Seat 1F

Very glad to hear about the extensive renovation and intended change to a Luxury Collection property. The Westin brand never fit The Palace.

janaleigh

Trying to figure out if the protests will affect our trip to Madrid the first week in December. We will be staying here and traveling by private car rental via Madrid Airport. Wondering if we should change to a hotel outside of the city.

James Luckard

It was a Luxury Collection property back in the 90s, when it was the ITT Sheraton Luxury Collection. Even after Starwood bought Sheraton, and made this hotel a Westin, they kept it in The Luxury Collection as well, with overlapping membership in both chains for a few years into the early 2000s.

FlightNurse

Ever since moving to Spain part-time, this has been my go-to hotel in Madrid, since it's within walking distance to and from the Train Station. Being LTT I have a 75% rate being upgraded to a suite, which is nice, all rooms have been exterior rooms, and the breakfast buffet is by far the nicest I've been to. The rooms are small, but that isn't a problem, as I'm not living there, many great restaurants close by. I highly recommend this place.

lucycan

Planning to stay her in April with my daughter. Are the two bed rooms nice? I'm Ambassador and actually prefer a courtyard view for less noise.

ElevatorEnthusiast

What a difference a couple of years can make!

ElevatorEnthusiast

As my second time at the Westin and my second time in Madrid, I found the evolution of the Palace to be quite interesting. I’ll be excited to see the full transformation once it’s done - it’s not a perfect hotel, but the folks here seem like they have a lot of heart. Here are my updated impressions of my (mostly) renovated room (seems like they kept some things, like portions of bathroom and, thankfully, the crown moulding):

Note: I was not upgraded at all - I had previously seen a move from Deluxe Courtyard View to Premium Exterior View the night before - but as I arrived at 7 AM (after landing at 6 AM), I was offered the one available empty room (which was not occupied, but not clean) - which was ready around 10 AM (since Housekeeping didn’t arrive until a bit later). I really didn’t mind the courtyard view - not the ugliest courtyard, and I could open the window without too much extra noise. No suites were available online - I believe they all might be in the renovation process.

Another Note: A large portion of the rooms, at least on floor 1, are being renovated in walled-off sections. It doesn’t appear that any work has been done on the ground floor yet (but based on the renderings, will occur at some point). I would assume at this point that you would receive a renovated room by staying there now. I didn’t notice any out-of-the-norm noise.

Another Another Note: I am assuming further changes will still occur in the rooms as the old Westin bedding and linens are still in place - along with the use of Westin toiletries. The fire map has the new branding, though.

Pros:

• Renovated design is really nice - I really enjoy the tile art in the shower and the wall paneling in the bedroom
• Bed is comfortable - mattress is just-right, pillows are a bit Westin soft, but nice if you layer two of the right ones - covers are relatively thin (but this wasn’t an issue because of climate control - more in Cons)
• Shower pressure from the wand head is quite nice
• Service is very friendly and personable - had great experiences with Andrea, Elena, and a friendly male associate at the front desk - Jose called my room to check on my liking of it
• Delivered welcome gift of wine and berry-flavored popcorn
• No issue with 3 PM late checkout I requested
• Elite Breakfast from 7 to 11 is good - very good ham and cheese omelet, good churros, smoothies weren’t as good as I remembered from 2022

Neutral:

• Turndown service was attempted at 9:30 PM - hah, I’m too much of an old man for Spain!
• Rate adjusted up at some point in the process (likely upgrade then downgrade) - adjusted without issue when I noticed it and pointed it out to them

Cons:

• Climate control system was wonky - system seemed very sensitive on motion and seemed to reset frequently to 22, which turned on heat - even set at 16, I’m not sure the AC ever worked - at least, opening the window would turn the system off - but you still wouldn’t stay cool if you kept the curtains closed to keep the room dark (in contrast, the JW seems to have working AC in this season)
• They didn’t seem to add any streaming or Chromecast options to the TV

I will definitely still return, but I hope that they don’t go crazy on rates with the rebranding.

Photos:

dcmike

Wow - I stayed here five years ago and this looks soooooo much better than it used to!

Sorry EE - can't like your post (seems to happen with your reviews a lot)

ElevatorEnthusiast

No worries - seems to be an issue with FT on the computer - likes work for me consistently on mobile, but not on my laptop.

Oh, well, I guess FT just can’t process the amazing level of fine detail I provide ;-)

SkyTeam777

Has anyone stayed here recently? What are the renovated rooms like, and what facilities are still operating during the major construction?

ElevatorEnthusiast

I provided a review with plenty of photos of the renovated rooms a few posts above from last month.

allenaatan

Hello, does anyone have an e-mail for this property? Also, any advice/ luck with booking a room for 3 here that is not a suite? Need to get 2 rooms and a 3 in one is the ideal configuration for us. Thanks in advance.

sapguy

Just sent you a PM with contact info