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How some Barcelona hotels are getting creative to survive as coronavirus keeps tourists away

Sergi Pino recently moved to Barcelona, but rather than renting a flat, he's staying at a hotel which has been forced to get creative to compensate for the absence of tourists.

Published: 3 December 2020 10:06 CET
How some Barcelona hotels are getting creative to survive as coronavirus keeps tourists away
Photos: Pau Barrena / AFP

Hugely popular with international visitors, the city has seen most of its hotels close as the pandemic has kept tourists away, and the few that remain open have had to repurpose themselves to stay afloat.

Some have adapted their premises to suit telecommuters, while others have dropped the price for long-term stays in order to compete with the traditional rental market.

Still others are offering a deluxe experience to residents who, unable to travel, get to play the tourist in their own city.

At his new “home” in the Gallery Hotel, Pino not only has his room, but enjoys the use of the gym, the pool, the spa and an open space for teleworking all for 900 euros ($1,080) a month.   

“There's more space, I'm happy and focused on my work,” he says, sitting in front of a screen in the shared working space wearing a grey suit and white trainers. “Nothing bothers me.”

More affordable than a flat

A former basketball player who is two metres (six foot, five inches) tall, Pino used to commute from his home 70 kilometres (43 miles) away.    

But when he looked for a flat, he realised that staying in a hotel would be more affordable.

And he's not alone: among other long-term “guests” at the hotel are couples whose homes are being renovated and people who were going to move abroad but found their relocation put on hold because of the pandemic.   

“We have eight people living with us and we're about to take in another 24 reservations,” says Marta Golobardes, director general of the Gallery group, which includes hotels in the southern resort of Malaga and Mallorca in the
Balearic Isles.   

Shuttered by the pandemic in March, the hotel reopened in October after being refitted for distance working with shared working spaces and rooms converted into offices with a desk instead of a bed for those who cannot
concentrate at home.   

Although they are making just a fraction of what they would have done in a normal year, the income goes some way to compensating for the losses incurred by the pandemic, “providing the staff with jobs, and meaning less money lost”,
Golobardes says.   

Several hotels have taken a similar approach, offering rooms for as little as €600 euros ($730), which is cheaper than renting a studio in Barcelona.   

Others are offering a taste of luxury, with one hotel, the Ohla, promising a free overnight stay for those paying to have dinner in its Michelin-starred restaurant.

The Detroit effect?

The pandemic has caused “tragedy” in a city that last year welcomed 9.5 million visitors, says Jordi Mestre, head of the Gremio de Hoteles representing the hotel and tourist accommodation sector in the Barcelona area.

More than 75 percent of hotels remain closed and the few that are open barely manage an occupancy rate of 10 percent, leaving many on the verge of bankruptcy and attracting vulture funds.

This year, only 1.5 million visitors have stayed in hotels in the city, 12 percent of whose wealth normally relies on tourism.

In the local press, some are already speaking of Barcelona as “the Detroit of tourism”, referring to the fate of what was once among America's wealthiest cities as the capital of its car industry.

“I don't think it's the same situation, although it's true that the sector is going through a very, very complicated time,” said Remei Gomez, who runs the five-star Claris hotel in central Barcelona.

Although in July the Claris achieved occupancy rates as high as 50 percent, fresh pockets of infection swiftly ended that, leaving the hotel more silent and empty than ever.

“At this time of day, the restaurant would normally be full of people having breakfast, with customers sunbathing outside on the patio and a lot of people in the reception area. Under normal conditions, the hotel would be full of life, but now, sadly, it is very quiet,” she says.   

Outside, bellboys are loading a suitcase into the boot of a car belonging to one of its few guests, a German businessman who says he knows the city well.   

“It's really strange, I went to the Ramblas this morning and it was almost empty,” said Matt Wittberg, 48, after handing his key back at reception.   

“I've never seen it like that, it was a bit scary.”

By AFP's Daniel Bosque

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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