Despite the fact that uncertainty continues to reign in the hotel sector, the easyHotel group has announced the construction of a 75-room hotel in the La Sagrera neighborhood of Barcelona, on a plot of land near the Navas and La Sagrera metro stations. The establishment will be built on the space currently occupied by a three-story building that housed the old MercaNavas, a shopping center located on the pedestrian street Bofarull and which has been closed for many years. easyHotel's goal is to erect a new building that will require an investment of between ten million and eleven million euros, as Jorge Rodríguez, the chain's director in Spain, explained to The New Barcelona Post.
With this initiative, the company wants to adapt to the strategy set by the Barcelona City Council to decentralize the hotel offer, since the establishment will be built in a neighborhood that is not included in zones 1 and 2 of the Special Urban Plan for Tourist Accommodations (Peuat), in which new openings are prohibited or, to open, an existing establishment must first close, respectively.
From easyHotel they explain that the acquired plot already has the municipal permits for the construction and opening of a hotel, so the intention is to start works in the second quarter of this year and open the doors of the establishment at the end of 2022.
Despite not being located in the most tourist areas of the city, easyHotel values the future potential of La Sagrera due to the role that the new AVE station will play, which will turn the neighborhood "into a transport hub for the northern area" and just a 20-minute walk to the Sagrada Familia or Plaça de les Glòries. "We are expectant about the evolution of the vaccination campaign; we are optimistic and confident in the recovery of the tourism sector," says Rodríguez, who is already analyzing new implementations in Spanish cities to expand the chain.
The easyHotel Sagrera will be the chain's first hotel in Barcelona and will join the 204-room establishment that the brand already owns in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, next to the Gran Via exhibition center. This is the company's fourth project in Spain, which also has a franchised hotel in Malaga since October and another project in the Madrid-Atocha area that is expected to open in 2022. Spain, along with France, are the countries on which the firm has focused for its international growth plan.
easyHotel was founded by the creator of the Easy business group, Stelios Haji-Iannou, although today 76% of its shareholding is controlled by several investment funds.