Yeah, for the second five hotels it's usually advised to stay in the US or at least in Mexico/Jamaica if you prefer Ziva or Zilara hotels.

The hardest brands of course are Hyatt (17), Alila (15, of which 14 which are in Asia), Andaz (21), Destination Hotels (8, US only), Hyatt Zilara (3), Hyatt Ziva (5), Joie De Vivre (18, of which 17 are in the US), The Unbound Collection (19) and Thompson (11, US, Canada and Mexico).

So it's the best to go for Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place and Park Hyatt first.

So there is an executive lounge at this property? As an Explorist, I'm trying to decide whether it's worth staying here. For tourist purposes, the location doesn't seem the best, but I can be "bribed" by free food and drink. We have stayed at the Hesperia Tower in Barcelona (the one the previous poster was confused about) and their lounge is nice, but not very good for evening tapas (unfortunate, because I like a light tapas dinner in Spain after eating an enormous "menu del dia" at 2 or 3 in the afternoon). What's the situation in Madrid?
In Barcelona, we discovered that if you showed up for breakfast before 8 am, they sent you to the main restaurant because the lounge is still technically closed. Perhaps that's what happened during your stay in Madrid? BTW, at first glance the Barcelona lounge had no hot food for breakfast, but I understand they will bring you dishes from the restaurant for free if you ask. Not sure if that's the situation in Madrid. In any event, it's better to have breakfast in the main restaurant.

Does this hotel still offer a free airport shuttle? I can't seem to find any details on what Hyatt changed about the hotel in the takeover? Guest rooms and public areas appear to be the same. It says, the new branding will be unveiled next month online, but nothing much seems to have been done. Can anyone comment on that?

There is no airport shuttle these days. Of course, you don't actually need one as the public bus is pretty efficient and cheap. I never stayed at this hotel before the Hyatt partnership, but the hotel didn't feel "very Hyatt" to me. But it's by no means a bad hotel; just a somewhat inconveniently situated hotel.

The moderators have cleaned up the 2 threads on Hesperia Madrid and Barcelona. Thank you!

Here is the Barcelona thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hyat...l#post31784527

After a long hesitation between the Hyatt Regency Hesperia, the Hyatt Centric and H�tel Urso for a 2 night stay in January I choose the first one and was not disappointed at all.

I can’t say a lot about the area as not familiar with Madrid but less than 5min walk to my meeting so ticked the box for me.

Hotel is very newly refurbished and nice clean modern design.

A little bit of queue at check in (despite hotel almost empty if you can believe the bar/restaurant occupancy at lunch and dinner time) but was spontaneously offered an upgrade to a Regency Suite and remainded that as a Globalist I had access to the Regency Club. After request I was also offered 4pm check out.

Suite is large enough and well arranged but living area is not separated from sleeping area (not an issue on this business trip on my own but would be with the family).






Welcome amenity was cheese (but no wine?).



2 free bottles of water supplied (but first time I see a note their are free for elite WoH members and 4 euros for other guests?).



Lounge is on the small side but apparently reserved for Globalist (indeed they don’t sell room with club access on the website) so was very quiet both evenings and decent food and wine (1 Cava 1 white 1 red wines plus soft drinks).





Also had good breakfast (bread with tomatoes and jamon ��), dinner at the bar and lunch at the main restaurant.

So will definitely book it again if having meetings in the area (even though a bit on the expensive side at >200� in non peak period).

So you had your breakfast in the lounge or in the restaurant? Did they offer restaurant breakfast?

Thanks for posting the pics, etc.

-David

Breakfast in the restaurant (free for Globalists of course).
Sorry didn't take pictures as (a bit) busier.
But definitely good offering and service.

What were the hours of the wine/happy hour each evening in the lounge?

Cheapest room is EUR1,360 in January 2021 (or 15k WoH points...)???

Something�s wrong with their pricing software as the Interconti 200m away is <250�.

Or Hyatt knows something about upcoming inflation that IC does not. I mean, what with the Germans having loosened up on their fiscal deathgrip over the other Eurozone "partners" ....

I let my concierge know about it.
It took 2 weeks (hotel is obviously currently closed because of the virus) but they have fixed the mistake (rooms now starting at EUR180) and offered me 5000 WoH points to apologize!
I'be booked for January 2021...hope everything will be back to (almost) normal then...?

How great would that be?

By the way, if you didn't find it earlier, the gem in the neighborhood is the Museo Sorolla -- just two blocks south.

In residence now. I�m smirking at the idea that the location here isn�t exceptional. Madrid is a big city. You don�t have to be in Times Square to enjoy NY, etc etc. Location is just fine, 20 minutes from most anything.

Club is largely closed, though soft drinks and coffees still accessible. Globalist breakfast taken in restaurant. It�s a buffet, but you point and they scoop. It was good.

The hotel is largely empty except for a few pushy Hyatt Globalists, was the impression I got. Lots of negotiation among staff about how to negotiate the suites among the 4 PM checkouts. But not a guest in sight. At breakfast I was the sole diner. (It was early.)

The rooftop gym was a first for me. Overall, if I could be sure I was getting a suite upgrade like the one I got while the property was pandemic empty, I�d gladly return.

The one thing I�ll say is that I�m 90% certain Hyatt didn�t insist on a mattress refresh when they changed the flag.