Last night I stayed in a 3-star hotel in Sevilla. Today, Iīm in a 4-star hotel in Madrid - the Hotel Cuzco. I wish I was back to my hotel in Sevilla.

The Hotel Cuzco is located at P. de la Castellana, 133. This is not a bad neighborhood in terms of safety, but it is a utterly uninteresting place. There are no parks and nothing of any historic value or interest here. If you are going on business, this neighborhood is pretty decent. Congress Hall is nearby as are a number of convention facilities.

Iīm here playing tourist, however, and there is no place of interest to go walking around in the evening. It was a 15 minute cab ride to the city center. On the other hand, if you need to be near to the airport or Chamartin train station, this is not a bad location. Chamartin is a few blocks away and the airport is under 20 kilometers away.

A single room at the Hotel Cuzco will run you 152 Euro. (Talk to a travel agent to see if they can get you Ibercheque coupons and you may get a better deal. I was able to get in for only 39 Euro.) You can also get a better deal by booking on line at http://www.spain-barcelona-hotels.com/madrid-hotels/cuzco/.

The hotel has 330 rooms on 14 floors. All rooms have their own private bathrooms, a color television, and direct-dial phone. They also advertise that rooms have fax/modem connectors in the room. I didnīt find one in my room and the receptionist was not able to help me with that either. You can also order a limited number of pay-per-view movies. One channel plays an English language movie; ones plays a Spanish language movie; two channels play porn. The channels repeat the same movie all day. The cost for four movies per day is 8.71 Euro.

The hotel has many conference and meeting rooms. It has its own underground parking garage. Other features they advertise include sauna, fitness center, coffee shop, laundry service, and room service.

Now, as to why I really donīt like this hotel.

1) The people: While not rude, the staff have been uniformly cold. The receptionist never smiled. She shoved paperwork in my face. She pointed me to a bellboy and said, "follow him." I had no idea what my room number was or what was happening. The bellboy also never smiled and never bothered to look back to see if I was there. He rolled his eyes in frustration when we got to the elevator and had to wait for a moment.

The concierge and I struggled through my Spanish and his English to try and find me a tour for tomorrow. Actually, I should say I struggle. He looked utterly bored and tossed a brochure across the counter. When I asked for advice on which tour to take, he shrugged and said "This one is only two hours. This one is all day." When I asked if there was a place to check e-mail, he pointed lazily and said, "Over there across the street, thereīs a place. I donīt know the name." Now, as this is a hotel that caters to businesses, I canīt believe mine is a unique request or that he couldnīt have offered more than pointing through the wall.

2) The building: The building itself is ugly. It may have been renovated in 1997, but no one did anything to make it attractive. The hallways smell strongly of lye soap. Itīs clean but makes me want to gag.

3) The rooms: Rooms are clean, but the sheets are a bit threadbare. The towels are postage stamp size and about as absorbent as a McDonaldīs napkin. The bathtub is a tiny affair and dangerously slippery. The television is fine, but there is no television guide. There is a note in one pamphlet about being able to access the internet from the television, but there is no instruction on how to do that. Neither does anyone seem to know how this is actually done.

The bathroom stuff does include a nice shampoo, a body lotion, emery board, bath sponge, shower cap, comb and shoe horn.

The room does not have coffee facilities. (Want coffee? Call room service.)

So the final verdict - a clean but boring hotel in a personality-free neighborhood which employs grumpy and unhelpful personnel. Itīs expensive but has good meeting facilities. If youīre like me and staying there as a tourist, skip this place. If youīre coming here for business - well, maybe this works for you, but I have to believe that there is someplace in Madrid where you can get conference rooms and a pleasant staff.


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Hotel Reviews:

Hotel Cuzco - Madrid
http://www.epinions.com/content_55471738500

Recommended: No