in all, a lovely hotel.