The Hotel Alphonso XIII, A Luxury Collection Hotel in Seville, Spain is one of the world’s most famous hotels. In addition to being a past palace, it’s made it mark in many novels and is a center piece in Seville’s main center district. A stay at this property is similar to experiencing royalty. Read on to see how our stay was in these elegant surroundings.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Iceland, the United Kingdom and Morocco. This trip was redeemed through Alaska Mileage Plan and enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: The Hotel Alfonso XIII, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Seville, Spain

The hotel was designed by the architect José Espiau y Muñoz, it was built between 1916 and 1928 especially for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It officially opened on April 28, 1929, with a sumptuous banquet attended by King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg.

The Hotel Alfonso XIII was easily the most elegant Luxury Collection Hotel stay ever. The service was professional and polished. The stay in the ornate hotel makes you feel like royalty”

Locating the Hotel:

The hotel is well positioned in the center of Seville, Spain. It is within walking distance to everything in central Seville and is the perfect location for basing yourself for a stay in Seville.

Getting There and Checking In:

Our taxi arrived to the front of the hotel. The hotel is actually a past mansion and makes a great first impression on arrival. We were immediately greeted and are bags were tagged for delivery to the room. This is a good thing as many European hotels seem to have stairs at the front of the building unlike our Asian or North American counterparts.

There was a lot of activity in the lobby but we were attended to at check in promptly. I had initially booked a regular Deluxe Room. I had applied Suite Night Awards to this reservation and they had cleared into a Deluxe Suite. I had considered a booking under the past Starwood Luxury Privileges program but wasn’t able to find a competitive rate that would make the inclusions of the Luxury Privileges Program worthwhile. The fantastic impressions continued as the property was beautifully decorated and well maintained.

We were turned over to Raphael, a hotel ambassador, who was kind enough to give us a brief tour of the property, including the restaurants and pool area. He then led us to our room and gave us a run down of the features. He pointed out the elevators, which were actually behind those doors.

He also took us on a walk through the square lobby. The lobby contained a lounge, a courtyard that offered fine dining, and the breakfast area. It was sheer unique opulence that had been loveingly restored.

The Room: A Deluxe Suite

We eventually headed up to our Deluxe Suite #203 by elevator. The attention to detail continued in the guest hallways. The hotel was beautifully decorated at every corner.

Our deluxe suite was situated in one of the corners of the hotel. It had a nicely appointed sitting area and a small dining space.

There was a very small dining area in the suite. It contained an oversized table. We usually used it for storage of items.

There was a small mini bar refrigerator in the living area.

The bedroom was nicely appointed and comfortable with the period.

The suite had automated blinds, which was convenient for going dark at night. The room had quite high ceilings, which allowed a lot of natural light.

The bathroom was slightly compact. It was decorated in a strange but fitting zebra like tiling. Best of all, it featured Acqua de Parna toiletries in reasonably large sizes.

The living room had open street views. Although there was a street car running immediately outside the hotel, it was pretty quiet and wasn’t super intrusive.

The layout of the hotel from room #203.

The Hotel Pool area:

We later wandered down to the hotel pool area. We found it through an inconspicuous service galley styled entrance. It was a nice small space outside that was full of people lounging about taking in the great weather today. It can be a challenge to dress up a small pool area but the hotel did a great job here given the likely lack of real estate for a castle in the middle of the city.

Food and Beverage:

We had a bit of a sleep in and enjoyed another Marriott Bonvoy / Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum Breakfast in the great room. The Alphonso XIII breakfast room was interestingly designed and breakfast had all the goodies one could ask for. This included free flow Cava, which made MrsWT73 very happy. The breakfast hall of the Hotel Alphonso XIII is more like a ball room, with an intricate ceiling.

When it came time to leave, the check out was handled flawlessly and easily. The staff had the bags moved down the stairs to the front area had a taxi ordered with a minimum of hassle. I happened to note that we had 108 € of complimentary Platinum breakfasts (27 € per person per day) waived from our bill.

It was a very exceptional stay and probably one of my all time favourite Starwood Preferred Guest stays ever. The Hotel had terrific staff, an interesting and unique building, but not with so many guests that you felt like just a number. It offered professional service at each and every contact.

In Summary:

The Hotel Alphonso XIII was one of my better hotel stays. I’ve had a wide variety of experiences with the Luxury Collection. Some have been better than others, but this was easily the top experience for this brand. The staff were attentive, the room was impeccable and the property was beautiful. Add up a great location and an interesting environment and it made for an excellent stay.

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If you have stayed with the Luxury Collection brands of hotels, is there one property that stands out as being above all others ?

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