The Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Madrid, Has Been Completely Restored — Here’s a First Look at the Relaunched Property

The Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Madrid, has a storied history that began more than a century ago in 1912.

Glamorous from the very beginning, this Belle Époque gem has seen a lot within its walls, including plenty of famous guests and the fabled stories that come with them.

The Palace recently underwent a 2-year, top-to-bottom renovation and restoration executed by Lázaro Rosa-Violán, who updated it with warm, modern elements while allowing many of its original and historic installations to shine through.

Pre-renovation, it had been a Westin property for many years. After its $90+ million restoration was completed, it was relaunched as a Luxury Collection property, still under the Marriott Bonvoy umbrella, though higher up on the luxury scale.

I was invited to The Palace to tour and experience the relaunched property — here’s your first look at the latest chapter in the story of this legendary hotel.

An Icon Is Reborn in the Spanish Capital

The Palace has been a central landmark in Madrid, the city I’ve called home for nearly 2 decades. I first knew it as the Westin Palace, which it became in 2001.

I’ve enjoyed many an “opera brunch” beneath its distinguished glass dome and wandered through its bar, which featured photos of the hotel at key moments in its history, such as when it was a war hospital during the Spanish Civil War or when notable guests like Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein stayed there. And don’t forget about Julio Camba, the journalist who famously lived in the hotel’s room 338 for more than 20 years!

Needless to say, it brought me immense joy to see this historical landmark restored to its former glory. On the outside, it was scrubbed fresh to reveal formerly forgotten marbled columns hidden beneath plastered walls and was coated with its original paint color, which isn’t actually white. It’s a coffee-colored beige — “cafe con leche” as the hotel calls it.

And on the inside, the renovations are even more dramatic — keep reading to see how The Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Madrid, has been restored to its former glory.

The Lobby

The Palace feels refreshed — to say the least — both inside and out.

As I wandered in, I noticed the marble-clad columns on the walls, art deco light fixtures, and stained glass. All of it transported me to the hotel’s glory days in the 20th century.

The goal for the entrance and bustling reception areas was to restore them as a modern version of what they looked like in 1912. Designers used a photo of these spaces taken during the Spanish Civil War as their guide.

The lobby features original 16th- and 17th-century tapestries, which, combined with bright skylights, reflect the space’s rich cultural heritage.

Guests can check in at the inviting wooden reception desks. Behind, you’ll spot cubbies with metal keys, a nod to how guests used to enter their rooms, well before the days of using plastic key cards or mobile phones.

La Cúpola

If you’ve ever been to this hotel, you might remember eating breakfast under the stunning glass dome, a colorful melange made up of 1,875 pieces of glass originally designed by Eduardo Ferrés i Puig. All 1,875 pieces were dismantled during the renovation, and many were sent to a special family-owned glass restoration business in Barcelona, where more than 100 glass restoration specialists worked to refurbish them.

Today, the reconstructed dome is simply magnificent, with its original brass chandelier delicately dangling from its center over a brand-new bar.

This area will soon resume its weekly Sunday “opera brunches,” where artists perform opera and visitors can enjoy a stunning brunch (more like lunch, as the event begins at 1:30 p.m.) beneath the luminous dome.

Hotel guests (or non-guests, for an additional fee) can enjoy a breakfast buffet here, too, which serves up Spanish favorites like churros and Iberian ham sliced fresh off the bone.

27 Club

The Palace’s bar is an inviting hangout dedicated to preserving the hotel’s past. Here, you can picture yourself in the past as you thumb through the roster of impressive guests.

Named after the “Generación del 27,” it refers to a group of avant-garde artists who rose to fame between 1923 and 1927, such as Federico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dalí.

The hotel continues to add to its collection of historical artifacts found in the bar, but here, you can sip cocktails in large, velvety chairs as you admire photos of the days when the hotel offered daycare for children of its staff members from 1940 to 1969 or when the hotel served as a hospital during the Spanish Civil War.

Remember to look for Pablo Picasso’s name and room number in the guest roster!

Guest Rooms

The hotel’s 470 guest rooms have all been renovated. Now they all include fireplaces, stunning Madrid-inspired art, and even touches like original marble in the bathrooms.

Note that the fireplaces in the suites are original to the building, but the guest rooms have new ones. I also loved the closets, which are spacious and sport a chic design.

I was able to enter room 136, a deluxe room, to get a feel for the brand-new spaces. Walking in, I immediately felt the essence of Madrid.

Even the tiled walls of the shower and the design in the bathrooms were handcrafted to reflect a postcard of Madrid’s botanical gardens, which the designer discovered at the Rastro, the city’s weekly flea market.

Elsewhere in the bathrooms, guests will find modern fixtures, spacious vanities, and luxury products from Byredo.

Even the hallways were renovated to feel luxurious and whimsical, like a surrealist forest. Here, you’ll find handpicked art, unique lighting, nature-inspired carpeting, and green-hued marble.

The Suites

I was able to view the Neptune Suite, named for its views of the Neptune Fountain, the Paseo del Prado, the Prado Museum, and the Mandarin Oriental Ritz Madrid (another one of the city’s iconic hotels) beyond.

The suites are luminous and decorated with art deco elements. The bathrooms are covered in marble (some of the darker red marble is original to the hotel).

As I previously mentioned, this restored fireplace was present in the hotel’s initial iteration in 1912.

This suite includes a living area, a dining space, a stunning workspace that actually makes you want to pull out your computer on vacation, and an inviting bedroom.

This is the kind of suite that’s genuinely worthy of using a Marriott Bonvoy Nightly Upgrade Award.

Hot Tip:

Wondering what to do on your next visit to Spain’s capital? Here are 28 fun things to do on your next trip to Madrid.

Booking The Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Madrid

Ready to book your stay? Unsurprisingly, this luxury property commands a proportionally high price tag. Rates start at around $600 or 82,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night.

While that may seem steep, remember that it’s easy to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. Marriott has several co-branded credit cards, all of which offer sizable welcome bonuses. You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points earned from several Chase credit cards and Amex Membership Rewards points earned from select Amex credit cards at a 1:1 ratio.

Hot Tip:

Looking for more inspiration? Read up on all the best ways to redeem Marriott Bonvoy points for maximum value!

Final Thoughts

Over the years, I’ve been lucky to view, hang out at, and even stay in some of Madrid’s most beautiful hotels, including the Madrid EDITION, the Thompson Madrid, the Mandarin Oriental Ritz, the JW Marriott Madrid, the Principal Madrid, and the Four Seasons Madrid — but the renovation of The Palace makes it stand out.

The best part? No matter where you are in the hotel, you’ll feel firmly planted in Madrid. This isn’t one of those properties where you could be eating avocado toast or lying your head down in any city in the world. No, the Palace Madrid is fully and deeply Madrid, and that’s what makes this hotel so magical.