I am planning to spend about four nights in Madrid in January and am now in the process of selecting a hotel. The Ritz offers some good pricing for my dates for the lowest room category, the classic room. The hotel website states that classic rooms can have an interior or exterior view. How are these classic rooms? Are there any particular rooms that I can request to insure that I do not get one of the least appealing rooms in the hotel?

(I have stayed at this hotel once before but on that occasion I was fortunate enough to have a complimentary higher-category room. I remember it as a fantastic hotel experience, but this was more than 15 years ago....it was the first and only hotel where I slept on embroidered linen sheets and where every doorman addressed me by name as I entered! I hope things have not changed too much in the intervening years)

I wish I had had the personal experience to be able to answer this particular question! Sorry! I can only vouch that two coffees in the garden cost us the price of two menus of the day around the corner earlier the same day!! But it was lovely!

I can just imagine! I certainly do not plan to dine there, although they do have a good rate that includes breakfast..

sounds interesting! Hope you get your room info answered.

Ekscrunchy - While, I have never stayed at this Ritz Carlton before, I have certainly stayed at my fair of Ritz Carlton's all across America. Any rooms that the Ritz has would be fine with me. The service is so top notch that you will be glad that you booked there. One of my favorite thing about staying the the Ritz is when everyone in the hotel knows your name. It still blows my mind!

Jill, thanks for the input but the Madrid Ritz is not a Ritz Carlton. It is one of the "grand" hotels of Europe that is now under the Orient Express arm.

No, definitely not a Ritz Carlton. ekscrunchy- we are booked in there in January. I do know that the classic rooms have not been renovated but are still good. If you don't like the first room, they will switch you.
When I was young and poor living in Madrid many years ago I always thought that one day I'd come back and stay at the Ritz. In subsequent visits we never did, but this time for sure!
We won't be in the restaurant but check for us in the bar. I'll be the "older lady" with the handsome 21 year old (my son).

The Ritz in Madrid has the distinction (in our minds) of being the only hotel we were escorted from because my husband was not wearing a jacket. We only wanted to have coffee in the lobby. This was a long time ago but we remember. Have a great time! CJ

Last Sept. (2009) we stayed at the Ritz so we would have easy access to the Sorolla exhibition at the Prado...and bec. I always wanted to stay at this beautiful hotel. Our room was # 617 (I always keep a record.) It was a very comfortable, traditional, pretty room w. a view of an interior courtyard. All in all I would call our stay there as a great hotel experience. While waiting for our room we even had a 10 minute chat w/ the hotel manager who gave us the time even tho I was dressed like a gringo traveler.

Ok, you guys have sealed the deal for me. I will book later today! The classic room rates are really quite a "bargain" in January...

Lynn: I will keep an eye out..what are your dates? (But will not be able to drink at the bar because I would not have a hope of getting the travel partner to bring a jacket!)

We are there from January 11-16. You don't have to have a jacket for the bar, just for the restaurant after 11:00 a.m. (They even have extras.)
Note: the rate that we booked was non-refundable for the first night. We didn't book the breakfast. I hope you get a good room!

Lynn: Great! My dates will be the 9th-12th.

I have to keep in mind the issue about changing rooms. I am pretty accepting about hotel rooms, although it may not seem that way from my posts! I cannot imagine that they still have the linen sheets but I hope not much else has changed!

Closer to the date, I will start a thread about restaurants. I hope to have some great meals in Madrid!

Eks, I have same memories as you of the Ritz, so elegant with incredible service.Look forward to your report.

I checked Trip Advisor and found a recent comment that someone wished they would have a little bit of a dress code since several guests were wearing ball caps.
We'll see, to each his own!
I had our dates wrong, those are our Barcelona dates. We'll be in Madrid the 16th. through the 21st. Save some fun for us!