A new American hotel management company lands in Barcelona despite the pandemic

The strong crisis that covid has caused in the tourism sector has not deterred the American hotel firm Sonder from entering the Barcelona market. The San Francisco-based chain will begin managing three hotels in Barcelona this April, totaling 44 rooms and located near some of the city's major tourist areas. These are the Le Palacete and La Casa del Sol hotels, in the Gracia neighborhood, and the Vasanta Hotel Boutique, in the Eixample.

Sonder is a hotel startup that makes intensive use of technology and focuses on unique buildings. Created in 2012 by two young people, Francis Davidson and Lucas Pellan, in the midst of the pandemic it has been able to raise a new Series E financing round for 170 million dollars, which values the company at 1.3 billion dollars. These new resources, destined for the chain's expansion, have been provided by funds from Fidelity, Inova Capital, and Westcap Group. Currently, Sonder operates in 30 cities located in eight countries, where it has 4,500 rooms.

"In Barcelona, we were looking for establishments with character, that could differentiate themselves from the rest of the offer; Le Palacete was already for sale before covid, and in the case of Vasanta, the hotel business was not the main activity of its owner, so we reached an agreement," explains Leda Zanlungo, general manager of Sonder in Barcelona.

Le Palacete, built in 1922, is located in the heart of the Gracia neighborhood, as is La Casa del Sol, which has a terrace with views of the well-known Plaça del Sol. For its part, the Vasanta Hotel Boutique is located on Casp street, very close to Passeig de Gràcia.

This operation is part of the company's expansion plan in Europe, where it already operates in London, Rome, Dublin, and Edinburgh. In Barcelona, Sonder has not bought the buildings, but has opted to rent and manage them under its brand, so the properties remain in the hands of the original owners. "It's a model that interests local owners because they don't have to part with their assets, and the city avoids foreign funds taking over the hotels," comments Zanlungo.

The hotel group began preparing for its arrival in Barcelona in February 2020, just before the outbreak of the pandemic. Despite the economic and tourist slowdown caused by the pandemic, Sonder has not stopped betting on the city. "We trust in Barcelona's potential and its recovery as a quality destination; we foresee activity starting to pick up by the end of the year," adds Zanlungo.

The firm already operates in Madrid, where it manages a building of tourist apartments in the Malasaña neighborhood, but in Barcelona, it plans to grow with hotels and not with the tourist apartment management model. The buildings it will manage in Barcelona have been renovated and modernized, and it highlights its commitment to technology and contactless procedures, which avoid crowds in receptions and common areas. The use of these technologies has gained even more value in times of COVID.