Has anyone had any experience with the Aparthotel Ricci Suites in Arguelles? It's near the Corte Ingles on Princesa. I'm going back to Madrid in May and my favorite apartment in c/Santa Clara is occupied (that's what I get for telling everyone how great it is!). Ricci Suites looks promising, good sized rooms, decent price and Arguelles would be a convenient area for me, but I haven't been able to find any reviews about the place anywhere, and their internet photos look a little dated, so I'm wondering if it's OK. This site has always been so helpful, I would appreciate any feedback anyone could give me. Muchas gracias.

Well, despite no other reviews, I took a chance and stayed at the Ricci Suites last week, and it was quite nice, and I thought I'd share my review. The building has 12 apartments, all available for short term rental, minimum of two nights. It is in a pleasant area, just around the corner from the Princesa Corte Ingles, less than 5 minutes from the Arguelles metro stop. The reception area is only manned from 9-2 and from 5-8, Monday through Friday, and of course I arrived at 4:30 on Thursday when no one was there to let me in (by the way, I think the new Barajas T-4, while visually beautiful, is an absolute nightmare to get through - worse than Heathrow in London - but that's a different posting). Anyway, I called the number posted at the door and within just minutes, the owner came up and let me in. The apartment itself was immaculately clean, although a new coat of paint on the walls wouldn't hurt. It was very roomy with a good sized salon/dining/work area with a huge desk if you need to study or work, and a well-equiped kitchen - really the only thing lacking was some paper napkins or paper towels. The decor is a bit on the masculine side, with mostly dark furniture, and the dining chairs weren't the most comfortable I had ever sat in, but usable. I had an apartment facing the street, and there were big windows that let in lots of light -- not sure if this is the same for the apartments facing the back of the building. Their ads said that there was direct phone service in the apartments, but when I couldn't find the phone, they explained that this was an old ad and since most people these days had mobile phones, they had changed the phone lines to internet lines, and included free internet connection for your laptop. From a service standpoint, they couldn't have been nicer. The apartment I had (4A) had a nice bedroom, but with two of those tiny twin beds, and I'm a typical midwestern "gordita", so I asked if it was possible to change to an apartment with a "cama de matrimonio" and while they didn't have another available apartment, they opened the second bedroom in this particular apartment for me which had a full bed, but which is normally locked off when the apartment is rented to a single person. Don't know if all the apartments are like that, but they didn't charge me any extra for the second bedroom. I also had a problem with the pilot light on the water heater going out, and they got a repair man in the same day. There is daily maid service M-F, and a good sized bath with a shower over a huge bathtub, with good water pressure, and a bidet (why did we ever stop using those?!). The decor is a bit on the masculine side with black sofa and tables. There is an elevator and the air conditioning worked great. Three or four people could very comfortably stay in this apartment, and if you are more on the independant side (by that I mean you don't usually call the hotel's front desk a lot for stuff) and are looking for more room than a hotel, with good privacy, and secure location, I would recommend this place. I booked through Niumba.com and paid 80 euros per night (75 euros plus 7% iva) for a single. By the way, I walked one morning a few blocks over to the Aparthotel Muralto to check it out and asked to see a typical room. While it's a bit more like a hotel than the Ricci Suites, the kitchen was literally in a closet, and didn't provide pots and pans for cooking unless you asked. The bathroom was big, the bed was big, but it cost 10 euros more per night than the Ricci and it didn't seem worth the extra cost to me. Overall, I had a wonderful time (of course, I hated to leave!) and was very comfortable at the Ricci Suites. I would definately return there again my next trip to Madrid.