Stayed here for 4 nights in June. Originally had booked a hotel in the new part of town near train station but stumbled upon this hotel on internet, although was initially put off by the fact that it came up as a 1 star property. The hotel photos however, seemed to suggest this could not possibly be a true rating and so we took a chance by cancelling our original booking and coming here instead.
How glad are we that we did! This hotel was ideally situated in the old, and very quaint, part of town-approx 10 minutes walk from the cathedral. The main building itself is very old with what appears to be a newer extension built on the back where the majority of rooms seem to be. Our room was in the older part of the hotel however, and was absolutely charming. We had asked for a balcony and this we got along with two further juliet type balconys opposite the bed. Along with the exposed stone walls and contemporary, fairly mimalistic furnishings, the hotel is a fantastic and tasteful blend of old and new. We paid approx £60 per night which we considered excellent value. Included in this price was breakfast which was served in the hotel's restaurant housed in the basement of the original buidling. This was the usual continental affair and a good choice and quantity of breads, cereal, cheese, meat etc - again the surroundings were lovely.
Santiago itself is a lovely place although worth mentioning that the old part is definately the 'pretty' bit of town. We only ventured briefly into the new part which is fairly scruffy and hectic( although a lot of work seemed to be in progress which may be an attempt to smarten the place up)
It is very authentic in that english is not widely spoken and therefore a spanish phrasebook or some grasp of the language is essential.
The old part of the city is fairly small with the cathedral being the main tourist attraction. We spent many hours leisurely wandering around the windy little streets although it has to be said that there isn't a huge amount to see or do within the city itself once you've visited the cathedral. It is however a nice place for a leisurely break and to soak up the atmosphere of a typically spanish city. One last point would be not to forget your umbrella as it rained consistently for the 4 days we were there and that was in June! we found out afterwards that the region is often referred to as the Ireland of spain due to its similar climate so 'sunny Spain 'it definately isn't!

The fabric of the hotel is superb - a lovely and sensitive conversion of some old property and done sympathetically and visually well. Rooms are well furnished and all of the basics (hot water is hot, doors open well, lights illuminate the right places etc) work. Fabrics and furniture of a good quality - may start to look a bit tired soon tho'.

Position is hard to beat - in the old town, nice tapas and cafe bars near, good food and shops, pretty area without being too touristed - you feel people actually live, love and work here.

Service is very friendly - for example we said we needed to check out early and were told that breakfast would be available for us a good hour before it was due to start, without having to ask, and it was ready and it was all there - no bowl of cereal and a pack of milk but the full buffet.

The breakfast was good - simple but fresh and well presented in a lovely stone-and-beamed area. Can't comment on the restaurant as it was closed for some refurb work - the peek I had suggests it will be to a similar high standard as the rest of the fabric.

Value was good - not the cheapest but nice for the money.

So why isn't it rated as excellent? Because the architect who did the conversion of the back of the property was clearly deaf. That is the only thing which could account for the total lack of soundproofing in the rooms. I am now on intimate terms with (night one and two) the sleeping habits of baby Juan (not for long and very grumpy when he wakes up) and the (night three) sexual habits of, well let's call her Miss X (for long and very grumpy at a range of times).

Over the Summer of 2006 my son and I walked approximately 125-130 miles on the Pilgrimage Route, Santiago de Compostela. After eight days of hiking during which we stayed at numerous small and inexpensive hotels we arrived in Santiago and treated ourselves to a two-night stay at the Sino for two nights. The room was small but extremely well designed and immaculate. The staff was extremely attentive, efficient and helpful and the location could not possibly have been better. It was close to the Cathedral and to numerous shops and restaurants. We could not get the internet service to work but that was a minor inconvenience. The breakfast was very pleasant. If I go back to Spain I would definitely stay here again. The next time I would try, if available, a room facing the front of the hotel as the rear was noisy but the noise was more celebratory than annoying. In short, we had a wonderful stay.

We arrived at the hotel which looked attractive, rang the bell and waited a while, thought there may have been another entrance as there was no movement from within (it wasn't late) on entering felt it modern, new, up to date, clean and nicely presented. Booking in was easy and the gentleman at reception was really helpful. We were supposed to be in a superior room but it was small, really small and hot, very hot, after the coach journey we thought a shower was a good idea, to do so meant raising both toilet seat parts to open the glass shower door which then swung open to hit a metal spacer on the wall, It terrified me each time, bang, crash, I later did slip and bruise my back in that thing, nothing to grab hold of. Anyway, went out and enjoyed the evening, returned to a very hot room, no fan, no air-con we had to open the window and that was the biggest problem, it was to the noisiest back road I have ever come across, though just wide enough to take small trucks, they roared though, coupled with the hotels bar entrance, their noise and scooter, being in that back road, they were loud too, and we were one the second floor, it was like they were in the room with you, as it cooled around 4am I could close the doors and try to sleep. The 3 breakfasts we had got worse each day, nothing seemed to be replaced, no orange juice? and we were told "rolls for the restaurant only?", anybody following us must have gone hungry, staff not really there. The internet sat there dead to the world too (maybe a good thing!). I know it was a hot week but it isn't a cheap hotel. The main issue was ventilation, there isn't any, to get any you can't sleep through the noise. NO english telly? its Spain, why should there be?