Has anyone had experience with Hotel Mediodia near Atocha in Madrid? The Madrid EyeWitness travel guide makes is sound interesting--"in stately 19th century building with splendid view over Atocha station and friendly service", and it sounds reasonable. I searched Madrid Man for this hotel but nothing came up.

When my whole family (mother, father, sister, brother-in-law) went with us to Madrid 2 years ago, they needed a place to stay. My madrileno suegro found the Mediodia, and was assured that my parents would have a room on one of the upper floors and not facing the street, they also quoted him a great price. When we arrived and checkedmy parents in, the reservation was no where to be found, they stuck them in a sparse 1st story room, facing the street (very noisy) and they did not honor the price they agreed on. Now, if they treated Spaniards (my in-laws) this way, how do you think they will treat foreigners. Not only were they rude at the front desk, but the hotel itself was pretty rundown...
Needless to say, my parents packed it up and went around the corner to an NH hotel, Hotel Nacional and had a wonderful stay in a beautiful, modern hotel.

That was just one family's experience, if anyone has another, please chime in.

I stayed at the Hotel Mediodia in Madrid in 1999. We had a room facing the patio de luces...and it was adequate, nothing more. There was no street noise, but since all the rooms face each other, there is still noise...sometimes quite interesting noise...coming from the other rooms! The room was small, there was no air conditioning, and the meal service was mediocre. The location was wonderful (though we were warned by our tour guide that the place would not be the best for our students to wander about in.) There was a colorful character who indulged in some recreational substance always present in front of the place. He'd start out the day fully clothed and by the time I called it a day(or night?) he was down to his "chones". There was a great place for breakfast next door, and the adults in our group found a wonderful spot for churros early in the morning. I wouldn't have been upset about staying there again had the tour company made the reservations, but I didn't choose it for myself when I returned in 2001.

[ 10-06-2001: Message edited by: la maestra ]

We had a lousy one night experience at the Hotel Mediodia last week. Talk about rude at the front desk!! We were trying to to use all the subjunctives possible to be polite, and these guys were such jerks that it gave my wife the chills.

On top of that, I asked for an iron(should be a simple request, no?)and they sent me up to the seventh floor laundry room to press my own shirt. You would think they had more than one iron in the joint. On top of that, the place was just plain trashy outside, and we didn't feel at all safe or at home. After this experience, we checked out and went to the Hostal Mirentxu, where we paid half the rate, and had a very pleasant experience.

This hotel is one that doesn't even deserve to be in business anymore-sets a new lower bounds on poor taste, and bad service.