Petit Palace Cliper Gran Via, Madrid

Overall this hotel was a "poor" value for our 10 day stay in Madrid. Our room was clean but a little too small even for European standards. The hotel staff was for the most part helpful. A couple, in fact were extremely helpful and friendly. We tended to wait for these staff members to come on duty to ask for help. Each room had a safe, but the funny thing was the safes were not bolted down. I was having problems with my safe and actually had to carry it down to the front desk to prove it did not work to one of the hotel staff members who kept trying to tell me that the problem was with the user, not the safe. The biggest problem, however, were the "extremely" thin walls between rooms. Madrid is a 24 hour city with people coming and going all hours of the night, especially on the weekends. And we heard everyone of them...sometimes even the conversations that were going on at the front desk four floors below us. For those needing a cheap place to stay before catching an early morning flight (we had a huge family of 30 kids and adults one evening that fell into this category), this hotel is probably a great value. If you are planning on spending more than a day or two, consider another hotel, maybe one in a quieter part of town. Also, regardless of the hotel, if they promote family rooms it doesn't mean you will be on a floor with families. It only means the rooms sleep more than two people which could mean you will be sleeping next to a group of teenagers or young mom's from Ireland who like to laugh and talk for hours. By the way, I hope the mom from Ireland's baby is feeling better. Suggestions for the hotel: 1) Warn people ahead of their visits about the thin walls, 2) bolt down the safes, 3) include a list a list of locations (e.g. drug stores, grocery stores, churches, etc.) that are in walking distance of the hotel in your room's FAQs and 4) turn the coffee pot on between the hours of 2-10 pm when you say free coffee is available in the lobby for guests.

The best thing about this hotel is the location, but there are plenty of better hotels to stay at near the Gran Via. The hotel has a nice complimentary breakfast, but other than that this hotel doesnt have much else to offer. It was certainly not the best service that I have ever received. When we arrived it took forever to check in and we were the only people at the check-in counter. Both the manager and the man behind the counter were busy taking care of personal business before they would even acknowledge us. The rooms are the smallest hotel rooms that I have ever seen and the television is also extremely small. There is not much "high tech" about this hotel. Also, we left something of great personal value in the room and the staff has been of no help in returning the item. Next time I return to Madrid I will diffiently find another hotel in this area.