Barcelona at Christmas: a design getaway

By Esther in Barcelona

Barcelona at Christmas is not a destination as popular as Madrid, which is and will be a reference desination at this time of the year. However, despite being ignored in many Christmas travel vouchers, the Condal City offers a wide range of possibilities for these cold and festive months. Besides, always with a touch of innovation and design that characterises the Mediterranean capital.

Christmas in Barcelona is different. Bid farewell to the traditional Christmas spirit, to street Christmas carols, to multicolour sparkling lights, to cotton candy stands, to chestnuts and nougat candies… The Catalan capital takes care of every detail and offers an exclusive image year after year, without giving up the charm of these dates but presenting it in a less kitsch manner… And, let’s say, more chic.

Christmas in Barcelona

Christmas in Barcelona

For example, the accommodations are always innovating. Although the boutique hotel is leaving a mark on travellers in Madrid and in many other cities, Barcelona is the one which sets the trends. In fact, all the hotel chains in the Condal City have been working in this sense for years: Vincci, Barceló, Catalonia…

The design hotels in Barcelona are a must if you want to enjoy the charm of the city: a museum hotel near Ramblas or Catalunya square, a modern inn or an apartment, all of them valid options as long as they have a state-of-the-art look that characterises a city famous for setting trends.

Even Christmas markets seem to be unique in Barcelona. The gastronomy is also varied and different to that of the centre of the peninsula, partly due to the weather: December is a month of mild temperatures and few rains in the Condal City. Thus, get ready for lounging in terraces with your sunglasses, going shopping to original boutiques, attending to shows and concerts of international groups, theatre in the streets and performances, art in every nook, exclusive parties… Activities that make Barcelona a first class destination, an original and incomparable setting for your Christmas.

Some of the design hotels in the centre of Barcelona you can book for these dates at affordable prices include the Vincci Bit and the Vincci Gala; the Catalonia Ramblas and the Petit Museum Barcelona. But make sure you make your reservation on the official website, avoiding charges for intermediaries.

Urban hotels: the Pinterest model

By Loren in Urban Hotels

How many times have you been in a hotel and you couldn’t resist to upload a photo to Instagram because it was incredibly beautiful?  Many? So you are probably a traveller that prefer a hotel in the city, an urban tourist that have travelled a lot and is demanding. Yes, a Pinterest model that appreciate design, architecture, spaces, décor details, daily art, the magic of those places where you always leave a trace.

Pinterest is one of the social networks with fastest growing and, despite the years, it has not lose an inch of interest from its users, gaining always more followers, collecting some of the best images in the world in terms of interior design, architecture, fashion and decoration. Pinterest has created its own style: crystalline, bright, full of attractive details, small touches of craftsmanship coexist with the most frenzied technology and modernity. Colours, forms, textures…

The Pinterest model is the model that prevails in shops, coffee shops, restaurants and hotels from all over the world.  First Ikea with its Nordic taste. Now this style between hipster, naif and minimal. When you arrive to a hotel perfectly decorated and designed according to the basic canons of this social network, it is almost irresistible to share that detail that captivate us with the rest of our followers. It is impossible. It is necessary.

Hotels know this and have seen it. The coffee shop recently renovated, investing in decoration, in furniture and curtains. The coffee shop full of visitors, although coffee is more expensive. Well, it is the same with accommodations.  As we have previously mentioned, this is more usual in urban hotels, not only because the tendency has been implemented before, but because coastal and beach hotels are always fighting with the beauty of the surrounding landscape: the sea that captivate everyone. Besides, it is not easy to transfer the Pinterest design to traditional beach resorts, where tropical model still prevails. Now, we must bear in mind that this is what many of their visitors are looking for.

This is different in cities. That design and décor invites and evoke experiences. It offers an extra benefit to guests, a differential touch that leads them to share, to think: I want everyone to see this incredible hotel where I am. We are not talking about services or about the deep details, we are talking about the superficial, the image. It is true that the image without a good service is not useful at all.  But we must also recognise that those who are investing in this type of design hotels are doing it really well.

Searching in portfolios, we have found some Catalonia Hotels: design hotels in Barcelona, some of them are business hotels; hotels in the centre of Barcelona offering fashionable services such as rooftop pool, Japanese restaurant, gym, spa, beauty salon… Everything in one accommodation (in this case, Catalonia Barcelona Plaza). More examples: Catalonia Sagrada Familia and Catalonia Ramblas.

We cannot forget Petit Palace: hotels such as Museum Barcelona are a treasure not only of the Pinterest model (it is impossible not to share the beauty of its spaces) but also of the Barcelona’s modernism, since this hotel is situated in the old Garriga Nogués house, one step away from Ciutat Vella. But in Madrid is where we find the most outstanding ones: the emblematic Posada del Peine, with an exquisite refurbishment; Art Gallery or Embassy Serrano can fill the Instagram gallery of any self-respecting traveller.

Even hotels with a lower category such a modern hostels (Generator Hostel in Barcelona, for example) are joining this fashion. And they are even competing with really affordable prices. Big chains of beach resorts are beginning to apply this tendency: IBEROSTAR Hotels & Resorts has just opened this year a renovated and charming hotel in La Gran Vía, next to Barrio de los Poetas, following this trend: IBEROSTAR Las Letras, with a rooftop where you can contemplate the centre of Madrid.

Some may think this is a passing fashion or a simple detail, but in our opinion this is an extra benefit you should appreciate. And it is on the rise.

Design hotels for your holiday 2015

By Loren in Urban Hotels

Simple lines, sober colours and touches of citric, fluorescent and primary colours creating wider, more illuminated and quiet spaces. Simplicity is fashionable in hotel design for holiday 2015. Many of the Spanish chains specialized in urban hotels in Madrid and Barcelona work hard in order to offer the new interior decoration trends in their most emblematic hotels.

Small changes on furniture, bed clothes, curtains and some basic decoration objects could transform an entire hotel, without needing to make a big refurbishment. This is why there are many hotels using for the first time a more detailed, novel or just equally surprising appearance.

Hotels in Barcelona

Hotels in Barcelona

PHOTOS FROM: PETIT MUSEUM BARCELONA, OPERA GARDEN Y MADRID AEROPUERTO

Other hotels, such as the beach hotels in the coast of Barcelona, Andalusia or the Canary Islands, will begin to work on decorating again their spaces in order to offer a 2015 summer season full of new sensations for their guests. In these holiday destinations, hotels are mainly investing in rooms where light prevails: white colours, big windows, outdoor spaces (from small balconies to terraces), very simple furniture, functional lines, inspired by Nordic design but always keeping a detail or relation to the essence of the destination.

Some of them take elements of the environment and promote them, representing a continuation of the sensations and experiences offered by the destination. Other hotels opt for taking advantage of the most traditional culture, recovering the typical details and creating a connection between guest and destination: famous quotes, images of renowned places of interest, small pieces of local crafts, traditional symbols…

FOTOS DEL FERGUS CALA BLANCA Y DEL IBEROSTAR JARDÍN DEL SOL

A good example of this game consisting of eliminating borders between outdoor landscape and hotel interior decoration (especially in the rooms) are the spaces design made by FERGUS Hotels, specifically, in FERGUS Cala Blanca Suites Hotel, and by IBEROSTAR group, in its IBEROSTAR Jardin del Sol. Curiously, both hotels are located in the same area of Santa Ponsa Bay, just some metres away from each other, with views of one of the best Majorca sunsets.

In addition to the hotels, the rural accommodations and villas complexes in Minorca,Tenerife and the rest of the Canary Islands, are also investing in refurbishing their rooms and spaces. Apartments and hotel complexes with new areas for spa, relax and wellness; area with special spaces for children, such as swimming pools similar to water parks; fitness rooms, beauty salons and special health treatments, gourmet restaurants, even some of them with Michelin Star.

FOTOS DEL ROYAL CUPIDO EN PLAYA DE PALMA Y SU SEA SOUL BEACH CLUB

Beach clubs and Chill Out bars are some of the elements which have become a key space for hotels design. Places inviting to relax and comfort, where interior décor plays the most important role, since it must fill the space with sensations and transport the guest from an atmosphere to another one. Even opposite spaces in the same hotel. IBEROSTAR’s Sea Soul, for example, is an authentic cult of aesthetics, present in their spa hotels in Chiclana and the Royal Cupido spa hotel in Playa de Palma, among others.

By chance, these design spaces made for relaxing, the select wineglasses and music, are almost exclusively offered by Adults Only hotels and apartments, hotels for friends and, as an exception, All Inclusive Hotels in places such as Majorca and the Canary Islands. Precisely in the Canary Islands you can find some family accommodations with these beach clubs and cocktails included. A clear example is Fuerteventura Palace, hotel in Playa de Jandia where we can enjoy a exclusive VIP area for adults, combining the typical services of a family beach hotels in the Canary Islands, with the singularity and elegance of an up to date design hotel.