ME Madrid celebrates 10 years of experiences

PAX is on location in Spain this week with Melia Hotels, discovering what's new at several of the company's properties in the destination. Stay tuned for more updates!

The Meliá brand was founded on the idea of the new lifestyle movement and building a hotel product around the idea of a customer psychographic.

As far as hotel chains go, at 10 years old, the ME brand is relatively new, but it’s set apart drastically thanks to its underlying European essence, that simply cannot be replicated in North America.

Defining luxury starts with designing the lifestyle of a customer, but “at the end of the day, it’s about presenting a lodging experience that is about anything but the rooms,” said Tony Cortizas, vice president, global brand strategy, Meliá Hotels International. “Hotel rooms are functional, but when it comes to the idea of the lifestyle aspect, this is much more the idea of an extension of how a guest wants to live when they stay in the hotel.”

Tony Cortizas, vice president, global brand strategy, Meliá Hotels International.

The ME brand focuses on customizing services for the experiential traveller who is looking for meaningful, human interactions in the cities they are visiting. “This whole idea of creating a lodging experience around the customer’s lifestyle, going beyond the concept of how they like to sleep, but also how they like to work and how they like to experience service all comes back to the staff profile of this kind of customer,” Cortizas said.

Now, the brand is looking to the future and is working to further solidify its presence in the market as a luxury lifestyle brand.

“This chain has changed and is changing dramatically,” Cortizas said. “It needs to be far more culturally-relevant, more authentic, more organic, and more sustainable. The champagne parties are still lots of fun, and they’re not going away, but that was the aspirational lifestyle. The millennials are coming through now and they don’t aspire to that; they want to save the world and they want something more thoughtful and more intelligent. They want to discover through travel and what’s made the brand so different is the European essence of the brand, and this is where it’s coming from.”

North Americans are visiting like never before, and Meliá is looking to focus and define the brand further to represent that visiting market segment.

“The design, culinary, and artistic partnerships that we have and how we curate ourselves and continue to evolve is quite different,” Cortizas said. “We’re all looking to stay relevant and brand is a conceptual approach.” With the rise of sharing services like Airbnb, Cortizas explains that despite attractive lower pricing, the real magic of a hotel comes down to the experience it provides. “These agencies are all competing for the same thing, and they are the epitome of the colonization of travel - they want to own the customer wherever they go,” Cortizas said.

“The thing that none of these people have is a venue. They might own a room in the city, but what we do with our venues outside of the actual room is something they can’t bring to the table. The need for a functional space in the hotel is changing and we need to make our properties relevant on every level, so that we can dine and be entertained, but also experience art and culture through a destination. Ordinary brands don’t work, and will not work 15 to 20 years from now; they’ll be consumed and stuck as a commodity, forced to submit. Strong brands and concept-led experiences is where it’s at.”

ME Madrid

The ME Madrid recently underwent a complete refurbishment of its ammenities, including the Ana La Santa and Radio restaurants, the Club Metropolitan Palacio gym, the lobby, and all rooms and suites. The ME Madrid features 192 rooms, 12 of which are suites, and a signature ME Suite. The renovations at the ME Madrid have kept the design focus neutral yet luxurious, and both the rooms and the suites have a plethora of amenities that will make your stay comfortable.

Upon entering the ME Madrid hotel in Madrid, Spain, you can’t help but notice the sweet smell of cucumber and melon in the air. Soft music plays, not only in the trendy lobby of the hotel, but drifting inwards from the Plaza de Santa Ana as well, where it’s common to see people sharing a plate of tapas, and drinking glasses of wine as the afternoon winds down.

Every corner of the ME Madrid has been designed to make guests feel at home, from the staff who maintain a guest-centric attitude, to the smallest details, like providing complimentary robes and slippers to weary travellers, free of charge.

"The physical space should be engaging to the point that it’s also engaging to your guests," Cortizas said.

Directly across from the Plaza de Santa Ana, the ME Madrid is housed in the historic Gran Madrid Reina Victoria in the heart of the city. The ME Madrid borrows from the historic elegance of the Grand Madrid Reina Victoria, a former hotel built in 1919, and the traditional cultural aesthetic of the city itself, while the ME brand brings a revitalized sense of innovation, modernization, and luxury. Its proximity to some of Madrid's most famous attractions and tourist sites make it a popular hotel amongst locals and world travellers alike.

And while hotel restaurants are sometimes viewed as a last-ditch resort for guests, part of the ME Madrid’s refurbishment is to attract the public, and let them know that the gastronomy that awaits is just as good, if not better, to some of the finest establishments in Madrid.

Radio-ME Madrid Rooftop

One of the best features of the ME Madrid can be found on the roof of the hotel at the Radio-ME Madrid Rooftop. Covered in tables and chairs and plush couches, the Radio-Me Madrid Rooftop is an upscale lounge that offers panoramic views of the Plaza de Santa Ana and surrounding Madrid from behind glass walls.

Located on the seventh floor of the hotel, guests or the public can head up to the roof and enjoy cocktails or dinner all year round, and the venue is affectionately called Madrid’s ‘Garden in the Sky’ because of the abundance of greenery that was included in the renovation.

The Radio-ME Madrid Rooftop is a new concept for the hotel, which previously did not have a rooftop bar, and it has a capacity of 65 guests for lunch and dinner. A new menu was introduced, where local gastronomy comes to life with great eats like the Iberian pancetta and purple carrot “quinotto”, or a tasting of several cheeses from around the world, including an incredibly creamy blue cheese variety.

“Last year, we won a business award, from Vicious Music Awards, saying that we are the best hotel club in Spain, and the recent renovations of the hotel’s terraces have added to that effect,” said Carlos Calvo, sales manager, ME Madrid.

Despite its tendency for summer rooftop parties, a spectacular breakfast service takes place in the very same spot only hours later, and not a single trace of the night before can be found.

The ME Madrid is the first hotel of its kind to open here in Europe, and the underlying focus is on cultivating a unique experience that is anything but sub-par. The architect who designed the hotel shares a love of the sea, and the hotel’s design reflects that.

"The fence makes a wave, and the tower above the terrace represents a lighthouse," Calvo said.

At night, the ME Madrid lights up in a glorious purple glow, making it easy to spot for tourists making their way back for the remainder of the evening. Art is a major contributing factor to the ME brand that sets it apart from other Meliá properties around the world. On the Rooftop, a large installation that reads “Always Represent” can be seen, and as Calvo acknowledges, its presence is in sync with the ME brand’s identity.

“It means that we are representing what you want,” Calvo said. “That’s why you’re here, instead of somewhere else.”