Hotel Marques de Riscal, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Elciego

Upon entering we were met with the most unfriendly front of the house greeting (or lack there of). No smiles, no welcome, it was very odd. Our room was large, but needs major refreshing - in fact, the entire hotel needs updating. The bathroom smelled of sewage or perhaps something had died in the wall. You could smell upon entering the room, but the bathroom odor was unbearable and in much need of updating. Be careful entering the shower, the floor is very slippery. Food and Beverage was sub-par. Dinner at the Michelin Star restaurant was terrible - the food and ambiance need a lot of work. Felt like I was in a cafeteria with banquet food. The bar area for tapas service was odd and unfriendly - food was just okay. We went to the lounge before dinner and found it rather dark - not in a warm, welcoming way and there was no service, no bar…nothing. We left and went to tapas bar for a glass of wine before dinner instead. We used the spa amenities - which, in my opinion, was the nicest part of the hotel. The friendliest people on the entire property were the valets - give them a raise! Over priced and under delivered. For what they charge, I expect much more…worse than a motel. I recommend visiting the winery, but stay elsewhere.

Stayed at the Hotel Marques de Riscal for our honeymoon and was blown away be the beauty of the hotel designed by Frank Gehry, the service of the staff, the brunch offered to us as Titanium members, the delicious wines during the wine tasing included with our stay, and the surrounding scenery. Very memorable experience so thank you!

The hotel was on our bucket list to stay at and whilst the architecture is worth seeing, sadly the hospitality experience was pretty average and is distinctly overpriced. We ate in both restaurants and whilst the food was good, we wouldn’t class it as exceptional, and the service was towards mediocre at best, verging on dreadful. There was quite a lot of eye rolling from fellow diners at dinner and breakfast. Box ticked but won’t be repeating at the prices charged. Recommend viewing from outside and picking somewhere else in Rioja to stay and dine at.

So after three unexpected meanderings accasioned by the difficulty of finding its front gate, you finally cautiously drive up a short shrubbed driveway that opens up to an eye-opening view of the Frank Gehry architectural gem that is Marriott Bonvoy’s Luxury Collection finest hospitality property in Spain’s famous winemaking La Rioja region. Built in Gehry’s signature asymmetrical style of his favored steel-and-titanium panels and tiles, this 61-room establishment is settled within the premiere Marques de Riscal winery’s City of Wine bodega showcase. Its splendid modernist styling and luxurious furbishings made it a perfect 5-day base camp for our full bore explorations of the Rioja and Spanish Basque regions. The vastly spacious Riscal Suites, especially the bedroom loft with vineyard view, provide ultra-comfortable quarters to retire to after exhausting wine-tasting, tapas-devouring, site-trekkings days of touring. The front desk staff is remote and not exactly customer-friendly, but the restaurant and other service staff make up for it in their friendly attentiveness. Plus, the onsite bodegas wine tour and the Michelin star formal restaurant make it a good complement to your experience of these great regions of northern Spain.

I loved this hotel. The architecture is a huge draw but it also have excellent service and great rooms. We had a suite with a patio that opened up to the vineyard. It was lovely and peaceful. The room was large, the bathroom was great. Breakfast was wonderful and quick. Service at breakfast and front desk were outstanding. Dinner was the only thing lacking - we had the gastronomic dinner on our second night and it was fine, but the food was not as expected and really the service was not great. I had to ask for my water to be refilled at least 3 times. overall, a great place to stay.