Ok, great, I will just wait to hear back from them and I'll have another look. I'd be happy to pay for the 7 days and just use 5, I think it still comes out to be less than a hotel in most cases, since the apartments seem to be running about 500-600 euros per week.

I am wondering from the Salamanca area, hypothetically say the area in which the AC Recoletos is located, can one walk to all of the sites? There's a good chance I will be about 17 weeks pregnant, just wondering if it's very far. I looked on gogole maps and it said it was 1.9 kilometers from the hotel to the Prado, and a 22 minute walk. Having never been pregnant before, I'm wondering if that's considered far! We usually walk an average of 5-6 miles a day when we tour Europe. Just wondering.

Is it typical for Spain Select to take more than 24 hours to respond to email?

Danon, Yes, men and women DO have differing opinions on what constitutes "huge", LOL! I cracked up when I read that

with spain-select you don't have to pay for a week, they charge per day...
We stayed in one of their apt, but it was on of the older ones ... the new ones look better. Book a higher floor ( !
If you are worried about walking from Salamanca don't stay there. You can take a cab... and go shopping in Salamanca... .
Madrid is not as compact as Barcelona or that beautiful.
I like the city, but it is a big and sometime tiring place .
Cabs are not expensive.

Yes, you may have to wait more than 24 hrs. for an email response. Just be patient.

The older Spain-Select apartments have a much different look, since the owners furnished them rather than Spain-Select being able to put their new design stamp on them. The new ones have the double glazing that cuts out all the street noise. Most of those in the Salamanca quarter, I believe, do have elevators.

Yes, it's about a 20 min. walk from the AC Recoletos to the Prado-a bit less to the Thyssen-a bit more to the Reina Sofía and about 30 min. to the Royal Palace. I'm a walker and probably average more than 6 miles a day when in Madrid, so it doesn't bother me. But, that's me.

Madrid does have a great metro and bus system, but as danon says, if you're worried about the walk and don't want to use public transport or taxis, stay elsewhere and taxi to Salamanca for a shopping day.

Dear Fodors Users,

My name is Daniel and I am one of Spain Select founders. I was not able to meet Maribel when they came in June as I was abroad but my colleague Caroline was able to give them a little tour.

I am happy to anounce that we are launching our brand new site in less than one month, after 2 years of hard work.

In our new website we focus on 3 Spanish cities for short rentals, Madrid (with 18 apts), Valencia (with 15 apts) and Seville (with 6 apts) as well as luxury villas mainly in Balearics and Andalucia.

I am really looking forward to receiving your feedback about the new site (15th sept should be launching date)and I hope to welcome you very soon in one of our props.

Un abrazo desde Madrid!

Daniel ([email protected])

the intercontinental hotel on paseo de la castellana is my choice when I am in Madrid. they have some great rate for sep 2009 and if you are a priority member, you always get an upgrade.

I'm glad to hear that spain-select is putting up a new website because it was a pain to have to open each apartment to see where it was located. I hope that the new website has a search function where you can choose a neighborhood, or at least see all apartments in a certain zone.

With that being said, I have yet to make a decision on a place and I need to do so quickly because it's over New Years and some of my choices are already sold out.

My recent thought....Hotel Meninas or Catalonia Las Cortes.
Meninas is $170 w/ breakfast
Catalonia is $234 w/ breakfast

I have heard that Meninas is very noisy and I am a light sleeper. However, Catalonia Las Cortes looks like it's on a very touristy thoroughfare, or am I getting that wrong. Both were recommended in Maribel's guide.

We prefer to walk everywhere rather than take the metro or public transit, taxis, etc.

I dont want to be in ANY kind of area that is similar in "flavor, noise and crowds" as Bari Gottico or the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona. I know they are two distinctly different cities. I guess I just don't want to be near any kind of endless street with cheap kabob shops or stores selling plastic, glow in the dark toreadors.

How noisy are these areas in all reality???

Catalonia Las Cortes looks like it's on a very touristy thoroughfare, or am I getting that wrong."
You are not wrong .

I ended up FINALLY booking the Catalonia Las Cortes for a variety of reasons. Primarily being that it was listed in Maribel's guide, as a "superb" choice, so long as the price was under 160 euros at the time, which it was at right about that. Breakfast and wi-fi in the room included in the price, two of my non-negotiable criteria, and the Meninas just seemed to out of the way for where we want to meander. I'd much rather be at the Ritz or the Westin, but that's just out of our price range. Lastly, the Catalonia is listed 3 out 489 hotels on Tripavisor, which I do take with a grain of salt since I think there are some really nutty people commenting on there, but overall it's useful. If we had longer to stay, say a week or more, I would definitely have chosen Salamanca without hesitation, but since we have only 4 days to see Madrid, and who knows if we'll ever be back, then sadly we kind of needed to be in the middle of the tourism. And from what Maribel's guide said, the Catalonia was "a good choice for those who want to be in the heart of old Madrid, yet do not want to sacrifice quiet and class". So that's it, all these weeks of fussing over it and now it's booked.

BTW, on an interesting note, I've been using this website out of Thailand to book all my European hotels for many years now and I was able to get a room at the Catalonia Las Cortes even though the hotel's website as well as Orbitz, hotels.com, expeidia etc all said there were no rooms for those chosen dates. Agoda.com It's all a little fishy, because the prices are sometimes 30% less than even the hotel's website, but it's never not worked for me! Just be prepared for it to be booked under a different travel agency name every single time, and that your reservation doesn't show up at the hotel until a few days before. Not sure what that's all about but I've never had a problem. THankfully no problems since you have to call Thailand if you do have one!!!

Sounds like you made the right hotel choice. Interesting info re the website booking through Thailand.