Firstly, be aware that there are two "Apolo"s in this area of Madrid: this hotel and Hostal Apolo XI. Don't print out directions to the wrong one like we did ;)
We arrived here quite late at night, and my first impression was that the area looked quite run down, lots of boarded up shops and graffiti. Unfortunately, this was when my opinion of the hotel was at its peak, and it was only downhill from there.
I will start with the few good points I have to make. The room was spacious but sparse, probably of two-star standard (which is enough for me). The room was also very clean -- housekeeping do a good job. The hotel is about a minute away from the La Latina metro station, providing access to Madrid's efficient underground system. It's also not too far a walk from some other parts of the city.
Now, the downside. The hotel was awkward to get to from the airport, requiring two changes on the metro and taking about an hour. The check-in process was quite depressing; there are prisons that provide better customer service than this. The man at reception may have misread the job description.
Our room was a twin even though we booked a double. We couldn't get the safe to work and the window wouldn't lock properly. Every room in the building also seemed to be equipped with one of the loudest toilets known to man. Can they not fit mufflers to these things?
The toilets were not the biggest noise problem. That came mainly from outside. This hotel must be situated in an area with many pubs and clubs (although to be honest we didn't see many!) as the drunken noise from outside was unbelievable.
Admittedly I am a light sleeper but my partner could sleep through the apocalypse and even he found it impossible to get some rest. Not only did we have problems with outside noise (shouting, sirens, traffic, the council emptying the glass recycling bins at 1am every night) we also had problems with very loud people returning to the hotel very late and proceeding to wake the dead (which is how I felt after so many sleepless nights).
We encountered two further people working at reception, neither of whom spoke English. This would not bother me, if not for the fact that their English-language website clearly states that English is spoken at reception. It also became a problem when we found ourselves locked out of our room halfway through our stay as our key card randomly stopped working. That was definitely extra hassle that we did not need.
When rating this hotel, I have to take everything into account. The hotel may not be able to do much about the noise or the location, but I can't ignore these things when, for me, they pretty much ruined a trip to a lovely city. Cheap does not always mean good value.
- Apolo Hotel Madrid
