very noisy hotel, thin walls probably
stuff not friendly, but most of them speaks english
very small rooms, decorated quite badly
very good location, between chueca and gran via

I liked this hotel, and would recommend this for travellers. very clean! As I'm here on business, the hotel was a little too rustic - the internet connection was ok, but not great, and there was no way to make coffee/tea in the room while I worked.

Walls are thin!! It was nice and quiet on the inner courtyard, except when people talked in the hallways - the sound carried thru.

Staff were very good with me too, very accommodating. I had a very simple room, but noticed when the door was open (when a maid was cleaning) that some other rooms were much nicer - which I guess is why people make various comments on the rooms. Not big, but adequate.

I went to Hostal San Lorenzo in summer 2007 with my parents and sister, and it was a nice and comfortable experience. We stayed for 4 nights and the bedroom was always spotlessly clean, daily bed sheets change and fresh towels every day. We got an amazing room with 1 queensize bed for my parents and 2 single beds for me and my sister in a connected separate room with doors to provide some privacy to my parents. Our room has a balcony that overlooks the streets and has "automatic curtains" with a remote control and the rooms has AC. The staff are helpful and the lobby has a computer that you can use to do a quick check of your e-mails. The only thing I didn't like is its location because it is situated near the gay/lesbian clubs and was pretty noisy during the nights when they're partying and gay/lesbians couples kissing on the streets might introduce bad influence towards the younger children. The plus side, is that the security is very well done there with 24 hr security men staying in the lobby and cameras in the elevators and corridors. Also the price is also very cheap for this convenient location in the centre of Madrid. Also it's a heaven for women who loves shopping hundreds of shoe shops and fashion boutiques nearby since the hotel is near the busy streets of Gran Via, and the prices are reasonable too since it's where the locals shop.

Just back from a couple of days at the hostal San Lorenzo. The hostal was easy enough to find once we got off the metro and the staff were very quick at getting us booked in. All members of staff we spoke to were fluent in English, so we had no problems there.
The twin rooms we booked were adequate without being stunning, but they were very clean and gave the impression of being very secure. As we were only there for 2 nights, it's really difficult to draw any bad conclusions from the hostal. As has been said before, the fact that you're just off a main thoroughfare makes it a bit noisy in the evening (a Madrid evening starts about 11pm and finishes about 6am the next morning). So if you're a light sleeper, I'd suggest taking ear plugs along. All in, a good place to stay if you're looking to be in the thick of things, but a wee bit noisy.