There are many words to describe this hotel, two of them are Tourist Trap. Hi there, my name
is Kevin and I make honest, unsponsored and to the point narrated video tours about hotels and
flights all over the world. This is episode number 108 and today we are at the Riu Plaza España. My
snarky into aside, this place does have the best view in Madrid so stick around to check it out.
Welcome to Plaza España in Madrid, with an almost impossibly blue sky. So,
the tourist trap comment is 90% about the rooftop and 10% about the hotel itself.
There is no way getting around the fact that this is a giant hotel in a relatively small footprint,
with limited common areas. Spread out over 26 floors this hotel has 583 rooms. If you’d
like to know the exact rate that I paid, my next five videos in queue or info about
all of the gear that I use on a daily basis, check out the description below.
With the number of people that walk through here or check in and out daily, this lobby
is truly tiny. Located in the historic Edificio Espana, the 8th tallest building in Madrid,
originally constructed in 1953, the Riu opened its doors in the space in August of 2019.
Whether you’re here doing research for your next trip, reliving a past one or perhaps just have
auto-play on and have no idea how you got here, I appreciate you checking out the channel and hope
you’ll give this video a thumbs up and perhaps subscribe for three new videos each week. Feel
free to also check out my new Patreon linked in the description below. A big thank you in advance.
As we check out the lobby bar, I’ll note that besides breakfast, all food venues in the hotel
serve the same tapas and drinks menu which I’ll give a peak at in a bit. One thing I do give them
2 thumbs up for is the elevator system. It has to be the most efficient one I’ve ever seen. Scan
your keycard and it will give you a limited choice of floors to goto, including your room’s floor and
the other common area floors. Tap your destination and it tells you which elevator to head to.
First up, we’re going to head straight up the the roof, which is, with a capital A,
Always busy. This is me walking out right as it opened at 11:00.
Note that the rooftop is open to non-hotel guests for I believe a 10 euro entrance fee,
so the elevator system also provides an added layer of security. No matter what you think of the
hotel though, there is no denying that the views from up here are breathtaking in every direction.
For those unfamiliar, let’s take a look at where we are. Madrid,
the capital city of 3.3 million is located smack in the middle of the country and is sprawling.
Transportation is efficient though so a taxi or metro ride from the airport to the hotel will
take around 30 minutes and the taxis here are actually half way affordable compared to some
other western European cities. At first glance, the hotel seems to be at the edge of the city,
but- so are many of the sights you may be coming here to see,
so it is well positioned to get around what has become my favorite walking city on earth.
The newly renovated Plaza Espana is dominated by the Riu and neighboring Barceló.
All of the menus are from a QR code and those websites don’t work on desktops,
so this screen grab is the best I could do to give you an idea of what food is on offer up here
and in the other venues. It’s basic and pricey and service is at best, slow. Before I forget,
let me just point out that rather than have a simple system like every other hotel, their wifi
requires a unique username and password which you will only receive once your room is ready.
Riu Hotels also began operation in 1953 and are currently the 2nd largest hotel brand in Spain by
revenue with their 109 mostly sun-destination focused hotels and resorts across the world.
Riu is now owned by TUI Travel, something I didn’t have a clue about until like 4 minutes ago.
A level or two lower is El Eden- which they oddly enough refer to as a gastrobar.
There is also an outdoor pool which is just around this corner but was
not yet open due to the weather when I was there.
So, two interesting bits. For the first time, I lost a piece of footage somehow. Luckily it was
just walking down the hallway to my room, so this substitution will do just fine instead. Second
thing, I was originally given a dark and drab room in the rear of the hotel with a love view of a
wall which you couldn’t even see since the windows were all frosted. It was a true gem- and yes, I
did pay for a city view room, and this apparently qualifies as such. I complained at the front desk.
They claimed they were near capacity, which I do actually believe and gave me one other option to
upgrade the room for 20 euro per night. I thought it was a ripoff considering the first room
should have been fine had the windows not been frosted and it actually had a city view but ok
I’m going to stop complaining now because in the end I did really enjoy the room that I moved to.
The room I ended up in was a corner unit with plenty of space to spread out and the sofa can
also turn into an extra bed, which there is plenty of space for. The rooms have all of the modern
amenities you’d expect and are nicely decorated in what is becoming a typical big box Spanish style.
The bathroom was large bright and modern with a double vanity and
additional space to put your things on the shelf below. Products were
partly in tamperproof bulk bottles and partly in mini plastic bottles.
The windows were nice and large with great views, but a bit of a pain since
you needed to prop them open with something or else they'd keep swinging open and shut.
Opening the windows was also the only way to adjust- or in this case, turn off- the relentless
heat which was not otherwise controllable. I was here during a cold snap in April.
Two things I didn’t enjoy were the really scratchy industrial carpeting or whatever
you call this flooring material and the almost equally scratchy bedsheets with a
cheap felt blanket instead of a proper duvet. In the mornings, breakfast began at 7:00 and
filled up very quickly. The food on offer was fine- and probably in line with what you’d expect,
even if it did feel a bit more Budget Cruise Line than it did four star urban hotel.
Alright, as we head into the Flip Flop Score, what are we thinking?
Eh… it was okay. You could surely do better but during some times of the year the hotel does offer
a decent value, especially if this is a part of the city that you want to stay in. It was clean,
modern and mostly comfortable and sometimes, that’s just about all you need. I do hope you
enjoyed this video and found it to be useful. If you did, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe
for three new videos each week. I’ll see you next time on my Air France flight to Paris.