Four years later, Madrid’s president Isabel Díaz Ayuso has revealed the bill for her stay in the luxury apartments Be Mate, then owned by businessman Kike Sarasola. Ayuso finally paid 5,680 euros for a 69-day stay in the two apartments, one for sleeping and the other for working.
The president’s team has sent the invoice to elDiario.es, along with proof of the transfer, after this newspaper reported that Kike Sarasola had sent a letter to the Congress of Deputies’ Investigation Commission in which he said that Room Mate, his current company, had not located invoices, rental contracts or any payment from Ayuso for that stay. In a statement on Monday, Room Mate points out that Ayuso stayed in apartments owned by Be Mate, a part of the company that was sold a few months ago.
Ayuso’s team initially said that the president had paid, and has now sent the invoice, which has remained hidden for these four years. Until now, only the presenter of Salvados, Fernando González ‘Gonzo’, had seen it, to whom the president showed the invoice and the transfer from her mobile phone during an interview three years ago.
The document sent to elDiario.es now states that Ayuso stayed for 69 days in the Plaza de España Skyline building – between March 16 and May 24, 2020 – at a price of 80 euros per night, for a total of 5,520 euros. The invoice does not clarify whether the amount is for one or both apartments in which Ayuso stayed from the time she tested positive for Covid-19 until she left that stay. The invoice is in the name of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and is made out by Be Mate Corporate.
The president’s team has also sent the justification for the transfer, made on May 27, 2020, for 5,680 euros. In that interview with Salvados in 2021, Ayuso herself joked about having overpaid: “I’m a loser.”
Sarasola had responded to Congress that Room Mate had not located “any rental or transfer contract” with Ayuso, and that in the financial statements “there is no record of any payment as compensation.” In a statement issued on Monday, the Room Mate hotel chain points out that Ayuso stayed at “Be Mate Apartments, belonging to other owners and which currently has no shareholding relationship with Room Mate Hotels.” “Be Mate Apartments will be able to confirm the existence of invoices corresponding to the stay of the president of the Community of Madrid,” they add.
Ayuso enjoyed two luxury apartments at the BeMate Plaza de España hotel during the toughest stage of the pandemic. She stayed in the “royal suite skyline”, an 88-metre penthouse with a 100-metre terrace with a chill-out area, a gazebo and panoramic views of the Royal Palace and the Casa de Campo. That luxury apartment was rented for around 200 euros a day: 6,000 euros a month.
In addition, the Madrid president had a second apartment in the same building, a few floors below, which she used only for sleeping: “I’m in the hotel, I sleep downstairs, I work upstairs, and I don’t bother anyone,” Ayuso said in an interview.
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