24 Hours at the Hotel Unico - Madrid

We arrived at the Unico by Taxi coming from the designed and elegant The Principal Hotel so we expected to find an ultra-luxurious flagship hotel (the first property of the Unico Hotels). In fact the artival was perfect we were welcomed by two bellmen and the lobby looked glamorous with elegant furniture and wonderfully designed salons and art pieces. We missed a bit the warm welcome but soon after we took a seat, two glasses of Cava were served. Check-in was not the fastest and understandable our room was not ready at 12.00 am. We were told it will last 10 minutes until the room is ready. Finally it were nearly 35 minutes until we were picked-up in the Lounge. 

It is sad to see that many hotels have the chance to prepare for some guests (It is not said that they don't do - Raffles Istanbul and Palazzo Montemartini were outstanding)! This would be the case with us. With reading some of the most important reviews we wrote, a hotel can easily know what and how we like our stay/room to be. At the Unico we have got an attic room with a window in the ceiling - not possible to spot any view nor opening the window. On top I got a room with shower-/tub combo. Everyone who is following us with passion knows that I am absolutely not a friend of this kind of bathrooms. As expected the half bathroom floor was flooded as the glass wall is not proofed and the shower head had really average preasure - so showering lasts even longer... Well otherwise the bathroom was nice but it could have been a bit brighter, the lighting was a bit poor. In general our room was not spacious. 

I would expect to find such a room in New York or Paris but not in a city like Madrid where the alternative hotels are numerous. For a hotel of this price tag (230-290 euros for a standard room) you can also stay at the Ritz or the Villa Magna where rooms are sized equal with guarantee and don't have views of blue sky only. Our room made the impression to be used with stains on the wooden paneel behind the bed. 

Breakfast is served in the normally upscale Michelin restaurant with a sitting area in the garden, which is truly nice. The buffet is quite nice and has a comfortable size. I am completely fine when a hotel decides to offer a medium sized buffet as long as the products are of high quality, like at the Unico: French butter, excellent sandwiches with serrano ham, good egg dishes, Nespresso coffee as well as San Pellegrino water and kind service.

However the Unico is the only hotel in Calle de Claudio Coello - the main shopping street in Salamanca and therefore perfect for all shopping lovers (like we are) and fashionistas seeking for a hip place to stay without big rooms and impressive views. The salons are nice places to meet as the garden is. There is also a two-michelin starred restaurant in-house but we were invited by ElClub Allard which also looks a bit more iconic. 

We were guests of the Unico Hotel and as you can read our above written expresses our own opinion.