Originally Posted by
Paulakers2010
2. $189 Euros vs $160-$170 Euros with two nights of Holiday inn, one in downtown, and one at the airport. My flight would be USAirways back to PHL at 11:35a.m. on Sunday, so I might wanna stay close to the airport on Saturday night. However, all the reviews of CP or Holiday inn Airport hotels are really not what airport hotels are supposed to be -- still $30 euro to get to the airport, so I guess it wouldn't hurt as much to just go to IC Madrid.
I've stayed in both IC and HI several times recently and I find the HI Madrid a bit tired - it could do with a refurb. IC is a completely different proposition and is much better. It has some very small rooms which are to be avoided but given your AMB status, that won't be an issue. As it is a weekend, the hotel will also be a lot less busy and you may be able to get an upgrade to a club room or suite. Just ask them politely at check-in. That would give you access to the club lounge where they also serve complimentary breakfast (regardless of whether bfast was included in your original rate in fact, as I found out to my benefit on one occasion).
If you are happy to pay up front (with no refunds allowed), the IKEX3 rate on the IC Master Thread
list of rates page is usually pretty good. It's showing 129.50€ and 145.50€ respectively for Friday and Saturday nights at the IC and 75.60€ each night at the HI. I'm not sure how that would work with the BOGO certificate though. The 241 rate from the same link works out at 52.50€ per night at the HI so that's even better but isn't available at the IC, at least not for this weekend. I should add that you need to add 8% tax to each of those rates.
The HIEX airport and CP airport are opposite each other but as Banko says not in a good area, slap bang next to a motorway and certainly not nice for taking a stroll in the evening. CP is comfortable enough and has an airport shuttle. Not sure about the HIEX. I would discount these options directly.
Originally Posted by
Paulakers2010
3. Transportation. Would I be able to catch up with the subway from downtown all the way to the airport on Sunday morning? I guess that's more important as to determine my final decision coz if it's convenient enough, I might just go for the IC Madrid. Any suggestions would be deeply appreciated.
Metro is fine and should be nice and quiet on Sunday morning. Leaving an hour to get there seems about right to me. I'm pretty sure US still flies out of T1 so just make sure you get out at "Aeropuerto T1 T2 T3" rather than going all the way to T4.
Have a great trip and let us know how you get on.