Hotel Exe Getafe was a hotel that had the best location for us to stay at, on this visit particular to Madrid. Unfortunately, upon arrival, it was immediately clear that it was in a remote location- in the middle of nowhere, off a major highway. There didn't seem to be any shops, restaurants or points of interest nearby, except for Dinastía- an Asian style Restaurant with an imposing and attractive Chinese Architectural design. And Dinastía Restaurante doesn't open it's grand gates till about 8p.m, so this is so not ideal! Anyway, this didn't really bother me because we were only going to be here for a few days while taking care of business in Getafe. We stayed for just two nights. As I usually do, I'll divide my review into the positive, then negative experiences.
PROS:
Exe Getafe's lobby was bright and airy, though not a particularly good looking one. The room rates were very competitive for the calibre of the hotel. I used Booking.com. Complimentary fruits and star anise/orange infused water was provided on a side table. We were checked in by SILVIA CANO. Silvia was kind and jovial. We also met ANDREI and YANIRA- (from Peru). Both were kind and very professional. I booked two rooms, because it was the three of us. Both of them were comfortable spaces, (almost identical), with a mish-mash of caramel coloured and dark brown, mahogany wood. It was more or less a simple, yet tasteful contemporary design, with no distinct or distinguishable theme.
The rooms had beautiful sets of flower paintings hanging above the bed(s). Everything was clean, fresh and spotless. I loved all the personalised items in the rooms. The complimentary Eurostars white carton of water and bar of Kit Kat placed on the bed was a nice touch.😍 Refer to the pictures of that. Exe Getafe Hotel appears to be a member of the Eurostars Group of Hotels, (a hotel company comprising of 251 hotels in 19 countries). I'm guessing they're all in Europe? Had never heard of this hospitality entity, so I searched and read all about it/them. Everything from the bath towels to the toilet mats to the cup covers/coasters to the hand towels, and even the carpet by the revolving glass door at the entrance to the lobby had the 'Exe Getafe' or 'Eurostars' name/logo emblazoned on them. This seems to be a big business in Spain. Can't seem to remember whether there was a room service menu.
The bathrooms were even nicer than the rooms. They were done in glossy black and caramel marble/granite, and the finishing was impeccable. A Hair & Body Wash, and Shampoo & Conditioner were provided in refillable tubs affixed on the wall. Hand Wash and Body Lotion were also available by the sink. This is super convenient. It sure beats those miniature toiletries tubes that can be so annoying to use. There were also complimentary Dental Sets, a Hair Comb, a Shaving Kit, a Shoe Polish and a Shower Cap. At breakfast, the spread was a varied one, with lots of options to choose from, especially the awesome selection of delicious, fresh cut fruit and yummy pastries! We thoroughly enjoyed them! 🫐🥝🍇🍉🍈🥐🧁🥖 We were seated by an unfriendly, yet polite JESSY.
CONS:
Upon check in, I was disappointed to find out that Hotel Exe Getafe didn't have connecting rooms, nor could more than 2 people stay in one room. You see I was with my 2 adult daughters, and unfortunately since the hotel policy didn't allow up to 3 people to stay in a room, I had no choice but to book 2 rooms. Already did this on Booking.com, but inquired whether we could all crash in one room now that we were here. This wasn't allowed. However, I insisted on these rooms being right next to each other. Some hotels are able to provide an extra bed, (at no additional cost), while others charge per person, per night, but Exe Getafe wasn't 'it', which was so not cool! 👎🏽 And to add insult to injury, there wasn't a connecting door, so we always had to come out of the room to access the other one. Definitely not a family-friendly establishment, so all parents out there should be well aware of this.
Hotel Exe Getafe isn't exactly a ravishingly beautiful hotel from the exterior. It was dull, 'bricky', plain and gave me serious penitentiary vibes- (no offense intended)! 😄 Check out my numerous pictures of it, you'll see what I mean. It's always disappointing that a frickin' 4 star hotel doesn't have a Bell Hop or Porter to help with transporting/moving luggage. Always seems outrageous to me. So what does it take for this to become a reality in Spain; for a hotel to have a 7 star rating?!?! Who the heck knows! 🤷🏾♀️ Maybe even at that! 😏 I have to keep reminding myself that this is Europe- a continent that's known for its bad service and exorbitantly expensive labour, so pretty much everything is D.I.Y! I'm just so used to being in the Middle East a lot, where this isn't ever an issue. The lobby was a bit bland and boring; nothing exciting or 'stand-out' about it. The elevators/lift was very tiny. We had to make multiple trips with our 6 suitcases to our room on the second floor.
In our room(s), I would have preferred the colors of the wood to be 'uniform', as opposed to two different colors comprising of dark and light. There was a little wear on the bottom of the cupboard sliding panel in the form of chipped paint or something, and I would have liked to have a mirror somewhere else in the rooms, (perhaps above the desk/chair area), and not just on the aforementioned cupboard panel. Though I'm not necessarily a beverage kinda gal, it would have been nice to have a kettle and tea/coffee condiments provided. The fridge in one of the rooms was dirty. Refer to my posted picture of it.
There were about 80 channels on the telly, but not a single channel was showing a Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich match of the UEFA Champion's League Group Stage. This was to the great dismay of my daughters who are avid, enthusiastic football fans. One of them even called the reception to inquire about the match, and whether it could be viewed in the lobby, but they said that they hadn't payed the subscription! Per per view perhaps? Well at least they had CNN International, which is my favourite news channel, so we watched that instead to catch the highlights of the game.
In the bathrooms, there was the occasional limescale, grime and algae caked into several tight corners and crevices. It wasn't too bad though. Snapped pictures of that. We stayed in Rooms 225 and 226 incase management wants to address this. I wish there was a seperate shower cubicle from the bath tub, which is always something I prefer, but I guess those are features of 5 star hotels. On our second night, after having dinner at nearby Dinastía Restaurant, we returned on foot around 9p.mish, but the hotel's gate, (with solid metal bars) was closed. Wonder why? This wasn't that late. We couldn't open it, and there was no bell to ring to alert the staff at the Front Desk. We didn't want to start banging the gate or screaming out in the middle of the night, so I had no choice but to google the hotel's phone number and call them up to open the gate for us. So bizarre that they would do this! 🤨
The breakfast at Al Punto Restaurant/Bar was an okay experience for us, except for the items at the Hot Food Station. They were cold, stale and dry. Looked like they had been left out for a really long time, especially the Scrambled Eggs and Poultry Sausages. You can tell from the pictures. The protein options were somewhat limited for us because we don't eat pork/bacon and all pig products, and Spain just happens to be like the prolific 'swine' eating capital of Europe, so we were sh*t out of luck! 🐖 🐽 🐗 🐷 😄 But it's all good. Needless to say, we still enjoyed a wholesome breakfast.
A lady named KATHERYN was very rude to us at Al Punto Restaurant. I was taking pictures of our breakfast plates, the buffet spread, and she ordered me to stop. What?!?! 😟 Who does that? It seemed like she thought I was taking pictures of her. Why on earth would I do that??? I don't see why I should be stopped from taking photographs. Doubt it's against the hotel policy. Katheryn barked her orders in Spanish, so I'm sure she doesn't speak English, and probably wouldn't understand me, had I tried to explain that I wasn't interested in her, and that the pictures were for this review. JESSY- who I mentioned earlier was okay, but a bit stone-faced.
So in conclusion, I'd say that we had a pleasant experience at Hotel Exe Getafe. As I previously stated, this is definitely not a hotel you'd want to stay at if you're visiting Madrid as a tourist. It's too far away from the 'action' and main attractions of the city. My daughter did find us a bus stop/route into town a few metres from the hotel, but your best bet and fastest way to get out of this area is to book a taxi or call an Uber, Bolt or any other ride sharing company. But like I said, we needed to be in this somewhat 'desolate' part of Getafe, hence the reason behind booking and staying at Hotel Exe Getafe. This is a hotel that would be great for anyone that wants near total seclusion or isolation. Or perhaps, an ideal place for a romantic get away. The service at Hotel Exe Getafe was a bit of a mixed-bag, what with the debacle at the gate, Katheryn's 'unsavoury' attitude, lack of connecting doors, dirty fridge, and a few hiccups here and there, this is a hotel that I/we enjoyed staying at.
Hotel Exe Getafe was well-maintained and cosy. I often lament that TripAdvisor doesn't have a 'Good' rating, which is a level that I frequently would prefer to score many establishments I visit. However, they don't unfortunately. For me, based on the sum total of my/our experience(s) at Hotel Exe Getafe, my ideal rating for it would have been simply- a 'Good'. I feel that an 'Average' is too low a ranking, so it's going to have to be a 'Very Good'; although I doubt that it is entirely deserving of that. For the star of the hotel, and the price paid, it was an overall positive experience. The 'good' definitely outweighed the 'bad'. Would like to say a big thank you to SILVIA CANO, YANIRA, ANDREI and perhaps JESSY? The staff we interacted with at the Reception Desk were all fabulous! 👌🏽 KATHERYN, on the other hand needs to be 'counselled' to treat customers with a little more respect and professional courtesy. A lovely hotel I'd definitely recommend for anyone staying in the Getafe area of Madrid.
