Staff Reporter
A hotel in Madrid has been named the ‘Best in Spain’ for corporate meetings and exhibitions at the 2024 World MICE Awards last October.
The InterContinental Madrid, located in Madrid’s central business district, won the award known as the ‘Oscars for Tourism’ for the 6th time.
It comes as Madrid also won the title of Europe’s Best MICE Destination for three years running between 2020-2022.
Giuseppe Vincelli, General Manager of the InterContinental Madrid, told AEF: “We are pleased to share that we have won the prestigious World MICE Awards as the Best MICE Hotel in Spain.
“The entire InterContinental Madrid team would like to thank our clients for choosing us to organize their events, conventions, incentives, and conferences, and to our colleagues in the tourism sector who have supported our nomination.”
InterContinental Madrid: Spain’s best for corporate events
Since its foundation 70 years ago, the InterContinental Madrid has equipped itself for corporate events with 16 different dedicated rooms.
It can cater to intimate meetings among executives as well as large conventions and seminars.
Among its dedicated rooms include the:
- Salón Plata: Large conference room with space for 630 people and conserving the original style of the Palacio de los Duques de Aliaga in which the hotel is based.
- Salón Escoriales: Medium-sized event space with seating for 350 people, dividing screens and a wide open-air terrace area.
- Salón Villahermosa: Reception-style space with capacity for 200 people and another open-air terrace.
- Sala Cibeles: Intimate and luxurious room for small meetings.
- Salón Toledo: Elegant and intimate meeting room with views over the Paseo de la Castellana and Spain’s business district.
The hotel also offers 3D virtual tour on the website, a full list of available rooms, and the option for a dedicated co-ordinator to supervise and plan the event.
The hotel also features the El Jardín del InterContinental Madrid restaurant featuring Mediterranean fusion fine dining.
Huge growth in DMC & team-building services in Madrid
Madrid and Barcelona are Spain’s two major business hubs, accounting for a combined 38.5% of the country’s GDP.
But while Madrid is the home of Spain’s largest three businesses by revenue (Telefónica, El Corte Inglés and Repsol), Barcelona has historically been Spain’s leader for MICE tourism.
(MICE stands for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.)
In 2023, Barcelona welcomed 139 large-scale international conferences while Madrid welcomed 109, according to La Vanguardia.
Nevertheless, Madrid’s growth has far outpaced that of the Catalan capital.
Corporate and business travellers pumped €2.3 billion into Madrid’s economy last year, which was a 35.6% increase on 2022, according to El Periódico de España.
David Coote, co-director of one of Spain’s leading team-building events organisers Madrid Adventure, told the Olive Press the impact led to their regional expansion.
“We’ve been organising team-building events for corporate clients in Barcelona since we started in 1999, only now and then organising an event in Madrid on request,” he said.
“Everything changed in 2023.”
“We saw a huge demand for team-building and DMC services in Madrid.
“At the end of 2023, opened a new branch of our business in Madrid, called madrid-adventure.com, and we’ve never looked back – week-in-week-out, we’re organising team building activities and corporate travel at hotels like the InterContinental for some of the world’s top businesses.”
David added that Madrid’s grand architecture is a draw, as well as its ‘strategic location’ between business hubs in EMEA and US markets.
