Step Inside Madrid’s Newly Reborn Palace Hotel in the Heart of the City
Hi, I’m James Schillingaw for Insider Travel Report. I’m here with Matthew Dixon who I’ve met before uh and but this time he is the managing director of Archer Hotel Management and which is now the owner of the Palace Madrid. And again, a hotel I’ve been to, but the big news about the Palace Madrid is they just been completely renovated. And uh I remember seeing it in Madrid. I said, “Boy, if you put some money into this, it’s going to be amazing.” Uh, and they’ve done it. So, we’re going to talk to Matthew about that and a whole lot more on Insider Travel Report. [Music] Matthew, great to re reunite. We we last saw each other how many years ago when you were with Corinthia, right? I think it was probably 2012 when we did an interview in the florest section of the hotel. That’s right. We we did that one and it was a wonderful interview and you that was a wonderful hotel. But then you moved on to to Archer and now you’re working on a lot of different things and one of them is the Palace Madrid. Now let let’s talk a little bit about the history of the Palace uh Madrid. What it was it’s sort of a classic building, right? I think if you have to take a hotel in Europe that epitomizes a hotel that is iconic for a city, the Palace is it. Um, and there are very few of these hotels left in Europe that haven’t had renovation and work, but the palace remains a hotel built in 1912. Um, built a year or two after our illustrious competition across the road. the you have a few you know Madrid wholesale hotel scene is crazy but I know what you’re talking about the the the Ritz Mandarin Oriental um and in the hotel you have something where we always look at it and say we may be the owners and the managers but in many ways we’re just the custodian of a famous brand uh and that is the palace and we’re fortunate to be able to have spent a hundred million over the last two and a half years to bring it back to life and to bring it to what we feel makes it a special iconic hotel um for the city. Well, it is an incredible location. It’s around that great great uh square circle. Uh and I thought, boy, if if you put some money in it, this is going to be an amazing place. And you’ve done it. Yes. And we’ve had to do it in a way that is incredibly sensitive to its cultural heritage. It is one of the most perhaps the finest uh art nuvo examples uh in Madrid and working with the local authorities and Lassero the uh the architectural firm and designers we’ve created something that evokes the Madrilenian spirit of what makes the hotel and the location so special. Um, and that takes time, effort, and a real sort of sense of rather than a sort of homogeneous luxury five-star feel, you get the essence of the city. Well, I noticed that the the reference was they they’ve paid homage to a lot of the great artists in Madrid and a lot of the people who stayed in the area. So, you you are really part of that city now. Yes. Listen, when you look at the history of people that have stayed in the in the past, the creatives, the great writers, um, Picasso, Hemingway, who have used the hotel, you realize that it’s a place just imbued with history feel and and special touches and is how do you recreate that feel and that experience for the travelers of today? Absolutely. And of course, you should know because your background, I believe you’ve been with Rockco Forte hotels. They they’ve been known to renovate a few hotels in our time. And then of course where we met is the Corinthia in London which was the hot hotel back then and still is a wonderful property. But so how does this compare to those? I think the size and complexity of the palace renovation for us as an owner and operator has been perhaps one of the biggest challenges of my my career. Um the team has been led fantastically uh on property u by Pablo Flores and by the commercial team who have really gone out to sort of get the news out there about the story. Uh Paloma Garcia who’s been working with is from the communications perspective. Um what I’ve also found is an intense passion for the hotel. Um my colleagues that work on property have a great respect and feel um for the hotel and to have a one property in town that evokes such a feeling um is a really sort of a fortunate thing to have because obviously the distinctive soul of a hotel is actually in the people that work there. Um obviously money and decoration and great design help a lot but what brings it to life are actually the people. Absolutely. And I’m sure many of them have been there before uh as members of the palace staff and so now uh you also now belong to the luxury collection in Marriott right why did you decide to do that? Well, I think we Marriott were always the the holders of the asset and when it was sold as part of the host Marriott sale uh 2017 2018 um Archer took the hotel over and we always felt that if we were going to invest the money that we wanted to do to bring it back to life um it had to be uh repositioned as it was previously as a luxury collection hotel. Um uh the team at Marriott have just been fantastic to work with in terms of um the countdown team, the preparation, um the work that they put in to bring the systems and the luxury collection brand to you. Um great great way to operate, but obviously we operate as a franchise. So that gives us the freedom to then take the brand standards, take the brand feel, but also just push it forward to to to the limit and to where we want it to be. Fantastic. Now Archer also does other hotels. What are the other things that you’ve been working on? An exciting project we have is the Sheran Stockholm, which is a fantastic uh 60s building that sits right on the waterfront uh overlooking uh many of the great aspects of Stockholm and that we’re bringing back to life and that was the first Sheran that came to Europe. Um and so that will be a very exciting addition. I think be competing competing with the top hotels in Stockholm like the Grand Oh, amazing hotels and it’s a beautiful location. Um and also doing that through the sort of the power of the Marriott brand. Uh we have a very interesting project in Paris where we’re putting two hotels together. Uh the Renaissance Vonome and the Royal Senton that sit on a corner together. We’ve just received planning permission to merge the two hotels into one and we’re looking to rebrand that as 160bedroom uh on Ranton as an autograph collection. So really exciting. And our one of our other big projects is the renovation of the Renaissance Amsterdam where we’re adding a 100 rooms onto a 400bedroom hotel. So to have a hotel of that size in a central location in Amsterdam when no more hotels are being uh built under government directive um we’re very fortunate to have that project. And finally, one of the future projects we have opening early 27 is uh a hotel in Seville, um which we have yet to define the uh operating brand, but we hope to look at it as a luxury collection. And I think uh talking to my colleagues at the um Spanish Tourism Authority, it’s going to be a very important addition to a city that we think uh requires another luxury hotel. Yeah, I’ve only been to Seville once and loved it, but I was there for the World Travel and Tourism Council, so I was busy busy in meetings. They went to a bullfight arena, and I didn’t even get to go to that. So, I didn’t have as much time to experience it. So, one of these days I I’ll have to check in. Welcome on the mat. There you go. So, all right, back to the the Palace Madrid. Uh because you did spend hundred million euros on on and what what did you really do? I mean, what you did you hired a designer and they they refreshed everything and uh but but what are what are some of the things? How many rooms does it have now? We have 470 rooms. I think the restoration part um that was undertaken by the team. Um if you look at the Lakupa, which is the beautiful uh dome central location, 1,870 pieces of glass restored, some taken away to Barcelona to be further covered. the detail in the project, the the uncovering of the actual original color paint that was on the outside of the hotel. Uh, of course, in in 1912, there wasn’t the color photography to to record what it was. Yeah. So, you can really go against the photography and say, “Oh, well, this is it. It should look like this, right?” But the but the artisans and the people and the crafts people we’ve worked with have really just shown the detail and some of the architectural features that just make this a hotel that is beyond just a luxury hotel. It is a a phenomenal monu monument and iconic sort of feeling of what Madrid is about. Well, that that is the iconic part that you’re you’re referring to uh uh with that, but it’s also that’s where the the one of the main restaurants is as well, right? Yeah. La um situated underneath this beautiful dome. We also have Club 27 which is a sort of acknowledgement to the to the educational and the and the creative talents that used to meet in the hotel led by people like Picasso. So we recreate that with a new series of um supporters um who are the new creative minds that we want coming into our hotel uh to to talk about it. Um, we have future plans as another phase of the development of the hotel that will take some time to get through, but we will look to add additional food and beverage areas and we’ll look to add and utilize hopefully if we can receive any planning authority other areas of the hotel just to give it uh even more life and depth. Now, have you done all the rooms at this point or Every room has been done. Every room’s been done. All public areas have been done and you can imagine the updating of so much of the uh heart of the hotel that a guest won’t experience but they bring the comfort and the and and the feel whether it’s uh mechanical electrical all of that has been undertaken. Now do you have a spa? Spa we have a future plans for a small spa in the second ph in the final third phase of the development. Um but you’re in Madrid you’ve got so much walking to do. Yeah, I know. You end up walking as I always tell her that’s how I exercise is walk around a city. That’s what I do. Yeah. And that’s the great thing about Madrid. Um the region where we are the um is is a great walking area to discover the historic parts of uh the location. Uh the Riro Park, you’ve had the Tissson Museum close by uh just across the road. So you really have everything that you want to to feel as a cultural uh you know visit. Um, and so many people also combine their trips with it could also be a trip to the football. Now, you may not see Man United there. That Oh, well, except I maybe I don’t want to see Man United there. They’ll probably lose. But, uh, but yeah, that would be wonderful. And it’s it’s such a football city. Absolutely. And of course, F1 coming to Madrid in 2026. Uh, that’s going to be a great sort of opportunity for the hotel to shine. Uh and we hope 2027 uh UEFA Champions League final potentially will be in Madrid. So there’ll be great opportunities for the for the property to shine. Absolutely. And your staff also helps the guests experience Madrid. I understand they’ll set up uh tours and places all over the place. We have some marvelous initiatives that are under the the brand under the luxury collection brand. And whether this is the concierge personally taking you out on a Sunday evening at 6:00 to tour the local area, um whether it’s sort of the barman introducing you to three special cocktails that epitomize what the Club 27 27 Club is about. All of those crafted engagement times and experiences really bring the hotel to life. Absolutely. Now, uh, do you anything else you’d like to say to our 127,000 travel adviserss about the Palace Madrid today? Because I know I was very happy to hear that you were ren you you’ve renovated the whole thing because I saw that hotel as I said a few years back and said if you put money into this, this is going to be the the the bell of the ball in a hotel scene that’s exploded in in Madrid over the last few years. Well, I think the travel advisers who are looking to invest their clients money in experiences, uh, they look for authenticity. Uh, and I think in the world where luxury sometimes loses its way in terms of the authenticity of what it provides, uh, you will have no problems when you come and visit Madrid. Um, I think you’ll walk away really understanding what the hotel is about, what Madrid offers, uh, and what value it offers as well. I, my personal opinion is our tourists are finding many cities in Europe increasingly uh, of of a value and a price that is that is that we have to be aware of and we have to make sure that when we come back, we’re offering that value for money for for people that want to visit our cities. Uh I think that’s the the message and a final note is even if when you’re outside the hotel the quality range and breadth of dining experiences whether it’s Michelin star down to beautiful just tapas and the finest beer um you can find all of that range in and good wine too and good wine too. Um and also very good taxes. Uh I I’m reminded of what value good taxes are in in Madrid and a fantastic bus system as well. So, every opportunity to walk or bus or taxi around a great city. Well, I’ve obviously been, as you have, all the great cities of Europe and around the world. And I love Paris. I love London. Uh I I I love Rome. But when I first went to Madrid the first time, which was late later in life, uh it was just a few years back. I came away incredibly impressed. It became one of my favorite cities. So, uh I’m sure it has it’s one of your favorite cities as well. Well, James, for a man world travel as you to have that endorsement on Spain, I think is is is one of our best endorsements to your listeners and viewers. Well, I’m happy to go back. I I I really want to. Now, where can travel advisors go? I don’t know what the URL is or what that uh we always want to promote booking through the the Marriott Stars um okay uh portal. Um that’s super important because it drives all the benefits. We are working with all of the consortia. You’ll find us. We’ve been accepted into American Express FHR, uh, which is a major achievement for the hotel. We were previous in it. We’re back in it. You’ll find us in all the consortia programs. Book us online on marriott.com. Um, call the hotel. Um, we realize that people want to book in different ways and sometimes you have clients who need that personal attention and you want to speak to somebody about the booking. We’re open to to working in whatever ways uh makes the travel advisers comfortable that they’re getting the best service. Well, Matthew, it’s great to see you again. Uh wonderful at this wonderful project and I’m I’m looking forward to to coming back to the hotel soon to see what you’ve done and and experience it because I I I’ve stayed there once years ago and now uh got to go see this whole new uh renovation project again. Great to see you. Thank you for the time. I’m James Killingaw and this is Insider Travel Report.
Matthew Dixon, managing partner of Archer Hotel Management, owner of The Palace Hotel Madrid, talks with James Shillinglaw of Insider Travel Report about how the luxury hotel has been completely renovated, including all rooms, public spaces and restaurants. With an enviable location in the heart of the city, The Palace Hotel, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, is close to major art museums, gardens and other attractions. For more information, visit www.thepalacehotelmadrid.com.
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