My friend worked for the US Embassy in Madrid. The state department paid for his apartment which was so huge, that he couldn't hear the doorbell from his bedroom. This did not help much when I arrived late into Madrid and couldn't find his phone number. I checked the Lonely Planet Guide for cheap hotels in the neighborhood. Seeing as that his apartment was near the US Embassy, there were no cheap hotels in the neighborhood. So I went to the closest four star hotel and asked the desk clerk to cut me a deal seeing as that it was past midnight and there was little chance that he would sell the room to anyone else. He gave me 1/2 off the price of their smallest room ... but he gave me the keys to a suite, complete with realy nice bath robes.