FWIW I'm looking at hotels in Madrid on Xmas day for two nights and I see a few EDIT options that are not crazily expensive, like the Intercontinental for $343/night or the Palacio de los Duques for $500/night. Though I realize the timing might be impacting those prices too...

In any case, I'll book something on or after the 26th so I get the EDIT credit. Or maybe we should call it the crEDIT.