One year in Madrid: building momentum at Alcalá

To celebrate the one‑year anniversary of easyHotel Madrid Alcalá, we caught up with Miguel, Hotel Manager, to reflect on the hotel’s first year and the year ahead. 

1. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you joined easyHotel? 

I’ve spent over ten years working in the hotel industry across several companies, with a strong focus on my time at Hilton. I came across the opportunity at easyHotel on LinkedIn, applied, and was delighted to join the business. 

2. What does your role as Hotel Manager at Madrid Alcalá involve day to day? 

My role covers all aspects of hotel operations, ensuring a high standard of service and a smooth guest experience. I work closely with teams across front office, housekeeping, and maintenance to keep the hotel running efficiently. A key part of my role is monitoring guest satisfaction, supporting the team to deliver consistently good service, and managing staff planning, training, budgets, revenue and occupancy. I also ensure we meet health, safety and quality standards, while continuously looking for ways to improve how we operate. 

3. How would you sum up the hotel’s first year? 

The first year has been both challenging and rewarding. As a new hotel, our focus was on building a strong team, setting clear standards and establishing ourselves in a competitive market. Despite the challenges that come with any opening, we’ve achieved solid occupancy levels, received positive guest feedback and created a great working culture. It’s been a strong foundation for future growth. 

4. What have been the biggest highlights or learnings since opening? 

Building a motivated team and seeing how quickly the hotel has established itself in the market have been real highlights. Positive guest feedback early on was especially encouraging. One of the biggest learnings has been the importance of flexibility and clear communication across teams to ensure a consistent guest experience. 

5. What’s the focus as you head into year two? 

As we move into year two, the focus is on building on what we’ve created so far by continuing to improve the guest experience, strengthening the hotel’s reputation, and driving occupancy and revenue. At the same time, we’re placing a strong emphasis on team development through training, engagement and retention, while maintaining the quality and consistency our guests expect the quality and consistency our guests expect.