Madrid's most photographed building finally opened its doors on January 29, 2026, and the interior delivers on the century of anticipation. Club Metrópolis , the new 19-room boutique hotel and private members' club inside the iconic Metrópolis Building at Gran Vía and Calle de Alcalá, follows 2017 public visits to the 115-year-old landmark. Worth booking if architectural heritage matters more to you than full-service resort amenities, this is intimate-scale luxury in a building that has defined Madrid's skyline since 1911.
Why Club Metrópolis Matters Now
The January 29, 2026 opening represents a rare conversion: a monument admired from the outside for more than a century, now accessible from within. Marta Seco and Sandro Silva, founders of Grupo Paraguas (the hospitality group behind the Amazónico restaurant chain), lead the project. Their goal, according to Seco, was to "humanise a historic landmark and transform a monument admired from the outside, into an experience that could be lived from within,"1 she told Business Traveller.
The project began in 2019, when the building's owner invited Seco and Silva to open a stand-alone restaurant on the ground floor. Recognizing the architectural significance of the Metrópolis and its place in Madrid's collective identity, the duo proposed reviving the entire building instead. What followed was several years of restoration led by Rubio Arquitectura under strict heritage protection, returning all seven floors to active use. Interiors are the work of designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán, who prioritized rich colors and texture while preserving original features, the grand staircase, parquet floors, and cornicing, in public areas.
The Metrópolis Building, inaugurated in 1911, is crowned by the bronze sculpture Maria Alada (Winged Victory), which has watched over the intersection of Gran Vía and Calle de Alcalá for generations. Its ornate Beaux-Arts façade has been emblazoned on postcards and etched into the city's collective imagination, yet behind that iconic silhouette the building itself has stood largely empty, until now. The 6,000-square-meter property now houses the 19-room hotel, a private members' club, seven dining venues, a rooftop, a gym, and a cultural program featuring more than 200 experiences per year.
Inside the 19-Room Hotel at Madrid's Most Iconic Address
Club Metrópolis features just 19 rooms, a limited number reflecting Seco and Silva's desire to give guests an intimate experience. Rooms are spread across five categories, but the most distinctive are the Circular Suites. Located on the third and fourth floors of the hotel, these round rooms are wrapped in large windows, offering 360-degree views of the city. The circular footprint follows the building's dome geometry, a design constraint that becomes the suite's defining feature.
Guest rooms feature bright furnishings, bespoke artwork, and premium touches including Bassols bedding and sweets from historic Madrid confectioner La Pajarita, delivered during turndown service. Hotel guests also enjoy complimentary airport and train station transfers, plus a dedicated butler service during their stay. The service model prioritizes high-touch hospitality over large-scale resort amenities, there's a gym, but no spa complex; there's a rooftop, but no pool deck.
The restoration preserved the building's historic character while adapting it for contemporary hospitality use. Original parquet floors, cornicing, and the grand staircase remain intact in public areas. Rosa-Violán's interiors layer rich colors and texture onto the Beaux-Arts bones, creating a visual dialogue between 1911 and 2026. The result is a property that feels more like a private residence inside a landmark than a traditional hotel.
The Private Members' Club: Access and Amenities
The dual-model approach, boutique hotel plus private members' club, creates exclusivity beyond the hotel component. Four of the seven dining venues are reserved exclusively for hotel guests and members, including Victoria (the property's fine-dining restaurant centered on seasonal ingredients), La Galería (an all-day dining venue serving snacks and informal dishes), El Jardín (an outdoor restaurant), and La Cúpula (an underground cocktail bar for evening drinks).
The members' club operates as an international model, meaning membership extends beyond Madrid residents to travelers who value access to a network of properties. The cultural program, more than 200 experiences per year, includes events, tastings, and programming designed to activate the building beyond dining and lodging. The rooftop, suspended above the city with views of the Winged Victory sculpture, serves as a members' venue for private events and gatherings.
Three of the seven dining venues are open to the public by reservation. The most distinctive is Spa de Langostas, a restaurant that builds its menu around a single ingredient, lobster, and operates from a dramatic underground space with interiors inspired by Dante's poetry. The single-ingredient focus is a bold format constraint, one that signals confidence in sourcing and technique rather than menu breadth. Public reservations for Spa de Langostas open through the property's booking system, though availability is limited given the venue's underground capacity.
The members' club component positions Club Metrópolis within a broader trend of hospitality groups layering membership models onto boutique hotel projects. Soho House pioneered the format; newer entrants like The Ned and Scorpios have adapted it for different markets. In Madrid, the model is less saturated than in London or New York, giving Club Metrópolis room to define the category locally. The question for prospective members: whether the architectural access and dining exclusivity justify the membership cost, which the property has not yet disclosed publicly.
Booking Club Metrópolis: Availability and Rates
At 19 rooms, Club Metrópolis operates with scarcity dynamics that favor advance booking. The property has not publicly disclosed nightly rates, though comparable boutique conversions in Madrid, properties like the 44-room Only YOU Boutique Hotel or the 50-room Urso Hotel & Spa, typically range from €300 to €600 per night for standard rooms, with suites climbing higher. The Circular Suites, given their unique geometry and 360-degree views, likely command a premium over standard categories.
Reservations open through the Club Metrópolis website. Hotel guests gain automatic access to the four members-only dining venues during their stay, which adds value beyond the room rate. The complimentary airport and train station transfers, a service typically reserved for five-star properties, further offset the cost for travelers arriving from outside Madrid. The dedicated butler service, another five-star standard, is included in the room rate rather than offered as an upsell.
Booking difficulty will depend on demand patterns, which are still emerging given the January 2026 opening. The limited inventory means weekend availability will tighten quickly, particularly during Madrid's high season (spring and fall). Travelers who prioritize architectural heritage stays, those who book conversions like Istanbul's Soho House or Rome's Hotel de la Ville, should add Club Metrópolis to their shortlist now, before the property establishes a booking rhythm that favors members over transient guests.
For travelers deciding between Club Metrópolis and Madrid's other luxury options, the choice hinges on priorities. The Four Seasons Madrid offers more rooms, more services, and a full spa, but no architectural landmark status. The Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques delivers similar heritage appeal in a larger format, but without the Metrópolis Building's iconic dome and Winged Victory. Club Metrópolis is the only property that offers overnight access to one of Spain's most photographed buildings. If that matters to you, book it. If you need a pool, a spa complex, or more than 19 rooms' worth of availability, look elsewhere.
The opening of Club Metrópolis signals a broader shift in Madrid's luxury hospitality landscape: landmark buildings previously closed to the public are now entering the hotel market through boutique conversions. The Metrópolis Building, with its Beaux-Arts façade and century-long presence on the city's skyline, is the highest-profile example to date. Whether the 19-room model can sustain the operational costs of a 6,000-square-meter restoration project remains to be seen, but for travelers who value architectural access over resort-scale amenities, the opportunity to stay inside Madrid's most iconic building is now open.
