We arrived at the alternative check, a back room which deals with check ins for various hotels, in at around 11pm, gentleman was very nice, gave me the 'rules' and keys and sent us on our way.
We walked down towards the 'hotel', which is near the Royal Palace, however, as we kept walking it felt like it was moving towards a 'rougher' end of the road. The hotel sign was a bit of paper stuck to the wall, we let ourselves in the main door into a rather rough, dark and dirty hallway and staircase (which my partner said he almost put his foot through. Anyway, got to the main door, opened and it looked ok, clean and tidy but still not 'hotel'. We had booked a double room with a private bathroom. The lock on the door (in fact all doors) was just a bar across it so I didn't feel particularly safe, the room was tiny (judging by the photos looks like it was the smallest in the hotel) with an A/C box but no controls a small desk and wardrobe and what seemed to be an unfinished bathroom. Not what we were expecting at all so we left for another hotel.
It was a cheap rate so we weren't expecting a lot just a nice B&B but this was not it, I thought maybe it was worse because it was late at night but my partner went back in the morning to hand the keys back and said 'no it was awful!' If you are looking for a cheap break in Madrid then I am sure there are better places, if you are traveller and are used to hostels then maybe you would be happy here.