"Welcome, you are home," announces the illuminated sign at the entrance of the lobby of the new Yurbban Ramblas Boutique Hotel. A phrase that summarizes the essence of the place honestly and directly, as it becomes a true refuge for the traveler in the heart of Barcelona.
Its location, at the top of La Rambla and next to the Canaletas fountain, makes it a privileged spot within the hotel universe, as it offers views of the mythical Barcelona rambla in 23 of the 43 rooms the hotel comprises. The project, the result of a comprehensive renovation of a listed building from 1889, becomes the third Yurbban brand hotel in Barcelona and expands the portfolio of rooms that the Catalan group Smart Rooms Company has under its different brands Yurbban, Uma House, Uma Suites, and The Spot for Living.
This is a challenge conceived in the midst of the pandemic that has revolutionized the group itself. "During the pandemic, we suffered a lot and had two options: hide and wait for the storm to pass or try to find new opportunities to maintain the same structure. As revenues were falling, we needed twice as many projects to keep going, and we decided to look for them. As a result, several things emerged, one of them being Uma Pau Claris, a hostel near Plaza Urquinaona, and Yurbban Ramblas. For the latter, we negotiated for about a year, and as a result, today we have the hotel and soon the restaurant, the old Baviera brewery, which is currently undergoing renovation," explains Oriol Serra, founder and CEO of Smart Rooms Company.
The interior design project for the new Yurbban Ramblas is the work of the Barcelona studio WIT Architect, led by Carla Navas and Victor Molina. The creators highlight the mix of modernist and industrial nuances, with clear reminiscences of Barcelona, to create a relaxed and welcoming interior design, where guests can feel like they are staying in their own apartment, far from the traditional hotel concept. Following this idea, the hotel entrance at street level goes unnoticed, the reception desk becomes a common table shared by staff and guests, and the common areas become serene spaces that invite guests to enjoy a reading or a pleasant chat, as if it were their own living room.
Once in the rooms, the use of wood, subtle lighting, and avant-garde and innovative design details add greater comfort to the space. Of course, as Iñigo Orbaneja, director of the Yurbban Ramblas hotel, acknowledges, "our greatest luxury is that we are on the Rambla. If you lie on the bed ---another luxury--- you see people pass by while enjoying an enviable silence."
To give the hotel a local soul, photographic works where Barcelona plays a leading role are exhibited throughout the establishment. Hand in hand with the Photographic Social Vision foundation, the Barcelona Street Photography collection offers a wide range of viewpoints on the essence of the city, captured through the cameras of local artists such as Maite Caramés, Alicia Omedes, Renata D'Angelo, and Bonaventura Durall. "Following Yurbban's motto of Live as a Native, we try to reproduce it from different areas, whether cultural, through different artistic disciplines (photography in Yurbban Ramblas or sculptures in Yurbban Passage), to gastronomic, offering Km 0 products. And it is that with this hotel we want to reclaim and recover the Catalan essence in the heart of the Rambla," comments Gabriela Fernández, marketing director of Smart Rooms. In line with this, the new restaurant that the hotel will have and whose opening is scheduled for summer, takes Catalan roots to shape a local gastronomic proposal, "Catalan and grilled cuisine," as the group's CEO himself points out.
The expansion of Smart Rooms Company
Parallel to the new openings in the Catalan capital, a few months ago the group made the leap to the United States by opening its first hotel, the Uma House by Yurbban South Beach, in Miami. "For us, entering the American market has been a great opportunity. We have created a company there, we have a small structure with which we want to continue growing," comments Oriol Serra. With barely two months of operation, the reception "has been brutal," exceeding any of the most optimistic expectations. "While it is true that we usually see the United States as a very developed market that has little to be taught, I believe there is a gap we can fill by following our values of social and environmental responsibility based on one mission: to make people happy, both clients and investors, including the team itself," explains Serra.
This new American adventure adds to the living offer (with student residences and co-living) that the group has in Colombia, expanding its portfolio by more than 1,000 rooms. A figure that will soon increase with the opening of a new Yurbban in Palma de Mallorca, scheduled for this summer, and with the company's willingness to face the future with a view to new markets. "Currently, we are in three countries. We operate from Barcelona, with the idea of growing throughout the rest of Spain, Portugal and then Europe; in Bogotá, with projection for Latin America; and Miami, with the will to expand also in the United States," Serra details.
A decade of trajectory
Smart Room Company has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. Throughout this decade, the company has been hit by the attack on La Rambla, the demonstrations after October 1, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a temporary closure of establishments. However, despite adversity and facing "very hard and complicated beginnings," activity continued with a strong commitment to hotel lifestyle in the Catalan capital, which today translates into new assets and a clear future projection.
"The Barcelona brand has stagnated a bit, but at the same time I think Catalans lack a bit of ambition and believing that we have a powerful city. There is a lot of talk about quality tourism but it seems as if there is a contradiction between what is being bet on and what is wanted. For this, what is wanted must be very well defined and, in this sense, I believe that public-private linkage must go hand in hand," points out the CEO of Smart Rooms.
Despite adversity and facing "very hard and complicated beginnings," the activity continued with a strong commitment to hotel lifestyle in the Catalan capital."The hotel sector has often been demonized as the culprits of gentrification or other ills that Barcelona may suffer. However, it is a promoter that contributes to making the city known, to people visiting us, and to the development of other fabrics and industries. I believe that a series of bases such as cleanliness and security must be established in the city and, from there, seek projects and be ambitious," adds Serra.
While that happens, the new Yurbban Ramblas is a good meeting point to enjoy being and feeling like a local. And incidentally, as happens with everyone who drinks from the Canaletas fountain, whoever drinks from Yurbban Ramblas returns to Yurbban and returns to Barcelona.