Like most of the large cities on the planet, prices to stay in Madrid, either for a long time like a short stay, have shot themselves. If we focus on tourist accommodations, we have already counted recently: it is not a sensation, the hotels are more expensive than ever in Spain, and in cities like the capital are prohibitive. In fact, tourists are beginning to look for other destinations such as Morocco.
The solution for hoteliers is in the surroundings: the polygons.
The new face. Three years ago it was already coming. Then, the ABC counted in a report that on the outskirts of the M-30, where many still believe that Madrid is blurred in gray ships and empty streets at the afternoon, the polygon Julián Camarillo offered a radically different image. This almost 200 hectares enclave, located between the linear city and Suanzes stations, had begun to transform into a vibrant, accelerated and multifaceted area, a reflection of a city in constant mutation.
Its streets combine industrial vestiges from the 50s to 80s with new constructions, hotels, artisan breweries, gastronomic spaces, technological centers and an incipient cultural vocation. As happened before in neighborhoods like Shoreditch in London or the 22@ district of Barcelona, the polygon seemed to position itself as an urban laboratory where the post -industrial laboratory gives way to the allegedly modern.
Tourist destination Three years later, the country said in Julián Camarillo, which once was territory marked by half empty offices, aged industrial buildings and unused solar, a phenomenon as unexpected as unstoppable is being created: its transformation into an incipient hotel district. Yes, what at first glance seemed a little hospitable environment has become a tourist reef thanks to its proximity to the center of Madrid and at the low cost of accommodation.
Here is a proper name: the Catalan businessman Óscar Sánchez, founder of the Bestprice chain, has been one of the pioneers to bet on the enclave, describing it as an “oil well” for the potential it offers to those who risk. Its hotels, located only eight subway stops from Puerta del Sol, attract young visitors who prioritize the Price aesthetics. The figures endorse it: since 2020 eight hotels have been inaugurated in the area and there are at least seven others in project.
From illegal loft to functional hotels. Apparently, previous attempts to redefine the area did not prosper with equal success. At the beginning of the century, the New York Soho model with the fashion of the loft was attempted, and then the term Madbit was promoted to attract technological companies. Both initiatives collided with the lack of regulation and a weak corporate demand. Instead, hotels have grown without institutional campaigns or brand names for the neighborhood.
The realized real estate agency in the area confirmed to the country that many offices promoters are transforming their projects into tourist establishments due to the evidence that the demand for accommodation exceeds that of work space. This boom coincides with something we have been telling: the normative hardening towards Airbnb tourist homes and the historical record of visitors in Madrid, where 10.4 million tourists were reached in 2024.
The Carabanchel node
Urban Fever. In the background, international consultants have confirmed the effervescence of the sector. Colliers has identified more than 60,000 square meters available for new hotel projects in Julián Camarillo, although he warns that urban limits slow down the rhythm, so many of the new establishments are small and functional, with less than one hundred rooms.
Most are classified as a star hotels, and together they add more than 1,500 active rooms. Meanwhile, chains such as Ibis or Spark by Hilton join the model initiated by Bestprice, consolidating the area as the most interesting interest among investors. Other consultants, such as Engel & Völkers, observe a similar trend in industrial polygons from other cities such as Valencia, Bilbao or Barcelona, where land prices and the lack of alternatives in the center push the hotel sector to colonize spaces traditionally relegated to the manufacturing activity.
Asequible accommodation. The triumph of this model is understood alone. The logic behind this transformation is because there are less and fewer active factories, offices do not absorb enough demand and tourism needs affordable, well -communicated and functional space. With rates of between 60 and 70 euros per night, 20 minutes from the center of Madrid, hotels in polygons such as Julián Camarillo fill that hole.
Carabanchel adds. Something similar is also happening to the south of the capital, although here with the aim of giving a housing alternative to creative young people at a step in the city. The world told it. In the heart of Carabanchel, a neighborhood increasingly associated with urban art, Node Carabanchel was inaugurated, a half stay hotel that redefines the concept of flexible accommodation with a thousand rooms designed for creative young people, students, digital nomads “and people in vital transition.”
With an investment of 100 million euros, the gigantic complex includes fully equipped studies and apartments, and offers a community experience centered on art, music and coworking, with spaces such as rehearsal, podcast, theater, theater, gym, swimming pool, sporting tracks, sporting tracks and a scourge scenario for concerts and cultural events.
Replicating other models. Node aspires not only to accommodate, but to actively integrate into the local fabric through collaborations with schools, galleries and artists in the neighborhood, promoting a living and shared community. Promoted by the Node Living company with the support of Bain Capital, this is its third project in Madrid and is part of an international expansion that replicates a model born in Brooklyn and already present in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, London and Barcelona.
Mutant neighborhoods. Be that as it may, all these proposals have a common denominator: Madrid is made grande And it reinvents it because its nerve center has become a closed Coto theme park.
Of course, the spontaneity with which polygons like Julián Camarillo have grown to tourist district modes, reflect an opportunity, although also an alert. Success does not guarantee sustainability, and converting an industrial polygon into a functional “city of vacation” requires more than a fashion not to die of success.
Image | Javier Martin, Carissa Rogers
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