"For years madrileños avoided the streets around Puerta del Sol, complaining about the decay of a once-grand downtown barrio that had also become a monstrous building site. But since the Four Seasons opened its doors in September 2020, the complaints have turned to compliments. Standing proudly on the corner of calles Sevilla and Alcalá, the Canadian group’s first Spanish property has sailed onto the Madrid hotel scene with all guns blazing, promising to grant the neighborhood a new lease on life. The city’s two traditional contenders in the top-end stakes, the Palace and Ritz, must be quaking in their Penelope Chilvers. Part of a large project including private residences, a retail ‘gallery’ and gastro-market, the hotel has preserved the building’s ornate 19th-century stone façade (check out the elephant heads) and grand interiors such as the double-height lobby with its ivy-green marble columns, Alpujarra carpets and stained-glass roof. You won’t find cutting-edge here, but there are no rough edges either: this is grown-up stuff. Everything breathes quality, from the solid walnut floors and gray-flecked Volakas marble of the rooms to their faultless sound-proofing and refreshingly user-friendly lighting systems. But there’s also a delicate touch in the design that seems just right for an age that has tired of glitz. Service manages the deft trick of being both briskly efficient and charmingly Spanish. In the top-floor restaurant, genial chef Dani Garcia does his New Andalucian thing to fabulous backdrop views of monumental Madrid. The Four Seasons sets the bar high, but clears it without breaking a sweat. —Paul Richardson"
