Madrid in June 2019 - exorbitant lodging prices?

Champions League Final is in Madrid on 1 June. Perhaps that is the cause? I don't know, just guessing; but the corporates and UEFA expense account people could already be buying up rooms

I see some possibilities for the night of June 1 on booking.com. I don't know whether you are looking for just one night or longer. A "hostal" is a small hotel, not the same thing as a "hostel". The rates for the fancier hotels do seem to be in the stratosphere.

If there's nothing acceptable to you in Madrid and you can't juggle your schedule effectively, you might check Toledo, which is totally worth at least two nights. Another possibility (which I've visited only on a day-trip) is the small, historic city of Alcala de Henares, which has very frequent commuter train service from Madrid, even on Sundays. AdeH is, to my mind, more physically attractive than Madrid. Doesn't have the same art museums, though.

Among other stuff: the final of the UEFA Championship -as mentioned earlier- (btw, a good opportunity to see FC Barcelona taking the title 'again'), an Ed Sheeran concert is supposed to be happening in Madrid also around those dates, the 78th Book Fair at Paseo Recoletos (pending tba)... Sometimes, like in other big cities, several large events coincide in time and hotel availability decreases as fast as prices increase.

In any case, the Wanda stadium isn't that large, barely 68.000, so it's unlikely this event on its own is causing this "shortage", moreover noting that a number of the fans attending the match will be members of the club, therefore they live in or near Madrid (and don't need any accommodation).

... or maybe is that @pjsdoc will be in town, and everybody wanna have a glimpse, lol!

As Ann mentioned, have a look at 'hostals' (not hostels!), which are sort of basic hotels and thus are cheaper, after all, you're going to use it only to crash at night, right? Btw, the Spanish word is "hostal", and "hostales" in plural.

Another option would be an apartment, even if it's only for a couple of nights. For that Airbnb, Homeaway, Bookings.com...

Good luck!

To be clearer - its not individual fans booking rooms now, they don't know who is going to be in the match. It's those who know they need a room whoever is in the final - the media circus, tour operators who will package the room with tickets and sell-on, official guests & hangers-on, hospitality, etc. Many of these won't actually be attending the match itself in the stadium. And these are organisations with, compared to real fans, deep pockets.

I remember reading a frustrated post on a different (non-travel-related) forum a few years ago from someone who really had to spend a specific night in Dublin. Maybe he had an early-morning flight back to the US; I don't remember. In any case, there was unfortunately a really major rock concert in Dublin that night and there was absolutely nothing available. I've never been in that situation, but I did once spend the night in a partitioned-off hallway in St. Malo when my ferry was canceled. It is so frustrating when you think everything is all set and you run into a roadblock. It's a bit like returning to an airline website to buy the tickets you've decided on, and finding that the fare is $500 higher than it was the last time you checked.

maybe is that @pjsdoc will be in town, and everybody wanna have a glimpse

By far my favorite explanation. My reputation precedes me...

Thanks for the replies, all.

Apartments are (for now) still relatively affordable. We'll probably get something from Airbnb or Booking.com. We'll be coming from Salamanca (2 nights) and Toledo (1 night) - we may add a night to the latter and subtract one from Madrid.

Definitely nothing wrong with two nights in Toledo.

Stay somewhere else like Toledo or Segovia and make Madrid a daytrip by train.