Hotel Review: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Ritz, Madrid, Spain

The five star hotel category offers the affluent traveler a wide range of luxurious experiences from the opulence of large properties to the intimacy of boutique hotels or the creature comforts of the resort/spa, all carrying the same hotel class designation but all offering a different travel experience.

We spent time at the Grande Dame of hotels – one that helped set the standards for the five star category – the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Ritz, Madrid. And yes, it is all that it’s cracked up to be.

A perfectly situated corner setting so that you pass by the exquisite patio and garden. A majestic circular Belle Époque entrance overseen by a regally uniformed attendant. Rich carpets and a massive crystal chandelier in the lobby and the grand tea room just beyond all evoke a time when elegance and ceremony were the order of the day and only the rich and famous dressed to the nines set foot there.

But, alas, times change, and it isn’t unusual now to see guests toting Escada, Prada, or any number of international designer shopping bags, alighting from cabs dressed in torn blue jeans and belly tees as they rush through the lobby. Under the ever watchful eye of the Reception Manager, the changing scene is becoming the new style for a hotel steeped in history and mythology.

You probably know the story by now. King Alfonso XIII was so impressed with The Ritz Hotel on a visit to Paris at the turn of the 20th century that on his return to Madrid, he commission an identical but smaller version. This insured Spain’s status in the small world of luxury destinations as capable of playing host to royalty.

The hotel still maintains its elegant furnishings and formal dress code for its employees, and the guest rooms still have silk wallcoverings and beds with crowns draped in rich fabrics and tassels galore adorning the draperies. Handmade carpets with the weaver’s name line the guest rooms, as well as the halls, and the embroidered bed linens are the absolute finest Egyptian cotton.

Traditional food and service are still de rigueur in the main dining room, and the sommelier is one of the most knowledgeable we have encountered, though here was a slight deviation from tradition, as the sommelier was a young woman during our stay.

Regardless of the size or style of hotel, the designation of the European five-star category next to a hotel’s name guarantees that certain expectations have been and are always met. You can choose your hotel experience, and you can rest assured that the highest standards will be adhered to and the highest levels of service will be offered.

That’s certainly the case at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Ritz, where you will not be disappointed.