Interihotel MAD24 closed its doors on November 21st with an attendance of over 10,000 professionals from the hospitality-design sector.

Over the three days of the event, attendees enjoyed a comprehensive showroom featuring products and design materials from 262 exhibiting brands, as well as a high-level program of conferences, workshops, and discussion panels with leading industry speakers.

The 14th edition of this design event for hotels and restaurants, held at IFEMA Madrid and sponsored globally by Grupo Roca, once again reached record numbers in terms of exhibitors, visiting professionals, and business opportunities identified for hospitality projects among registered professionals.

Showroom

interihotel presented a carefully designed exhibition space with a total of 262 exhibiting brands, all dedicated to offering innovative solutions for hotel and restaurant design. Each brand recreated its interpretation of different hotel and restaurant environments (guest rooms, cafeterias, lobbies…), transforming the venue into a showcase of pilot spaces for the hospitality sector.

The organization was responsible for designing common areas such as the Suite, Lounge, Agora, Atelier, and Interiors Living Lab spaces, among others. These areas featured product placements from the exhibiting brands, expanding their visibility while providing professionals with stylish networking and rest areas.

High-level conferences

This year’s event featured 184 speakers across conferences, debates, and workshops. The conferences and discussion panels were moderated by Pilar Marcos, editor of Diseño Interior magazine; Javier Peña, director of the Concéntrico Festival; Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, architecture journalist for El País; and Cecilia Camacho, strategic communications consultant and content creator. The Agora hosted presentations by notable speakers such as Javier Pérez (VP Hoteles), Ana Hernández & Christophe Penasse (Masquespacio), Àngela Montagud & Jordi Iranzo (Clap Studio), Hugo Bertrand (chic&basic), Erik Harley (Oficina Periferia), Anupama Kundoo (Anupama Kundoo Architects), Damien Perrot (Accor), João Albuquerque (BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group), and Karim Rashid (Karim Rashid Inc.), among many others.Workshops held in the Atelier were also a great success, offering practical insights on topics like material innovation (MIL Studios), bioarchitecture (Patricia Bustos Studio), idea generation (Plantea Estudio), project identity (Casa Josephine), and leveraging generative AI tools (Burondo).

For the third consecutive year, the Lounge hosted debates with key entities from the sector, representing hotel companies, architects, interior designers, and product brands. Highlights included Women in Hospitality, IE School of Architecture and Design, Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), Universidad de Diseño, Innovación y Tecnología (UDIT), and the Re Think Tourism cluster, among others.

The event also included the Dialogues program, a well-established interihotel initiative where professionals from AMBIT Cluster-affiliated firms and brands discussed the main themes of this edition: design as a creator of memorable experiences, trends and creative concepts (BLOOM design), conscious and impactful design (IMPACT design), and disruptive design, innovation, and technology (VISIONARY design).

interihotel MAD24 Awards

This year’s MAD24 edition featured six award categories: Sustainable Product for Hotel and Restaurant Design, Innovative Product for Hotel and Restaurant Design, Best Stand Design at interihotel, Best Restaurant Design, Best Hotel Design, and Lifetime Achievement in Hotel and Restaurant Design.On the first day of the event, the jury awarded the Sustainable Product prize to Ecofiber Stone Composite by Tarimatec, while the Innovative Product award went to WoolWalls 3D Spacer by Farrás Home. EGGER received the Best Stand Design award for a space designed by architect Miriam Barrios. Designer Noé Prades won Best Restaurant Design for Cielito Lindo, and Atelier du Pont was recognized with the Best Hotel Design award for Hotel Son Blanc Farmhouse. Finally, Diego Gronda received the Lifetime Achievement award for his outstanding contributions and numerous international projects in hotel and restaurant design.

The jury included Álvaro Coello de Portugal, VP of the Professional Association of Lighting Designers (APDI); Alicia García Cabrera, Managing Director of Casa Decor; Ángel Hernández Espada, Executive Board member of the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM); María Martínez, Dean of the Official College of Decorators and Designers of Madrid (CODDIM); Gloria Escribano Tizziani, Project Coordinator at the Madrid Designers Association (DIMAD); Beatriz Amann, Academic Director at Istituto Europeo di Design (IED); Álvaro Matías, Director of Madrid Design Festival (MDF); and Joaquim Solana, cluster manager of AMBIT Living Spaces Cluster (acting as jury secretary).

Interiors Living Lab

The Interiors Living Lab, an open innovation space developed by AMBIT Cluster, organizer of interihotel, exclusively presented three disruptive and innovative spaces for this edition: Concept Rooms Lab, Xperience Lab, and Materials Lab.On one hand, in the Concept Rooms Lab, the creative team designed and developed the concept of the Genius Loci Concept Restaurant, inspired by the palatial dining rooms of the CoolRooms hotel chain. It is a space that captures a moment deeply rooted in local culture—gathering around the table to eat, drink, and, above all, socialize—recreated in a setting with classical reminiscences in its forms, yet contemporary in its layout and finishes. Meanwhile, Zooco Estudio took charge of designing the Harmony Seeker Concept Lobby in response to the needs outlined by the VP Hoteles chain: a lobby with geometric and biophilic inspiration, characterized by its flexibility and versatility. The studio proposed a space that is formally well-defined but versatile in terms of its potential uses. These Concept Rooms allow us to envision the future of hospitality spaces for new guests through applied trends and innovative solutions in products and materials tailored to various profiles.

The Xperience Lab, a first-time feature, allowed visitors to explore disruptive digital technologies applied to interior design. The space featured three installations showcasing the potential of three technologies: the Immersive Cube, an interactive and immersive installation based on videomapping technology and the projection of images, videos, and animations; Radiant Neural Fields (NeRF), which use artificial intelligence to generate three-dimensional models for architectural visualization processes; and Generative Artificial Intelligence, offering visitors the opportunity to control the artificial generation of interior design scenes by applying parameters from interihotel's exhibiting brands.Finally, the Materials Lab was presented as an exhibition of innovative materials, carefully curated by Matter Group for their sustainable attributes. The showcase was installed in a hotel room designed by External Reference and 3D-printed by LAMÁQUINA, featuring natural catalytic and photocatalytic properties that help eliminate greenhouse gases.

International mission

interihotel’s international mission activities included face-to-face meetings, lunches, workshops, and discussion panels moderated by David Cámara (Unex). The initiative hosted over 230 business meetings between invited professionals and AMBIT Cluster-associated brands exhibiting at interihotel.

Results

interihotel MAD24 “Supernova” concluded with an attendance of over 10,000 interior designers, developers, managers, and investors from 50 countries and participation by 262 brands specializing in hotel and restaurant design.More than 3,000 attendees stated their primary reason for visiting was to seek suppliers for hotel or restaurant renovation or new construction projects, demonstrating that interihotel is not only a boutique event but also a platform for generating business for participating brands.

The 2024 edition featured 57 sessions of conferences, discussion panels, and workshops, involving over 180 speakers. These record-breaking numbers reaffirm interihotel as a leading European event in hotel and restaurant interior design.