Catching up with my stays from earlier this year – this happened before the latest posted stay by nicholas75.

As stated above, the Hilton and IHG options in the city were all overpriced for cash, so I booked 2 nights at 24.5k = 49k points. But standard rooms only sleep 2 and I was travelling with my wife and son. Knowing that Spain can be picky about occupancy, I decided to “waste” an expiring CSU on the “2 Twin Beds Suite + Sofa Bed for 2”.

The fixed-price taxi is now €33. We had paid a rip-off €30 to store bulky luggage at the airport (this trip was positioning for long-haul) so the metro was pretty easy. Airport line to the end at Nuevos Ministerios then one change to Argüelles which is right outside the hotel. Cheapest return ticket for 3 people seemed to be €26.60 total, including airport supplement which, for the return leg, cannot be paid until the day of travel. For this price the smartcard comes with 4 extra public transport trips.

We arrived around 7pm just as one receptionist was clocking off, so had to wait for quite some time to check in, while the solo remaining guy worked his way through the 8 people ahead of us, including one businessman whom it felt like we had been stalking all the way from the Piccadilly line in London. As mentioned before, tiny is the theme of this hotel (and European Indigos in general). The lobby was crowded to standing room only until the queue got cleared. To his credit, when the staff member was free later on, he came up to our room in person to check everything was ok.

There are two tiny lifts that barely fit 3 people plus a small bag. During the morning “rush hour” it can definitely be faster to take the stairs, as the lifts will be called from every floor but nobody can get in.

I didn’t have huge expectations for the room, which is the highest category. Mostly identical to the other rooms pictured here, except there is a bit more space near the door area, and the bathroom has a bidet. When the sofa bed is laid out, the window is inaccessible except by climbing over.

Breakfast was as described by nicholas75. The main dining area and the serving area are again tiny, causing crowding and some reverberations from the fast-paced vowel sounds of Castilian. At the time I was there, the whole place was also rather dark, being tucked away in the back of the building and only open to an internal courtyard. Not helped by the late sunrise in Spain from being in the wrong timezone geographically.

IHG paid the hotel €52 per night for my redemption. As I’ve not tried the CP or voco I may aim for one of those next time.