The Gran Hotel la Florida is reborn, appealing to Barcelona residents with its restoration

After an eight-month, 15-million-euro renovation, the former Gran Hotel La Florida will reopen as METT Barcelona on September 1. The iconic hotel overlooking the city from Collserola reopens its doors as a luxury establishment that aims to attract visitors from all over the world, but also Barcelonians, through its four restaurants and an exclusive spa.

"We want to turn the hotel back into a social meeting point for the city's inhabitants," defends Jaime Buxó, CEO of Sunset Hotels & Resorts, the international firm that has taken charge of the hotel's reopening, in alliance with the socimi Atom Hoteles as owner and GMA Corporate as asset manager. Atom acquired the hotel in early 2024, and its opening represents the group's debut in Catalonia, based in Dubai and under the general direction of Buxó, born in Girona and now at the helm of the international firm.

"We want the hotel to be a meeting point for the city's inhabitants also with our clients, who appreciate mixing with local culture and people," Buxó emphasizes. Thus, the group launches "a hotel proposal open to the city," and not just strictly Barcelona: the hotel also looks to the inhabitants of Vallès.

The reopening of the hotel, which coincides with its centenary, will come with the premiere of four dining proposals: Vermutería 1925, on the terrace with city views; Albarada restaurant, serving Mediterranean cuisine with touches of Catalan cuisine; a pool club where you can not only eat but also enjoy the pool, and the Florida Lounge by Lladró, an establishment in alliance with the firm, which will bring its iconic pieces to the hotel's lounge.

Beyond dining, the hotel wants to attract locals to Collserola with its spa, in collaboration with the Swiss firm Valmont. "We are opening the highest concept they offer, the Red Carpet, and it will be the first in Europe," Buxó highlights. After the transformation, in which architects and designers Kokai Studio and CMV have been key, the hotel offers 70 rooms, in addition to two swimming pools ---one indoor and one outdoor---, a private club, and event rooms.

The hotel is finalizing the launch of all its services to make them available to visitors on September 1: "We already have reservations for both the hotel and the restaurants," assures Buxó. Once it begins to operate, the hotel will have more than 100 employees, and it will do so a century after it opened its doors in 1924 as part of Doctor Andreu's project to urbanize Tibidabo, including the amusement park, which now adds a restaurant open to the city by Rafa Zafra.

During the war, the establishment was used as a military hospital, and then recovered its hotel essence until in the 1950s it became a meeting place for Barcelona society. After its heyday, the hotel closed in 1979 and, more than two decades later, reopened in 2005 completely renovated. Now, with Atom and Sunset, it has once again renovated its facilities: "The hotel sector needs to maintain hotels and reinvest in them every year; otherwise, they lose competitiveness and enter a negative cycle."

The new METT Barcelona joins a growing portfolio of Sunset Hospitality Group. In fact, the group opened its hotel division in 2021, adding it to the areas of restaurants, beach clubs, and entertainment and shows. After opening luxury establishments in Marbella and Bodrum (Turkey), it set its sights on Barcelona: "With the connectivity that the city has, especially with Asian markets and the United States, Barcelona met the conditions to locate a METT hotel."

And the Gran Hotel La Florida daroused the group's interest: "We thought it had dormant potential, with unique conditions, especially due to its location." And it is that, being located in Collserola, "it maintains a distance from the city but without being disconnected from it, and that allows offering a lot of exclusivity; it is something that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the city, nor in many cities in the world."

METT Barcelona will not be the only one of the group in Catalonia: at the beginning of 2026, Casa METT Sitges will also open, which recovers a 38-room hotel in a protected architectural complex in the historic center.

In parallel, the group is finalizing the launch of METT Singapore and METT Milan, in two iconic buildings located, respectively, in a century-old colonial building and in front of the Duomo: "They position us very prominently in the segment of five-star luxury lifestyle hotels with these proposals," including that of the Catalan capital, which aspires to be, once again, a meeting point for Barcelona society.