Europe > Spain > Madrid > Madrid > Hotel > Articles > Madrid's New Hotel Scene

In 2005 Madrid ran a massive “Ready for You” advertising campaign along key streets, on buses and taxis, in hotels and on the city’s monuments to help promote the city as a contender for the 2012 Olympics. Although it lost out to London, the momentum to revitalise the city as a tourist destination has not been lost.

In 2004 Madrid’s 3-5 star hotel capacity grew by around 20 percent to 40,000 rooms with some 37 new hotels planned for 2006, which will bring capacity to around 50,000 rooms. Never have there been so many quality hotels to choose from at such competitive prices and a rigorous and radical overhaul of many of the city’s finest has meant that Madrid’s top designers are emulating the revolution that has already taken place in Barcelona - classy designification.

Showcase design hotels like the Bauzá or Mario Room Mate have been so successful over the past two years that many of Madrid’s traditional family hoteliers are jumping on the lucrative bandwagon in the wake of Catalan newcomers such as the futuristic Hotel Urban or Zen-like Hesperia, applying their experienced creative magic to Madrid’s traditionally austere and classic establishments.

“The demand for design has grown enormously - you can see it all over Madrid not only in hotels but also cafes, bars and restaurants - even the amazing new Fashion Museum”, says Hotel Quo Director, Alberto Garcia. Will Madrid replace Barcelona as Spain’s style capital? Many believe it already has. But increasingly affluent and fashion-conscious Madrileños will certainly give their Catalan cousins a run for their money and perhaps they are even being spurred on by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s breath of ultra-liberal political fresh air. One thing for sure is that this “New Amsterdam” of Southern Europe is certainly not short of talented interior designers, among the most sought-after are Angel Verdú, Tomás Alía, Pascua Ortega and Virginia Figueras. These Spanish revolutionaries are, hotel by hotel, slowly transforming the Spanish travel experience.

Madrid’s Top Ten in Terms of Style and Comfort

Hotel AC Retiro

Opposite Madrid’s Retiro park, only five minutes walk from the Thyssen, Prado and Reina Sofia galleries, stands the most luxurious boutique hotel in Madrid.

The AC Retiro is more intimate, glamorous and far hipper than her sedate sister the Santo Mauro. There are just with 51 exclusive rooms and suites, most of which look over the leafy park. Four floors of marble columns, genuine Maumejean stained glass, Julio Romero frescoes, ornate stuccowork, solid oak flooring and plush Fabrica Real carpets characterise this five-star hotel housed in a sumptuous Edwardian palacette.

A triangular wrought-iron elevator will whisk you to your room past a curious 15th-century Talavera ceramic fountain, which gurgles beneath a swirling ornate wrought-iron staircase, which leads to a pensive mahogany library. Despite the elegance, visiting celebs are queuing up for the hotel’s high pamper factor and intensely modern furnishings and fittings.

Bathrooms screened off with transparent Lichtenstein prints, wireless high speed internet, plasma screens and free minibar are some of the perks. A small spa offers beauty treatments and massage complete with sauna, Jacuzzi and Turkish bath. The hotel’s modest restaurant is run by rising star Chef David Herranz - a long list of rare wines is hand picked by Alfonso Gutiérrez and Maître Vicente Navacerrad.

Hotel Urban

Jordi Clos, the brains behind the Villa Real and Barcelona’s Claris Hotel, has unleashed his wildest fantasies at the five-star Urban, sparing no expenses. His amazing collection of Egyptian, African and Oriental art is generously spread around ultra-modern rooms and corridors, bringing them to life. When you enter the hotel’s atrium lobby you are greeted by huge tribal African shields, totem poles from Papua New Guinea and a backdrop of vast steel girders and glass rising up to an open canopy on the top floor.

The hotel contains a gold-tiled stairwell (€500/m2) rising up through the atrium lobby area - the stairwell when looking at it from a distance appears to cut through the alabaster and granite panelling surrounding it. The granite is sometimes smooth and sometimes exposed at the rough-cut edge, showing where it was drilled and hewn from the quarry.

A rooftop restaurant, deck and fitness area and pool offer vertiginous views of the city whilst the ground floor “Glass Bar” and “Europa Restaurant” are open to the public.

Hotel Bauzá

The Bauzá is yet another example of Catalan innovation winning awards and setting benchmarks for its distinctive style and functionality. The hotel has been such a success that the Habitat chain that owns it will soon open the even hipper Hotel de las Letras on Calle Gran Via.

Both hotels were designed by the multifaceted Virginia Figueras. An added bonus to the über-trendy layout is the equally triumphant a-la-carte restaurant which overlooks the busy Calle Goya - a favourite with shoppers. An informal library makes the perfect place to flop down on a sofa, have a coffee or get some last-minute work done.

Mainly foreign business and media types frequent this oasis of modernity and openness. Pastel lime and berry colours decorate the airy Conranesque rooms and mini apartments on offer.

Mario Room Mate

Formerly known as HH Campomanes, Mario is part of a new concept hotel chain dreamt up by the Sarasola brothers, one of whom famously dated Penelope Cruz. The innovative if somewhat risky idea is to allow each hotel to develop “his” or “her” own personality reflected in the atmosphere created by the staff, sound, lighting and décor.

The concept suggests that the hotel becomes the home of a “friend” and that it can become a trusty “friend” in itself - the barriers between client and staff melt away. In this case, Mario is a “philosopher-cum-film director” intimate, erudite, needing his space. Alícia and Oscár, the other two hotels scheduled to open later this year, are more lively and gregarious, set in the more raucous neighbourhoods of Santa Anna and Chueca.

Mario has an extensive music and DVD library for artsy guests while staff will fill you in on the latest cultural events. The hotel was decorated by Angel Verdú, one of the most innovative designers to hit Spain’s hotel scene in decades. Minimalist, grey, white and beige mini-suites are all set at the fixed price of €99 - a small, cosy lobby and cafe serve breakfast and one of Madrid’s most satisfying dining experiences, La Viuda Blanca, is right next door.

Hotel Quo Puerto del Sol

Carefully decorated by one of Madrid’s top designers, Tomás Alía, famous for adorning the capital’s main Gran Via during the Carlos and Letizia royal wedding. Alía, who won the Louis Vitton decorator of the year award in 2002, has a style that is reminiscent of Damien Hirst’s Pharmacy restaurant in London.

Headrests look like giant pills and sleek metal light fittings and cabinets give the rooms a sharp and clean taste. Rooms come with small outdoor patio areas where you can stretch out and relax in the sun. Much of the hotel’s artwork is by Antonio Carrascal and Ricardo Labougle has added his retro black-and-white prints of Madrid.

The Quo is opposite the fashionable Finca de Susana restaurant and within walking distance of Madrid’s main sights and shopping, equidistant from the Seville and Sol metro stations.

Instead of a gym the Quo has come up with an urban jogging circuit for those with any energy left after a day spent pounding the pavements of Madrid.

Hotel Hesperia

The Hesperia opened in 2001 leading the way as Madrid’s first and foremost luxury design hotel. A new breed of upwardly-mobile business professionals inhabit its silent, protective cocoon. Once off the busy Castellana avenue and safely inside the cosy, softly-lit lobby you can relax at the “Scotch Bar” serving a list of 101 malt whiskeys or connect your laptop to a free-of-charge WiFi service.

A presidential suite designed by Pascua Ortega comprises of a split-level wooden deck with hot overlooking Madrid’s city centre - a good place to watch the sun go down in summer if you can afford it.

In fact it seems that Mr Ortega has blended Japanese design with ephemeral Italian fittings and furniture which can end up looking like a Dr Who set. The hotel’s main showpiece has to be the hideously expensive Michelin star-studded Santceloni restaurant, set up by Santi Santamaría of El Racó de Can Fabes fame. To work off the calories guests are invited to use the swanky Metropolitan health Club across the road for a knockdown €15 per day.

Espahotel Amador de los Rios

This is perhaps Madrid’s finest Aparthotel and for many will come as a welcome alternative to a large, busy communal-dining hotel. The beauty of the Espahotel is that you get a very stylish designer suite complete with minibar and kitchenette, where cooked breakfast is served and the bill at the end of the week will not tip over your bank balance.

Also designed by Pascua Ortega, the reception is decorated with modernist paintings and rows of lead-crystal vases which extend towards an enclosed terrace with a fantastic outdoor swimming pool. In terms of quality vs. value you will not beat this very central but quietly tucked-away hotel.

Rooms are cleverly designed to maximise space using roll-out recessed cupboards and drawers but they remain slightly on the cramped side. This minor defect quickly becomes irrelevant as you are in Madrid and should not be cooped up in your room all day. One door down, on the street corner is an excellent Italian diner called Dilola - opposite is the ritzy, exclusive Jockey Club which I would tend to avoid.

Hotel Adler

Do not be put off by the Adler’s amateur web site. The hotel, which is housed in a seventeenth century palacette in the upmarket “Barrio de Salamanca”, is highly professional and full of charm. Warm and friendly staff give you the feeling that you are in a family-run, five-star hotel.

The hotel furniture clings on to its classic past but much of the interior design and exquisite modern art collections (Chillido, Cónaves, Saive, Valdés and Rueda) manages to create an original and inviting space. Designed, again, by Pascua Ortega, it almost seems as if two rival designers battled for supremacy in the communal areas - while the funky and fresh won out in the bespoke suites and rooms, the clumsy and classic presided in the restaurant and lobby.

This homely boutique hotel is crammed full of freshly arranged pungent flowers and the adjoining restaurant serves outstanding traditional Spanish gourmet seafood or rich meat dishes attracting mostly wealthy business people from the surrounding area.

Hotel Vincci Madrid Centrum

As the name implies the hotel could not be more central although the competition is stiff as there are dozens of good quality hotels clustered around this area. Thirtysomething British couples make up the bulk of customers who are attracted by the totally chilled and down-to-earth atmosphere.

Chatty young staff help you to find your way around the city and a spacious dining area on the ground floor provides a healthy, Mediterranean buffet. All rooms face out onto a street and have quite big outdoor terraces which makes for an excellent private sunbathing area.

The interior design manages to get away with mixing Bauhaus with Ikea, bright orange bathrooms have stainless-steel sinks and transparent orange plastic has been used liberally to add something.

Petit Palace Arenal

This three-star hotel is part of a popular chain spreading all over Madrid. The recipe for success is low prices combined with simple monochrome decor and tasteful modern furnishings. The Petit Palace is situated near Sol in the old Madrid town centre. The area is vibrant at night and a good bolthole for clubbers and party animals.

The rooms have curious shower units with built in solarium and massaging hydrotherapy. Most of the spacious rooms have extra bunk beds fold out of the wall making sharing for four one of the cheapest options in the city. A re-brick cellar basement has been stylishly converted into the breakfast dining area complete with nostalgic black and white prints of rivals Real Madrid and Atlético.

Articles

• More from Rupert Eden
• More on the same theme