Tag: W Barcelona

Marbella Rises From The Ashes With A €300M W Hotel Resort

27 March 2017 – El Economista

The investor group Platinum Estates, owned by the magnate Harry Mohinani, and the Marriott International group, have signed an agreement to launch the Hotel W Marbella Resort, which will be constructed in the Malagan town of the same name and which will cost around €300 million.

The agreement first started to take shape in September 2015, when the group owned by Mohinani expressed its interest in investing in the town to make one of Marbella’s dreams a reality: to be born again as a luxury destination. In this sense, the mayor José Bernal said that the future complex represents the “resurgence” of luxury international hotel brands in Marbella, after more than 50 years. “It improves the quality of supply in the town”, he added.

Specifically, the W chain has just one establishment in Spain. The W Barcelona (pictured above), also known as the sail hotel, is a 99 m building that was designed by the Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill.

The hotel in Marbella will have 600 beds, will create around 1,000 direct jobs and will target customers with significant spending power. The ground floor, which will be four storeys high, will occupy a surface area of 50,000 m2, and will extend for 60 m along the coast. There will also be 54,000 m2 of green space, 27,000 m2 assigned to services and access roads and 19,000 m2 for facilities. One of the venue’s attractions will be a sand dune, which will be integrated into the hotel complex.

In total, the plot of land on which the property will be built will have a surface area of 160,000 m2, located in a really beautiful area.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Starwood, Owner Of Spain’s Top Hotels, Is Up For Sale

2 November 2015 – Expansión

Whatever is decided in Stamford (USA), where Starwood Hotels & Resorts has its headquarters, will have a knock-on effect on some of Spain’s top hotels. The world’s eighth largest hotel group is up for sale and whoever acquires it will enter the Spanish market in style.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is not the largest hotel chain in Spain. Its 17 properties are a far cry from the 164 owned by Meliá, the 141 owned by NH and the 93 owned by Accord, the overseas company with the most hotels in the country. Nevertheless, Starwood’s portfolio is special because it contains historical hotels such as the Palace in Madrid, the María Cristina in San Sebastián and the Alfonso XIII in Sevilla (pictured above), as well as individual assets such as the W Barcelona, also known as Hotel Vela, and 43 rooms at the complex designed by the architect Frank Gehry in the Marqués de Riscal winery.

None of the properties are actually owned by Starwood and therein lies much of their value: since the group does not own any of these real estate assets, it does not run any of their significant risks. “Starwood has a very valuable hotel portfolio in a complicated market for international brands that work with management contracts; until now, this has made it more difficult for these brands to enter Spain, where the owners of properties prefer a rental contract”, says Miguel Vázquez, Managing Partner of Irea Hotels.

Starwood only operates three of its 17 hotels in Spain under a lease contract – W Barcelona, María Cristina y Alfonso XIII -. The rest are management and franchise contracts. This is the model used by other foreign hotel giants, such as Hyatt, one Starwood’s potential suitors. The US firm was left without any presence in Spain when the Queiroz Pereira family decided to take over the management of the Hotel Villa Magna after it was re-opened in 2009. Since then, and especially following the announcement that the Four Seasons and Mandarin will soon be operating in the Canalejas complex and at the Ritz in Madrid, Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott have shown a great deal of interest in Spain.

Several Asian candidates are also in the running to take over Starwood. They include the sovereign fund China Investment Corporation, the local chain Jin Jiang and the airline Hainan, owned by HNA.

Two of the three already have links with Spain. Jin Jiang is one of Melía’s partners in China and, after purchasing Louvre Hotels in 2014, it has a dozen lower-cost establishments in Spain. HNA’s links are even greater still: it is the largest shareholder of NH – with a 29.5% stake -, it renders support services to 11 airports after it acquired Swissport and it is negotiating the purchase of a stake in the tourism group Globalia.

Luxurious – all but one of Starwood’s hotels are five-star establishments –, well-located and well-maintained. The group invested €20 million in Hotel Alfonso XIII, which is owned by the Sevilla Town Hall, between 2011 and 2012; it spent the same on the refurbishment of María Cristina. Others, such as the Marqués de Riscal Hotel and the Hotel Vela, are not even ten years old yet.

Original story: Expansión (by Yovanna Blanco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Eurohotel Group Buys Hotel Solvasa In Barcelona

20 February 2015 – Hosteltur

The French hotel group Eurohotel has acquired the Hotel Solvasa in Barcelona, its second property in the city, in a transaction that forms part of the chain’s expansion process.

The hotel will become the Eurohotel Barcelona Granvia Fira. It has 116 rooms, a restaurant, snack bar, gym, heated pool and spa. It has a 4 star rating and is located at the entrance to Feria 2.

Sources at Eurohotel have explained that the chain plans to operate all of the hotel’s services, even though the wellness centre and gym have not been operational until now. In addition, it will expand the gastronomic offering and strengthen its corporate and meeting facilities.

Following this acquisition, Eurohotel now owns 231 hotel rooms in Barcelona, located in two of the major business districts – Barcelona’s International Convention Centre and the Ferial venue on Granvia 2. The chain is based in Paris.

The group also owns the following hotels: the Eurohotel Castello in Castellón, a 4 star hotel with 146 rooms; the Eurohotel Barcelona Diagonal Port in Barcelona, a 4 star hotel with 115 rooms; and the Eurohotel Orly, Eurohotel Saint Denis and Eurohotel Creteil, all 3 star hotels in Paris, with 320 rooms in total.

Meanwhile, the Solvasa Hotel group owns properties in the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Valencia.

Horwath HTL and GMA Advisors were the advisors to the transaction. The former is a broker that specialises in hotel transactions. According to sources at Horwath HTL, “Barcelona is a favourite destination for international investors and operators, which have decided that they definitely want a presence in the city. Transactions such as the W Barcelona, which was advised from the start by Howarth HTL, represented a clear commitment to the sector by the city of Barcelona”.

According to the company, 18% of the transactions involving (operational) hotels in 2014 were closed in Barcelona, along with other transactions, amounting to €182 million, for properties to be converted into hotels and large transactions involving debt portfolios.

Original story: Hosteltur

Translation: Carmel Drake