InterContinental Madrid – one of the first international hotels in the city, was our weekend destination during the visit to the capital of Spain in July 2017.
Table of Contents
Check-in
After a long international flight, a 20-minute Blacklane ride from the Madrid Bajaras International Airport (MAD) took us to the hotel. The InterContinental Madrid is located in a quiet neighborhood between the city center and the airport, which makes it a convenient weekend destination for international visitors – like us.
The friendly lobby staff guided us to the second floor Club Lounge, where our check-in was processed quickly. Due to our IHG Platinum Ambassador status, we were upgraded to the Premium Suite.
The Room
About 44 square-meter suite consists of two rooms, a spacious living room / working area and a separate bedroom. The classic style of the room is typical for the InterContinental hotels, so if you are looking for clean and modern design, InterContinental Madrid might not be the best option for you.
The king bed was relatively comfortable but can feel a bit hard if you are used sleeping on soft beds. Pillow menu of eight different options was a big plus.
The Ambassador gift was delivered to us couple of minutes after our arrival.
For in-room entertainment, there were two flat screen TVs showing a lot of channels in different languages, for example, English, German, Arabic and Russian channels were available. There were also plenty of electric plugs for charging your devices, but oddly none of them were located next to the king-sized bed.
The spacious bathroom was also very classic by design with two sinks, a shower, and a separate bathtub.
The usual collection of high-quality bathroom amenities by L’Occitane were found on the bathroom countertop.
Food and drinks
With a suite, we also had an access to the InterContinental Madrid Club Lounge.
The breakfast consisted of small warm buffet and changing selection of croissants, pastries, vegetables, fresh fruits, cold cuts, and cheeses. In addition, you could order sausages, bacon, eggs, and omelets from the small menu.
The service in Club Lounge reminded us of Finland, kind of friendly, the bare minimum was done but nothing else. For example, coffee or juice refills were not offered at all.
In addition to buffet breakfast, there were also drinks and snacks available from 12:00 to 22:30 with happy hour from 17:00 to 19:00. Happy hour, in this case, meant hard liquor, which you could use for mixing drinks. Beer and wines (red, white, rose and prosecco) were available until the closing time. There was also a selection of warm tapas available from 19:00 to 23:00.
In brief, InterContinental Madrid Club Lounge provided very good value for money, unless you are planning to spend the whole day outside of the hotel.
Regarding other dining options, there is a highly rated El Jardin del Intercontinental restaurant inside the hotel, where you can enjoy breakfast, lunch, and dinner with outdoor seating. There are also a couple of other good restaurants within a walking distance and plenty of more if you are willing to take a cab ride.
Amenities
The hotel has a small gym with a couple of treadmills and ellipticals and a small free weights area. It wasn’t the most modern hotel gym we have seen, but definitely adequate for occasional exercises. There is also a spa and sauna, but unfortunately, we didn’t have time to try them out during our weekend visit.
Note also that there is no swimming pool in InterContinental Madrid, which seems to be some kind of (unfortunate) trend among Spanish hotels.
Conclusion
- Classic five-star hotel in a quiet area
- Excellent Club Lounge
- Small gym, spa, and sauna
- No swimming pool
If you are interested in reading more about IHG hotels, remember to check our other InterContinental Hotel Group reviews.
