GOOD: Hotel Saray is next to the Palacio de Congresos. It’s a smart hotel, the public areas are traditionally decorated with fountains and Moorish patterns. The reception staff are helpful and polite.
The rooms look like they have been newly refurbished with laminated wood floors, flatscreen TVs, dark wood furniture and new bathrooms (with a decent shower and a bathtub).
One thing you must do is browse the hard-backed book that is on the table in the room – we thought it was an advert book but it’s actually a good guide to Granada and its surroundings.
BAD (for May): The hotel has a very inviting swimming pool on the ground floor but it is only open from 15th June (to 15th September?) something that is not clear in the hotel information online. But we did get to sit by it to take in the sun.
If you have sensitive ears and want to sleep before 3am then ask NOT to stay in the corner above the pub because dance music with a heavy beat is played until 3am. The next day, we asked to move and they put us in the opposite corner of the hotel on the 5th floor (north west) – no noise problem there.
The airconditioning didn’t seem to cool properly, it was quite warm at nights.
MEALS: We didn’t have breakfast at the hotel at all (at time of writing 12 Euros) as there were several nice cafes nearby – Bocatta on Acera de Darro opposite El Corte Ingles (about 10 mins walk) does coffee, fresh orange juice and croissant all for around 3 Euros. On Sunday evening, we ate in the hotel – and tried the buffet (23 euros) – quite tasty, good variety and popular. In the town, the restaurant we ate our evening meals at was called Restaurante Vera Cruz on Calle San Anton – about 10 mins walk from the hotel. It’s a restaurant for locals (so bring your phrase book as the waitresses speak little English) and the food is excellent and cheap – but if you don’t like very salty food, avoid the bacalao (cod).
LOCATION: It is a little distance from the centre – about 15 mins walk to Puerta Real where all the main streets converge. Next time I might consider staying closer in, but you can get taxis back to the hotel from Plaza Nueva.

GOOD: Smart spotless rooms (if a little small) with widescreen TV. The barman is very friendly and pours the most excellent measures. A bit out of town but a 15 minute walk brings you to the centre and there are a selection of basic restaurants in the immediate area. The Alhambra is 30 mins walk.
NOT GOOD: THE AIRCON DOESN'T COOL BELOW 24 DEGREES. Despite moving rooms and numerous handymen looking at our aircon unit, we couldn't cool either enough to get a comfortable night's sleep. If you like a cold bedroom, beware!
The pool doesn't open till June (it's 27 degrees outside?!!!!!) and during our stay there was constant noise from the pool area cleaners.
If you can't sleep during the night and relax during the day it kind of defeats the oject, really.

Upon booking this hotel through Lastminute for my weekend break to Granada I expected the Saray to be a functional hotel along the standard of say a 'Holiday Inn'. However i was very much mistaken.

On arrival it was evident that the hotel was smart and well kept, with an inpressive entrance area which bettered most of the hotels in the region. Once inside I found the rececption area very smart and tastyfully decreated. With a very good hotel bar downstairs.

The staff were extremely helpful and freindly behind reception and were able to upgrade our room upon arrival due to us having extra people than we expected with no fuss whatsoever.

I know people have criticised the hotel for its location, but basically unless you are disabled this should not be a problem given that you are literally no more than 8-10 minutes from the city centre.

The rooms themselves were of both good size and cleanliness level and actually rather comfotable to saty in and not too bland which you may expect with a modern style hotel. Furthermore we had a wonderful view of the Siera Nevada mountain range from our window.

In summing up the Saray I would say that firstly I have been to many parts of Spain on numerous occasions and this is by far the best hotel i've ever stayed.

Secondly when it comes to travelling abroad I am a notorious whinger over even the most minor details, but I can honestly say hand on heart I could not fault this place for anything.

My first tip is to check the Saray Hotel website directly: we ended up paying more on Expedia, so be sure to check the Saray site before committing elsewhere.

This hotel was perfectly fine in terms of the hotel itself: the bed was comfortable, although the requested matrimonial bed ended up being 2 single beds pushed together (ask for a "cama italiana" in this case...they'll at least try to improve this by adding a mattress pad and king sized sheet). There was a flat screen television, a nice desk area, lots of good lighting, good curtains for those of us who like the dark in the morning, a wide selection of pillows, a very good shower, and overall, we found the room to be quite comfortable.

The hotel lobby is also non-smoking, a real bonus. We did find, though, that folks smoked even in the non-smoking rooms on the non-smoking floors, but that is certainly not the fault of the hotel.

We had two problems with the hotel: internet and location.

1. Although they advertise wireless internet access throughout the hotel, they were well aware of the fact that it doesn't work past the ground floor. They made some half-hearted commentary that they would call a technician to see why ours didn't work on the fourth floor, but we all knew it never works. This was an issue for us, as we require internet access for work purposes.

If you do not bring your computer, you can access the internet through the television and a wireless keyboard for 7 euros for 24 hours, a fair bargain for europe.

2. The location of the hotel, while a relatively short walk to the edges of town is on the WRONG edges of town. Yes, it is close to the center, but the parts of the center where the action really is (around Plaza Nueva) are further afield. There are cafes and restaurants within a relatively short walk to this hotel, but the better cafes and more interesting restaurants are further along.

And for those who are looking at the hotels near the Alhambra and are thinking as we did that the Alhambra must be a 30 minute taxi ride out of town, it isn't. It is a good hike up a pretty steep hill near Plaza Nueva, but if you are in good shape and like a little exercise, it was a nice climb, and the hotels that are nearby are probably closer to the action than this one.

However, there are lots of buses that stop very close to the hotel, so if you are willing to take a bus, you might not mind the distance.

If we were to visit Granada again, we would look at hotels closer to Plaza Nueva than this one. Although the Saray was perfectly fine, after a long day of hiking to the Alhambra, we wished we were closer to town.