Mercure Madrid Centro

"The hotel is well located. However it does by no meal match what you could expect from hotel in this category and price level. My room was very dark and not well furnished. Lame bed that moves while you sleep. Poor coach. There is no real room service either , at it is outsourced and I was told I would need to wait one hour to have anything served. Breakfast is served in depressing room, again poorly lit, lacking of natural light. Products are not very good, terrible bread, mediocre cheese and ham. The hot plates like the eggs are clearly getting just outside a box. Won’t come again and do not recommend."

"Not the best neighborhood, but really close to Reina Sofia, Thyssen-Bornemisza and The Prado. Like any big city, it has it's share of construction, homeless people begging, and piles of rubbish However, the room was clean and reception staff helpful and friendly. I don't know what special treatment for ALL Accour members is, but I certainly didn't feel like it made any difference that I was a member. That didn't really bother me, though. Bedding was clean (no extra inhabitants) but the walls are paper thin, wifi connection is terrible (on and off, cut me off but my husband seems to be okay- no we weren't streaming, just normal browing, etc. ) I don't know if the cleaning staff is particularly noisy (a lot of bumping and slamming, loud talking, singing and hoovering on and off for several hours every day) or maybe the really thin walls with no soundproofing just make them sound louder than usual? It does get quiet enough to sleep a little sometime between late night and very early morning. (Bin men seem to come every morning) ***EAR PLUGS are a life saver. *** Not sure if it’s like this all the time, but there were also sirens pretty regularly the whole time we were there (every 1/2 hr-1 hr for a couple days straight). And protesters shouting and letting off fire works. I didn't mind the protesters so much (probably for a good cause) but thank goodness we didn't have to wade through them when we wanted to go and see the musuems. Bathroom Amenities: no shampoo or conditioner, but there is hand soap, shower gel and hand/body lotion. (Large refillable pump style) There is a hair dryer. But what’s with the freakish glass bathroom door with a 1/2 inch crack around it??? Seriously bad for privacy. Most people don’t like doing their business in public. Our particular room (2 twin beds) was smallish, and I was disappointed to find there was no little table and chairs, as in the photos , but the beds were comfortable, and there was a balcony to stand on to see the narrow side street. (Traffic in the street is pretty much constant, day and night, but lets up a little in the wee hours) There was a small fridge ,a safe, a wardrobe, sockets near the bed, but no iron. Across from the bed was a big tv with spanish channels and movies (of whtever original language), dubbed into …, Spanish, with Spanish subtitles (neither one of us could figure out how to get English subtitles), There was a KETTLE, with 2 paper cups and a couple packets of instant coffee and some weird tea bags. I always bring my own coffee and tea bags, so overjoyed just to have a kettle. The tap water was ok to make tea/coffee with, but is horrendous tasting big city tap water with A LOT of chlorine in it. (So buy bottled water) Yes, there is ROOM SERVICE, but I seriously wish we hadn’t wasted money on it. The room service is awful--terrible service - don’t always show up (maybe they were out protesting?)- very limited menu, very expensive and not great tasting either, so, seriously, don’t bother. Overall, this hotel is about the same quality as a Holiday Inn, but 3x the cost. But I guess it’s what you have to pay to be in the middle of Madrid, right? This definitely wasn’t a comfortable and relaxing holiday for us, but at least we got to see the museums we wanted to, and I guess that’s the reason we chose this hotel in the first place. TIPS: Bring your own mugs and some earplugs. NEARBY: small food store/s, restaurants, souvenir shops, train station, and, of course, museums POSITIVES: Friendly front desk staff, blackout curtains, clean rooms and bedding, elevator is big enough for 2 people with one bag each (and maybe a child). You could maybe fit 3 full sized people if you were very friendly with each other. Rooms and elevators use key cards. COULD BE IMPROVED: change to a better room service company (They don't do the room service themselves, they hire someone in to deliver room room service in a cardboard box), and add real doors on the bathrooms, and some exhaust fans(!!). There could also be better sound proofing, as there obviously is none at all, but that should have been done in the planning stages, and it's probably too late now. You can hear people next door coughing, talking, flushing, etc, and the doors slam constantly, as they stick (you have to give them a good pull to get them to close properly.)"

"This hotel is fine in general, apart from the fact that noise travels very easily within it. This includes through the walls, ceilings and floors of the rooms so you might risk being 'entertained' by family rows, other people's television viewing or whatever else is going on. Otherwise, the rooms are good, clean and well provisioned. The location is very good. The staff are generally helpful but I think they, and perhaps the hotel in general, need schooled on the benefits status members of the Accor loyalty scheme are supposed to get."