Catalans savoring the most expensive hotel purchase in Spain

BarcelonaWith the tourism industry booming, racking up years of unprecedented figures, one operation has broken records. The hotel chain Spring Hotels hill The sale of a hotel complex in Tenerife became the most expensive in the history of the sector in Spain. The final price tag reached a staggering 430 million euros. This is yet another example of how tourism has become one of the most attractive destinations for investment in recent years.

Despite its strong presence in the Canary Islands, Spring Hotels was founded in Barcelona in 1985. Diagonal Plaza, the company that owns and manages the chain, was founded by the Catalan families Plaza and Vidal. They first established a presence in the Canary Islands, opening the Hotel Bitácora in 1985, followed a year later by the Hotel Vulcano, and finally, in 1990, the Hotel Arona. All the hotels are located in the municipality of Arona (Tenerife), in the south of the island. Despite this clear focus on the Canary Islands, coinciding with the Olympics, they also opened a hotel in the Catalan capital, right behind the Montjuïc Barcelona Trade Fair, the current Intercontinental Barcelona, ​​formerly operated under the Crowne Plaza brand, both belonging to the British InterContinental Hotels group.

The Catalan DNA behind the purchase of the Mare Nostrum resort complex wasn't solely provided by Spring Hotels. The transaction also included a loan from CaixaBank. And alongside the sellers was the Catalan hotel chain Selenta Group, formerly Expo Hoteles, founded by the Mestre family. With the crisis triggered by COVID-19, Selenta came under the control of the Canadian fund Brookfield Asset Management in 2021. "When they didn't yet know they wanted to sell, we convinced them it would be a good time to do so," says Spring Hotels CEO Miguel Villa. It managed to prevail against a competitor of the caliber of Pontegadea, Amancio Ortega's holding company, according to reports. Five DaysLately, Selenta has also had to get rid of the Nobu hotel, the former Torre Catalunya, sold to the ASG fund for 80 million euros, and the Grand Hyatt, formerly the Sofia, acquired by the Blasson management company for 180 million.

Strengthen the brand

Before last summer's acquisition, Spring Hotels had 1,100 rooms in Tenerife. They have almost doubled that number, exceeding 2,100 rooms with the addition of the Mare Nostrum complex, comprised of three hotels, two of them five-star. "This represents a significant leap in quality because it's located on the 'Golden Mile,' in the municipality of Arona; for me, the most important in Tenerife and the entire Canary Islands. We already had a very good inventory, but what we've acquired is premium," says Villarroya. In addition to the Cleopatra Palace, Sir Anthony, and Mediterranean Palace hotels, the hotel chain has also acquired a conference center with a capacity of 1,600 people and two restaurants, one of them a Hard Rock Cafe. Following Selenta's €56 million investment to modernize the complex, the complete renovation of the Cleopatra, planned for this year, remains pending. Spring Hotels expects to invest €40 million in this project. With the new portfolio, the hotel chain expects to increase its annual revenue from €100 million to €200 million this year.

This new phase should allow them to build "a stronger brand" and position themselves within the high-end luxury segment, with the aim of expanding into other markets in a few years. They haven't ruled out strengthening their position with new assets in Barcelona, ​​which currently account for 12% of their revenue, but they are also eyeing other cities like the Spanish capital. "Any investment in Barcelona or Madrid will be beneficial for achieving a good balance between city and resort hotels," Villarroya points out. "It must be acknowledged that Madrid has made a giant leap in recent years. It's not that Barcelona has declined, but rather that Madrid has risen. Before, if you visited Spain, you couldn't miss Barcelona, ​​and now..."

They are also considering destinations in southern Spain such as Málaga or Marbella, "a destination that is becoming less seasonal and has milder winters due to climate change," and even venturing further afield. "We also like the Caribbean, markets like the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Panama, and Mexico. Going international would allow us to diversify our resources, rather than putting all our eggs in one basket. Here we depend on the European market, while there we would rely more on the American and Canadian markets. This means that if one market fails, you have a backup." Born in Mataró, he worked in some of these countries before settling in the Canary Islands.

A record-breaking sector

The acquisition of the Mare Nostrum resort boosted hotel investment in Spain during the first half of 2025, reaching €1.756 billion, 7% more than in 2024, with projections exceeding the €3.5 billion of the previous year, as reported by EY. These figures maintained Spain's leading position, accounting for 21% of total investment as the continent's top destination. Furthermore, this acquisition also significantly increased financing provided by CaixaBank to the sector, which grew by 44.8% in the first six months of the year alone, reaching €2.513 billion.