Since 1992, on the corner of Lleida and Rius i Taulet streets, next to the Fira de Barcelona venue in Montjuïc and the Palacio de Congresos de Barcelona, there has been a hotel. Initially, and for 22 years, it was called Feria or Fira Palace, an establishment that always prided itself on being one of the best hotels for holding meetings and having the largest rooms in the city, as the simplest one had a more than notable 42 square meters, a size that in other establishments applies to a superior room or even some junior suites.
In 2014, the hotel changed its name, though not its ownership: it aimed higher and became a Crowne Plaza, one of the premium brands of the British IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the most important hotel holdings in the world, which includes 16 hotel brands across four different categories: Luxury & Lifestyle, Premium, Essential, and Suites. These encompass well-known names such as Intercontinental, Six Senses, Holiday Inn, Kimpton, and Crowne Plaza itself.
"Converting the Fira Palace into a Crowne Plaza was a complete success and positioned our hotel in a superior category, giving it an even greater international projection," states Enrique Escofet to The New Barcelona Post. Escofet, who has been involved in the management of the house for 10 years, has witnessed the property's major transformations: first, joining the IHG group as franchisees and, now, the notable upgrade of its establishment which, when it reopens in the second half of September, will do so as the Intercontinental Barcelona Hotel, one of the group's top brands, while the city will gain a new five-star hotel.
In Escofet's team, María José Martínez, sales and marketing director, stands out as one of its mainstays. She has not stopped working a single day in recent months, thinking about the hotel's reopening with the new brand. "This is a plan that the health crisis has delayed. Already in 2019, we were negotiating and adapting many things to convert the hotel into the new Intercontinental Barcelona. Logically, everything has been delayed, although now we are facing the final stretch with enthusiasm and, in autumn, we will start to pick up cruising speed," says Martínez. The executive has a long career at IHG, Meliá, Sheraton, Catalonia, and Hesperia, a chain where she coincided with Escofet, who also managed two unique hotels in Barcelona: the Me by Diagonal, a building that was owned by Colonial, and the Hesperia Tower, the establishment that became known for the flying saucer-restaurant on its roof.
"The situation of this hotel is curious because we are very well known internationally and, however, for Barcelonians, we are a world apart. Hotels in general have started to change this, and we are going to do it with the new brand," says the director, who has been in charge of signing Víctor Torres, a Michelin-starred chef, as one of the great bets and driving force of attraction for the renovated hotel.
Torres was the youngest chef in Spain to achieve a Michelin star. His signing was an ambition that the new Intercontinental's ownership had in mind since 2019, as some of this chain's most famous hotels in the world also have a professional of this category directing their kitchens or as a gastronomic advisor. Since 2018, Torres has been at the helm of the restaurant Les Magnòlies, in Arbúcies, Girona, after studying at the Hofmann Hospitality School and training in world-renowned dining establishments such as the Basque Mugaritz, the French Bras, and the Swedish Fäviken.
In the new Intercontinental, this Catalan chef, now 28 years old, will lead the new gastronomic restaurant Quirat, which will open in the last quarter of this year, once the hotel has started operating normally after 18 months in hibernation, due to both the pandemic and the ambitious renovation works, which include a second restaurant, Arrel, a cafeteria called Boira, and a cocktail bar named Gebre (a global nod to Barcelona and Catalonia), as well as a panoramic rooftop restaurant, with simply spectacular views over the city and a terrace overlooking Montjuïc park, with a privileged view of the Palau Nacional or National Art Museum of Catalonia, which is a true gift.
The rest and relaxation areas have also been thoroughly refurbished without practically touching the number of rooms (or units in hotel commercial jargon), so they will continue to stand out for their spaciousness, although to meet the standards of the new brand, the number of rooms and suites will go from 276 to 273, as a presidential suite of just over 170 square meters is being prepared. "Now we will meet all the needs of an Intercontinental guest, one of the world's great hotel chains," adds María José Martínez who, along with Enrique Escofet, showed yesterday what is already done and what is yet to be done or under construction in a hotel that closed in March 2020 as a four-star Crowne Plaza and will reopen very soon as a five-star Intercontinental. Good news for Barcelona's hotel industry.