How the Siesta Score is calculated
The Siesta Score measures night noise from objective data. It uses no reviews and no hotel self-description, except for the sleep facts, which are labelled as declared.
Where the noise data comes from
From the strategic noise maps city councils are required to publish under EU law (Directive 2002/49/EC), Lnight indicator. We take the highest value within 20 metres of the hotel — its most exposed façade. These maps model road traffic.
The formula
Lnight ≤ 40 dB → 10 · Lnight ≥ 65 dB → 0 (linear) − 1.5 major road < 50 m − 0.75 < 100 m − 1.0 surface railway < 100 m − 0.5 < 200 m − 0.5 hospital < 200 m − 0.5 / − 1.0 / − 2.0 late-night venues within 150 m (1 / 2 / 3+) − 0.5 / − 1.5 / − 2.5 nightlife density within 250 m, scaled per city + 1.0 declared soundproofing + 1.5 verified + 0.5 double glazing (max +1.5)
How precise each city is
Madrid publishes continuous values on a 5-metre grid, Barcelona on a 2-metre grid. Paris publishes 5 dB bands, so scores there carry a ±2.5 dB margin and move in steps. All cities use road traffic noise only, even though Barcelona also publishes rail and industry: otherwise cities would not be comparable and railways would count twice, since they are already penalised by distance.
Nightlife areas
The noise map models road traffic only, so a pedestrian street full of bars comes out quiet. We therefore also count bars, pubs and clubs within 250 metres, with or without published hours. Thresholds adapt to each city according to how well it is mapped in OpenStreetMap: the median is 22 venues in Madrid, 10 in Barcelona and 7 in Paris, and that gap mostly measures mapping effort. The larger of the two penalties applies, never both.
Weekdays and weekends
Two scores are calculated. Venues count according to their opening hours in OpenStreetMap. Only one in ten publishes them: when missing, we assume weekend-only late opening, and the page marks it as estimated.
The sleep facts
Soundproofing, blackout, mattress, pillow and climate control come from the hotel's official website, extracted automatically and always with the literal quote behind them. If the quote is not on the site, the value is dropped. Hotels can complete or correct their own page.
What we don't do
- No platform reviews and no Google content.
- Scores are never changed for commercial reasons.
- Where there is no data, we say so.