This topic has certainly been quite an interesting roller-coaster ride! Over my past 25 years of traveling (yep, that age bracket!), I've met some pretty miserable innkeepers, but they've been few and far between, and miserable people do not belong to any one category as has been suggested by someone on this thread. It's too bad it happened to a young woman in Madrid but there's a lesson in it: these things happen when you're traveling and learning to handle them is of the essence. That's what DanielleD did by sharing her experience on this board and getting such interesting feedback!

Just a comment on the ERT's assertion that the "rudeness" comes from "South Americans." I have traveled extensively from Argentina to Mexico and have dealt with Latin American immigrants in the U.S. From all of my experiences, none of the Latin American cultures could be characterized by "rudeness" in the service industries. Indeed, I have received some of the best service in the world in Latin America, and frequently in lower priced establishments.

In addition ERT, many of the people you classify as "immigrants" by their accents are actually Spanish citizens returning to the Spain of their parents and grandparents. Spain is just now having to deal with what other immigrant receiving countries have been used to for years, how do you assimilate an net inflow of people and maintain the national identity and quality of life that has drawn the immigrants in the first place? Until recently Spain was a sending country of emigrants, so ERT, what do you think longer term settlers of other countries thought of your countrymen when they were the new arrivals off the boat?