Dear Hotel Madrid — Hotel in Madrid

Good hotel, not the cheapest but reasonable value, considering the quality of rooms, services available, it having a pool (although small) and location. Self-driving guests might find it more difficult and inconvenient though not a complete deal breaker if you dont have much luggage.||We stayed here for just three days in a city break late July 2025. We were three adults and two kids aged 6 & 9. Aussies/Brits. I used to live in Madrid so I know the area well (if that at all adds some credibility to my review of the location)||PROS: ||- LOCATION right next to Plaza de Espana for open air cinema, bar, pop-up entertainment zone or car parking. Pentiful high street shopping, fast food and dining options. Numerous tourists sites within short walk or Public Transport journey away. Madrid's theme park a small drive away. Close to palace. So much more. Everywhere is extremely walkable. Road crossings and entrance to the metro is literally right out front, as ar bus stops. Access (lift) to car parking just across the road. Walkable distance to the tourist epicentre of Madrid (Callao/Sol). Good place to stay if you want to get about the city by metro as the Plaza Espana stop has lines that work well with limited changes to pretty much all of the sites you might want to get to, e.g. Sol, Retiro park, Palace, Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid Stadium), Atocha train station etc. The location is probably best for anyone who likes shopping though and more so those foodies who are perhaps prepared to pay at the higher end for their grub.||- VIEWS from the Rooftop bar and pool are 360° of the city skyline||- ROOMS are well appointed, light and with good air-con and/or window ventilation. ||- BED was fairly firm and comfortable.||- TOWELS appropriately sized for humans and good enough equality.||- SAFETY of hotel location inside and neighbour is generally good. (But see Con re the Pool). The reception has at least one security guard at the door at all times. The surrounding streets are fairly safe as it is a major thoroughfare and always teeming with locals and tourists day and night. A police unit was consistently positioned just outside on the other side of the lane. Families with young kids, as we were, need to be careful when going just outside as the road is very close and usually very busy with traffic. Also, lots of people walking by so it might be easy to lose sight of your kids if you arent paying attention and they take off.||- CHILLED WATER FOUNTAINS on every level next to the lifts and a complimentary bottle of local red wine in our room.||- RECEPTION STAFF on reception (we were looked after by Celia and Adrian), were very welcoming/warm and helpful when checking in/out and with regards to our enquiries re parking and access to their freezer.||CONS: ||- DRINK PRICES at the rooftop bar are a bit excessive and poor. For example, their tinto de verano, when seeing how little wine they put in (50-75mm) compared to the large volume of soda and ice used. We never dined there to comment on the food quality or appropriateness of prices.||- ROOFTOP SEATING at the bar area/pool is very limited, as is the size of the pool, it is more of a plunge pool. They are obviously constrained by the dimensions of the building, but I feel they could perhaps open up the rooftop dining area on the level below to afford more guests places and tables to use as it also has access to the pool and views of the city.||- NO DROP-OFF/PICK-UP/LOADING BAY outfront to unload/load guests or luggage. You have to park under Plaza Espana and lug your luggage up and across the road. It is not a deal-breaker but a bit inconvenient and adds time and cost. ||- PROXIMITY TO LOW-EMISSION VEHICLE ZONE (LEZ) if you are self-driving, could be an issue/danger. The hotel is right next to a corner of the zone , so you have to be careful as all but one direction of travel at the crossroads/junction will see you fined if you dont have the permitted category of vehicle as there are cameras that will clock you automatically. Do your research first to avoid any issue during the bedlam that is city/peak hour traffic.||- ROOMS NOT THE BIGGEST so it is hard to find space for luggage. If you have just two or ideally one suitcase, you should be fine. ||- NO FREEZER IN ROOM FRIDGE as was the case in both of our rooms, which we needed for medical purposes. (Reception were accommodating in allowing us to store small items in theirs, but if you have larger items you need to keep at freezer temperatures, you may have an issue). ||- BATHROOMS in both our rooms were quite dark due to the the choice of tile and poorly lit, but would be good if moody lighting in bathrooms is your thing. ||- THE GLASS BALUSTRADE around the pool, while it allows for great views when in the pool, isnt that high, so getting up close to the sides is not for the woozy faint-hearted with a fear of heights. Also, although tempered glass, there is a worrying crack along the full height of one of the panels, right next to the steps to get out, with a 50m+ sheer drop looming...

I seriously debated giving this hotel 1/5 but to give a balanced and fair review, let's start with:||Positives:||- Good central, location in Madrid|- The breakfast staff were very friendly (even though Breakfast itself was chaotic, see below)|- The room itself was ok and the bed was quite comfortable||Negatives:||Where to start?||- Firstly, the pool situation as many others have mentioned, was a complete joke. The entire selling point of the hotel is based on the pool and for the management to not notify customers in advance is disgraceful. The reception desk clearly avoided mentioning it on check-in and then did not seem to care at all that it was closed for an unspecified amount of time, even at one point pretending it might be ready in a week (note maintenance is still on-going and they have finally updated their website after a month). How on earth did someone think it would be a good idea to spend a month renovating the main selling point of the hotel in peak season? Without the pool there is nothing special about the hotel and much better value alternatives. As a side-note, the pictures of the pool are also deceiving, it's not very big and looked like there would be nowhere really to sit and relax even if it was open.|- The rooftop bar (next to the pool) is apparently run by a different company but due to this it is open to the public (with no additional fee) and the entire area was crowded, making it difficult to find somewhere to sit. What is the point of staying at the hotel if the view is open to everyone and pool is closed for a month? You don't even get a discount or special offer on the drinks at the bar if you are staying at the hotel meaning you might as well just stay somewhere else and go to the bar for a drink.|- Breakfast was completely chaotic and disorganised. Again, the staff were positive and trying their best but there are a lot of improvements to be made. The layout is non-sensical, the hot food was very average at best (we noticed small bugs in the salad dressing etc) and it seemed to be completely random if someone would take your food and drinks order every morning. The bowls and plates often smelt dirty as if the dishwahser hadn't had a filter changed in a while and the glasses for the juice were mostly soaking wet.||Improvements for the hotel management to read:||1. General expectation setting. If you know how annoyed people are going to be about the pool being closed, this should be communicated in advance with the offer of either money off the stay or being able to cancel. The fact that they tried to hide it, didn't even offer a free drink and then got overly defensive when anyone brought it up, says it all.|2. They should charge a small fee for the rooftop bar to stop it being overwhelmed by people who are not staying at the hotel. The RIU across the road does this and the bar / views are a lot better. At the very least you should offer guests staying at the hotel slightly cheaper drinks or put a limit on the amount of people that can use it who do not stay at the hotel.|3. Breakfast needs a complete revamp. The layout is non-sensical having the self-serve food in the middle where all the staff are cleaning and there needs to be a better system for taking the food and drinks orders.||Overall, I would not recommend this hotel and it put a dampener...

I chose Dear Hotel hotel for a special birthday trip with my mother from April 30 to May 2, based on the many glowing online reviews. I expected excellent service, warmth, and comfort. I work in the hospitality industry myself, so I know what good service looks like—and unfortunately, this hotel failed on almost every front. I had saved for this trip to give my mother something truly memorable, but what we received was deeply disappointing and at times shocking.

From the moment we arrived, things went wrong. After a long flight, we were met at reception by a staff member who was cold, unfriendly, and completely uninterested in welcoming us. We received no information about the hotel—no Wi-Fi code, no details about breakfast, no explanation of facilities. When I later asked about extending our stay (which I had already inquired about via email), I was told dismissively, “check the website.” As someone working in hotels, I was stunned by this level of indifference and lack of basic hospitality. This set the tone for the rest of our stay.

It got worse when we entered the room. The complimentary water bottle was filled with chlorinated tap water and had visible mold in it. That is not only unhygienic—it is unacceptable and dangerous. To make matters worse, the minibar was completely empty (so no water we could drink) and there was a lot of dust in the corners which was not what we expected from the room description.

At breakfast, we discovered (only then) that our booking was room-only as nobody told us during check-in. My bad for not seeing this earlier but also this had never been explained during check-in. The sign in the elevator mentioned reservations and a QR code but gave no information about pricing. We made a reservation and sat through a chaotic experience. The buffet was mostly empty and not being restocked for the entire time we were there. There was barely any fresh food available. We waited over 40 minutes for two eggs Benedict, and the coffee and tea service was non-existent. For this, we were charged €40.

The rooftop bar—although managed separately—was another embarrassment. Staff were unfriendly and careless. €14 for an Aperol Spritz with zero snacks, no music, no ambiance. When we asked if music could be played, we were rudely told to come back in the evening. Again, absolutely no sense of guest care.

Finally, at check-out, I tried to explain all of this to the "manager" (a woman with red curly hair) but I was immediately shut down. She didn’t ask how our stay was, didn’t apologize, didn’t show a shred of empathy. She didn’t even look me in the eye. Her only response was “email guest services.” Which is what I did, and never received a reply.

That is not how you deal with unhappy guests. There was no attempt to understand, no ownership, no service recovery whatsoever. Even other (younger) staff (interns?) seemed embarrassed by her behavior.

Altogether, I spent a lot of money on what was meant to be a joyful, meaningful trip, and it turned into a complete disappointment. As a professional in this industry, I find it hard to believe how poorly trained and unmotivated your team...