Hotel Ercilla de Bilbao, Autograph Collection

1) Ease of access and perfect location for exploring the whole city; 2) Kindness, politeness and efficiency of personnel, good handling of EN and FR; 3) Excellent breakfast (room, variety, quality, personnel, possibility to extend it as a brunch); 4) Small but fabulous restaurant (menu/choices, personnel, speed of service, ambiance, music); 5) Impressive roof garden, with small interior space with lively music and nice service and a large terrasse for sitting outside with stunning all around view of the city.

Many amenities and small grace notes - the staff blew us away with their perceptiveness and kindness. The hotel food was expensive but excellent with value added. Liked many things about the room and bathroom.

Breakfast was very good, with lots of options. The coffee is Nespresso, which gives a sense of comfort to those who already use it! The option to enjoy brunch (if breakfast is included) in the Bar Americano instead of the breakfast buffet was a pleasant surprise. The room was small but very cosy. The only thing to point out is that there is a bathtub instead of a walk-in shower. Gym was well equipped, albeit a bit small for the size of the hotel.

We were surprised at the location and the lay out of the room though it had no view and was in the second floor. The main entrance is a bit off a main street which was near residential and shopping area. All my favorite sites where reachable via foot. The Guggenheim Museum was a 15 minute walk, the old town was 20 minutes walk but you go through the Grand Via. A nice leisurely walk to the old town was simply unexpected. What I did love was the room lay out. There was an ante sitting room before the bedroom. Very cozy and well lit despite the low floor and no view. I did not mind. Bathroom was also well planned with nice wooden flooring in the shower area. There is a rooftop bar which I also liked but it was almost too cold to sit outside.

The hotel has a history of hosting celebrities, so there's some buzz to it. It's also in a great central location. It's clean and the staff was very friendly, though the building clearly has some history to it, and so some finishes are a bit worn and dated - the style is a mix between mid-century and preppy. The room was very large, with the largest walk-in shower we'd ever been in. Air conditioning worked great, and there were lots of room. The bed was large and very comfortable. The room was quiet and we could prevent all lighting from coming in at night. The breakfast was excellent, with wonderful staff service and a delicious selection.