Room Mate Mario, Madrid, Spain

A relaxed, urban boutique hotel, Room Mate Mario is part of a no-frills, no fuss chain of hotels set in various locations across Madrid and beyond. Room Mate Mario has made its home in a beautiful old warren of Madrid apartments close to the Palacio Real, in a narrow, quiet street leading from the Plaza de Opera.

The facilities

Just one of the functional, no-frills boutique chain of Room Mate hotels, Room Mate Mario has transformed the inside of this classical building into space-ship chic of white and orange walls and lights, with split level floors and winding corridors. A no-frills take on the modern boutique model, Room Mate Mario has an urban-anonymity which affords a comfortable and relaxed privacy to its guests, with basic cool, clean comforts.

The Room Mate chain names all its hotels according to its concept of personality-driven design, aimed at according with each hotel’s location. With a massive expansion planned of up to 30 new hotels by 2010, Room Mate is about to be rebranded, but this concept will remain, and with so many hotels, you can enjoy choosing carefully from the three available to you in Madrid, depending on which area suits you. Room Mate Mario is probably the quietest and most laid back choice of venue, though still within easy proximity of a livelier nightlife.

The rooms

Whilst each of the 54 rooms offer the same style of spare urban cool, each also has its own particular headboard design and the shape of each room and bathroom varies according to the dimensions of the external structure. Consequently, some rooms ‘work’ better than others – our bathroom was more of a wet room than was surely intended, with a shower behind the door and no apparent temperature regulation except for two taps only reachable by standing on the toilet. Our tip is to ask to see your room before agreeing on which one you’re taking.

The big plus of Room Mate Mario was the elements of the service which made you feel that you were on holiday and in control of your time – the tyranny of ‘breakfast-is-served’ is waived by availability from 7.30 until noon, a civilised arrangement which acknowledges the likelihood of its young clientele sleeping in late after a long night out, whilst making sure those who are up early (or going to bed really late) can still have a good meal before they go out.