Aloft Madrid Gran Via - Spain [Master Thread]
 

Opening April '19. Category 4. Hotel website:

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...drid-gran-via/

"Aloft Madrid Gran Via is located in the heart of Madrid. Just a minute walk from Plaza de Callao and the shopping district of Gran Via, the hotel is walking distance from other iconic squares like Plaza del Sol and Plaza Mayor, the city's town hall."

"Steps away from the centric Plaza del Callao, Aloft Madrid Gran Vía is located in the buzzing area of the city’s Gran Vía. An area that embraces the upbeat vibe of Madrid, it has the added bonus that it’s not defined by overzealous traffic demands. The 139 urban-inspired guestrooms come with mighty nine-foot ceilings, plush platform beds and trademark Aloft extras like the 49” Chromecast TV, walk-in rainfall shower and Bliss® Spa amenities. On the top floor, with a rooftop vantage and a seasonal Splash Pool, lies the WXYZ® Bar, where the fun flows as local drafts and signature drinks are served against the beat of cool music and must-see events. It’s casual, with an urban vibe and great views across Madrid’s skyline. Re:Fuel by AloftSM is an astute dining concept where fresh, fast and flavorsome dishes are available on a serve-self, buffet basis 24/7. Re:ChargeSM fitness center is open around the clock for guests who need to pump it up or stretch it out."

I have a reservation there at the end of May. Rooms are no longer bookable and it says "Opening Soon May 2019"

Should I be worried? What if the opening gets pushed back? Should I have a back up reservation? I actually really want to stay there given it's newer and decent location.

If you can get a non-refundable back-up reservation somewhere, make it. If the property opens before your stay you can cancel the back-up. If it doesn't, then you've got the back-up.

Cheers.

I guess I will have to...

If I hadn't tried to book another night, I would not have even noticed it. Is the hotel responsible for putting me in an alternative place? I have a prepaid rate.

Any open date yet? Thinking July 4 but the delays are worrying me.

I'm booked for last week of May. No idea if it will open yet. My reservation is still intact.

If you want a good experience, the rule of thumb is NEVER stay at a newly opened hotel--especially one that keeps delaying the opening. Wait a few months until the staff has some idea as to what they are doing and all the kinks have been worked out. The only time you stand a reasonable chance is if it is a simple reflag and it switches overnight from one hotel chain to the other. The front desk people may be clueless about benefits etc for a few weeks but the hotel at least can function. Otherwise, just stay away and let other people find the problems and come up with solutions. Then when things are working well go ahead and book your reservation. July 4 is going to be too early given they are not even selling rooms now until a June arrival date which could easily get pushed back again.

I was supposed to stay there tomorrow. I was told by email that they should be open by then. I was able to do the mobile check in, but then received a cancellation email this afternoon. I got an email from reservation to contact them. I was told that they were hoping to open tomorrow, but it's delayed. They are putting me at the Westin Palace instead. I'm happy with the outcome ;-)

Anyone have updates on opening date for this property? Will be there in about a week. Would not be disappointed with move to Westin Palace.......

It's open. I heard through a friend it's 'great' with 'fun staff' (that's it, apologies). Not sure if it's a soft open but seems positive...

I stayed there during this past weekend.

I was impressed - very nice property, great location, and staff who were super excited to be open and ready to go. There were some minor check in / check out kinks with the system, but they were comping rounds of drinks for pretty much everyone so I didn't complain. :)

Unlike many hotels in Madrid, this hotel was *not* price-gouging because of the Champions League final. 161 euros per room per night for 3 rooms. They honored elite benefits for all 3 rooms (a small breakfast buffet for 6 guests), although that may have simply been additional opening-weekend generosity that won't hold forever.

Fantastic rooftop pool and bar. Great views of all of Madrid. They were apologetic that the pool has recently been filled and was still ice cold, but that didn't stop our kids from enjoying it.

We just had three pretty standard rooms. With everything going on with the opening of the hotel, I didn't ask about suites or upgrades. The rooms were comfortable and large for standard big-city-Europe rooms. We were told we were the first guest in each of our rooms, even though the hotel had been open 1 day when we arrived.

Hotel is actually slightly *off* the Gran Via, which is a good thing. Walking distance to multiple metro stations. Not yet in Google Maps, so if you're using Uber or Mytaxi, you'll just have to enter the street address. There's plenty of room for a taxi or Uber to stop at the door for pickups/dropoffs with luggage.

I didn't notice anything at the hotel still under construction or not functional, so no reason to hesitate on booking here.

Just finished a 7-night stay there, on an old cat 1-5 travel package. The staff were lovely but the stay had a lot of issues, probably pains from being a new hotel but very annoying nonetheless. I had issues almost every night of the stay, from toilet bowl leaking, power shut off, wifi down, curtain can't be closed, broken phone, TV showing static, housekeeping putting my personal pillow on top of a pile of dirty socks. They also did not want to give late checkout to this lowly Gold member on account of the hotel being full but I got them to agree to 1 hour late due to all the issues I had during the stay. Also, they resisted when I asked them to keep a small bag (the size of a reusable bag from the grocery store) for me for a few days while I took a side trip to Morocco (just some small stuff I didn't need and didn't want to trip up a Ryanair GA with too much luggage), saying that they normally only keep luggage for the day of departure but they'd make an exception because the bag was so small. I typically assume that hotels will store luggage for me; in fact I left 3 large bags at the PH Hamburg for 2 weeks and did not receive any complaints, so I was quite surprised that this might have been an issue. As I departed the hotel, I observed a couple who was Ambassador Elite expressing discontent on having not received an upgrade.

Great location, walking distance from several metro stations, very close to but not right on the Gran Via so noise wasn't an issue. Also, great view from the rooftop pool and bar.

So, in conclusion, some growing pains, don't expect too much in terms of luxury or elite treatment, but for the location and price, hard to beat.

I posted all my photos of this property that I took to Google Maps.

Had a quick one night stay a couple days ago. Hotel seemed decent enough, and I thankfully didn't encounter most of the issues described above except for intermittent wifi outages at night. The rooftop was indeed nice :)

No upgrade as a Titanium, but it seemed as if the property was sold out so I didn't ask.