Virtuoso Gives More for Your Money in Madrid

Here’s a great example of how booking hotels with a Virtuoso travel advisor provides the best value. I recently booked a client at the Westin Palace Madrid. This is one of the city's top luxury hotels, a historic building commissioned by King Alfonso XIII, which first opened in 1912.


Westin Palace Madrid

 A professional review describes the hotel:

The lobby with its murals of vine-draped balconies and shadowy greenery looks ready for a royal ball. Its beauty is enhanced with inlaid-marble floors, velvety fabrics and Regency appointments. The staff is helpful and professional in English and a half-dozen other languages.


Reception

A dozen steps rise from reception to a small but elegant conversation area with a sumptuous 18th-century Flemish tapestry and high-end shops. Beyond, the dazzling stained-glass cupola of the main lounge is a genuine tourist attraction and the most famous feature of the property. Gathered around this lounge are restored frescoes and florid carpeting that make sipping a drink here all the more relaxing.


Hall Cupola

The revamped Rotonda serves breakfast and lunch buffet fare to one side of the lobby lounge with starched white linens, meticulously prepared buffet dishes, and exquisite service.  The popular bar, immortalized in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, is still a place to see and be seen. Rotating photography exhibits provide ample topics for conversation.


The Palace Bar

On the top floor, guests find the Westin Workout facility with panoramic city views and a sun terrace from which to enjoy them.

This grand dame has been wonderfully restored so it looks just like it did 100 years ago, but with the addition of the Westin touch, including Heavenly Beds, high speed internet, flat screen TV’s, and upscale bathrooms. As a Brownell colleague put it after her recent visit: “A great mix of tradition with our modern lifestyle. Comfortable, and wonderful personal service.”

Junior Suite

The base room rates for the peak summer season range from 225.50 € for a Deluxe Room to 455.59 € for a Junior Suite, or 260.50 € and 490.50 €, respectively, if including breakfast.

My clients pay the standard nightly rate, and then receive these complimentary amenities, simply because they are Virtuoso clients:  

• Daily buffet breakfast for two
• One lunch or dinner for two (first course, second course and dessert)
• Free high speed internet
• Late checkout
• Early check-in
• Complimentary upgrade on arrival, based on availability

So doing the math, a Virtuoso client gets an additional 51.20 € in value daily:
  Room rate difference (with and without breakfast) – 35.50 €

  Internet access: 15.70 €

  Plus any difference in room rate if they receive an upgrade

And over the course of their stay, there's an additional 100-150 € value for the complimentary meal.

 

And that’s not to mention the extra VIP attention all our Virtuoso partners give our highly valued clients – priceless!


Royal Palace

There are Virtuoso properties all around the world, from city hotels to beach resorts to wilderness lodges to spa retreats. Before booking your next hotel stay, no matter how long or short, contact me to find out how you can get the most for your money.