lbpierce
Thank you for your useful information on Private Accommodation, it is however difficult to give a blanket excellent rating to all those you listed. My own experience in Santiago Hospederia San Martin is that whilst it faces the Cathedral it is expensive for what it provides for its *** rating. The two duty desk staff are friendly but overworked, one unusually did not understand English although a large majority using the hotel have English as the main language, the free wifi is weak and does not extend beyond the downstairs cafe, this could easily be remedied by installing a $100 router, it does not have a TV in the room for what one pays for the *** accommodation, the single chair has bare steel rods with no padding to support the back and can be ice-cold. The pricing is inflexible as one booking supplied a free buffet breakfast whilst the next booking I had to pay for the next day's breakfast.
Notwithstanding the above comments it is a good place to stay after the days spent in the communal living albergues to clean up and wind down, and you meet a lot of relaxed pilgrims in the common area, after the long walk. This is a personal observation which I feel need to be honestly aired and does not take away from the choices made by lbpierce, nor to discourage anyone contemplating using the Santiago Hospederia San Martin.
The Santiago Hospederia San Martin was used as a base for two bus loads of young Polish pilgrims who started from Poland, they were driven to Sarria after the first night spent in Santiago Hospederia San Martin, the next day after they arrived from Poland. The pilgrims were then collected by the bus to Santiago Hospederia San Martin after they did the first day's 20km walk with day packs from Sarria, they had their stamps from various establishments on the road. They were driven by the buses the next day to the place they walked previously (80km to go) then walked to the 60km stop where the bus was waiting to take then back to Santiago Hospederia San Martin. This was repeated at the 60km, 40km and finally the 20km marks over the next few days until they completed the 100km to fulfill the requirement to get the Compostela. They did not use any albergues between Sarria and Santiago. It was their Camino and to each their own.