We just returned from a delightful 8-day stay at the Madrid Ritz.

Reception was welcoming, efficient, and very gracious in giving us an upgrade as they had the availability. The spacious lst floor room overlooked the Prado, had a foyer, three large closets, large bath with window (also a Prado aspect), and the linen sheets were pure luxury. With orchids and lillies, fresh fruit daily, and unintrusive maid and turndown service, it was a pleasure to wake up in and come back to this vintage haven.

The buffet breakfast was plentiful, high quality and attractively presented. Service was pleasant and attentive. We particularly noticed they refreshed the buffet items even up to the 11:00am closing.

The location is simply the best in Madrid, and we are more than happy to report the Ritz did not disappoint!

In a few words, the right, the best and the most convinient hotel to stay in Madrid. Their restaurant is an excellent choice if to tired to go out, Friendly staff!

The reputation of the Ritz is great and the web site photos are nice, so I looked forward to my three-day stay there last month. I was in for a shock.

The interior of the hotel is in a very poor state. The hall is very faded, which creates a depressing atmosphere. In the corridors, the carpets are so thin that you feel you are walking on the wooden floor beneath. The room was in bad shape and looked as though it had not been renovated in decades: very worn carpet, torn fabrics, poor upholstery of chairs, etc.

The service was generally good , but the waiting staff in the Goya restaurant are not pleasant: haughty maitre d'hotel in a frock, virtually no English spoken, no timely clearing of tables.

The breakfast buffet, displayed on several stations, was very plain for a hotel of this standing.

The spa is the only part of the hotel that is nicely renovated, but the small fitness room was unbearably hot, probably because of the two adjacent saunas.

The Ritz is also unusually kind towards smokers, even by local standards: the three lower floors (out of six) are smoking, smoking is allowed in the bar and part of the lobby hall. Since these areas are not separated from the rest of the hall, the whole lobby gets smoky at certain times.

Overall, this was a horrible experience, some of the worst value for money ever and a disgrace for Orient Express and the Leading Hotels. Urgent renovation needed.

Stayed for 4 nights in a classic room with courtyard view, the decor of the room was old-fashioned glamour as you would expect from the Ritz, the room was very spacious with 2 walk in closets, in the bathroom were Bulgari toiletries (the TV had a number of British stations BBC 1 & 2, ITV). I would also recomend eating at the Goya restaurant, I had breakfast each day and couple of dinners, or have a drink in the bar or afternoon tea in the beautiful lobby. Food and drink is very expensive but that was expected. The quality of room service food was equally high with very prompt delivery. I would definately recomend this hotel to anyone, I couldn't find any fault at all.
Excellent location right in the middle of the 3 main art museums Reina Sofia, Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza, which was my favourite of the 3. Its a 5 min walk to the main shopping street of Gran Via or Retiro Park and 5/10 mins to the designer shopping streets of Calle Serrano & Calle de Jose Ortega y Gasset where you will find Chanel, Gucci etc.