Boutique Urban Madrid Serrano — Hotel in Madrid

I didn’t want to be here in the first place as I had booked at BlueSense Génova but only a few days before our arrival, I got an email saying there was a “big breakdown” at Génova so they had to block several rooms including ours, so they offered us a room at the Serrano location. I was disappointed as I specifically wanted to be in the Génova location - that was the only reason I had booked there as we had friends staying nearby. I emailed back asking for some sort of recompense for the inconvenience as we would need to use taxis to get to where we wanted to be but all they could offer was the option of cancellation. Being only days before Good Friday I couldn’t cancel as there was no where else available. So with that frame of mind we arrived at Serrano after dark, only to be greeted with a sad dark lobby up several stairs that we had to drag our luggage up ... and a sullen person at reception who told us we had come to the wrong hotel. I tried to tell him it was BlueSense who had changed the booking but he said “No English!”. After checking his computer silently for a few minutes he must have worked it out and handed us the key card and a remote control for the tv, which was a bit bizarre. He didn’t give us a wifi code. I later had to ask for the code from another person who took over the front desk (who was a little more friendly). The room was quite large with a sofa, small kitchenette and a fridge which was unexpected and a bonus as most do not have fridges. There were plates, bowls and cutlery but no cups and only one glass (which held the cutlery) so I had to use that for water. The “double” bed was 2 single made-up beds pushed together. The view was a building site, so I guess it was lucky it was a public holiday as that could have been noisy. The next day on checkout I was asked where was the remote control, so I had to go back to the room to fetch it. Not sure why that was so important. I think if the staff were more welcoming and helpful I would have rated this slightly higher, but as it was and with the stuff around with changing our hotel, I couldn’t...

We stayed here for about a week in June 2019. Our host booked the hotel for us. When we first saw the ratings and reviews on tripadvisor, we were of course not very impressed. It turned out to be a little bit better than what we expected. Here are a few pros and cons for those considering paying on their own:||||Pros:||1. Location! The hotel is situated in the Salamanca neighborhood, right across the street from the US embassy. There are a few metro stops within 5-10 minute walk. It is a more business district, but there are still plenty of (relatively upscale) restaurant and coffee shops nearby. There is a well-stocked grocery market called Mercadona within walking distance. Using Uber (or UberEat!) is also very cheap and convenient in Madrid. 5-star for the location. From/to the airport you can get a taxi of flat rate 30 euro which is reasonably priced and hassle-free.||||2. Cleanness is quite good. The room we had looks exactly the same as the (more recent) photos posted online. It is well-maintained and cleaned daily. Once I was in the room when the cleaning lady came, and she kindly offered to exchange the towels and empty the trash bin which was all I needed.||||Cons:||1. My room sounds like an airport when the A/C is on. Fortunately most of the days we only need to use the AC to cool down the room temperature a little bit, and we can turn it off at night. So it is not much of an issue.||||2. The front desk staff do not speak English. But a few Spanish words and body language are useful. And if you can communicate, they are very welcoming and accommodating. It is fun to use a foreign language, but of course if you are a business traveler this might not be the thing to do after a day's work.||||3. The TV provides a few LD (low-definition) channels of very limited choices. And its purple light in darkness could be a bit...

This is a SCAM.

The people working here are absolutely there to take your money and treat you like you are simply trash.

I have visited more then 35 countries and stayed in many places, from expensive hotels to airbnb and hostels sharing rooms. But this is way the worst place I even been.

To start the reception is open only until 23:00 if you happen to do your check in after that hour, even if is just 5 min later, you will have to pay a penalty of 50€ which is not stayed in the Terms and Conditions. You will have to pay a doggie guy coming in a car with his girlfriend the 50€ in cash or card BUT without getting any receipt.

After refusing to pay as I am Spanish and I was gonna call the Spanish police, he agreed to checking us in. In to a room that was with dirty towels and no air conditioner in the middle of August in Madrid!

Thanks to Trip.com we got moved to a better room, and Trip helped us on every moment of this nightmare of experience.

To end this at the checkout the guy forced us to have him our details as his boss wanted to talk to us to pay the 50€, and now they are harassing us to pay. Well… we are not only going to not pay but we are opening a formal case with the Spanish institutions as this is a SCAM and your personal security, money, GDPR could be in danger if you stay in...