The Chains in Spain
In Spain a number of really excellent hotel chains that have figured out how to combine consistent quality, with character, style and vernacular, making the search for a great city hotel a whole lot easier.
In most of the major cities and towns of Spain, you’ll find an AC Hotel, a Hospes hotel, or an NH Hotel. Totally different in style from the Paradores, these are more new Spain than old: sleek, stylish, and good value. I never thought I’d say this, but if you’re struggling with hotel selection and can’t pick one B&B from another, you can do worse then chuck away your guidebooks and your magazine clippings, and limit your hotel selections to just these three chains.
The NH hotels are consistently reliable, if rarely amazing–but they’re often very well located and good value, as in the case of the Amistad Cordoba. The only problem is there’s so many of them; but use the map feature on their website and it’s pretty easy to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The AC Hotels are in a different league; at least their AC Selection hotels are. I love them–these are hotels that can hold their own with any in terms of both service they offer and the buildings they inhabit. In Madrid, there’s the Palacio de Retiro and the Santo Mauro, two excellent hotels that are at once stylish, comfortable and discreet–and also both totally different from each other. The Santo Mauro resembles a Parisian Hausmann building, with large apartments, tall windows and parquet floors. The Palacio del Retiro is a mansion fronting the Retiro park, with large rooms, a downstairs spa, and beautiful furnishings. I can safely say I’ve never slept in a larger bed in my life.
The Hospes are not all great, but it’s not because they don’t dare to be different. Chain hotels these are not. Best of all is the Palacio del Bailio in Cordoba, really a class act, and a spacious retreat in a tightly-squeezed and busy town.
At Trufflepig we naturally tend towards individually run, small and unique B&Bs and hotels, and it’s true that they generally make the job more fun, and travel more interesting. But when hotel chains do get it right, we try not to be pig-headed about it.
Though Jack Dancy is rarely shackled by chains of any kind, at times he’s bound to his desk neck deep in trip planning. If you’d like some help sorting the wheat from the chaff, email Jack for help or read more of his opinion on the Sounder.
