Spanish hotel chain Iberostar Hotels & Resorts has reclassified the more than 100 hotels it owns in 15 countries world-wide. From now on all hotels will be grouped into four categories with the aim of providing an even better customer experience. The four categories are Iberostar, Iberostar Premium, Iberostar Premium Gold and Iberostar Grand Collection.

According to the hotel chain, the Iberostar Grand Collection category will refer to the portfolio of the highest quality hotels in the group which are all designed to satisfy the needs of the most demanding and discerning guests. In an environment of luxury and exclusivity guests who choose to stay in hotels belonging to this category will be guaranteed gourmet restaurants, exclusive spas and excellent views from their rooms. Except for the Iberostar Grand Hotel Mencey in Tenerife and the Iberostar Grand Hotel in Budapest, all hotels belonging to The Grand Collection are now exclusively for adults.

The Iberostar… Click to read more about hotels in Spain

Below we present a list of hotels in Spain that offer outstanding dining facilities for you to consider if you intend taking a trip to Spain in the near future. In fact, according to one hotel comparison site, these ten Spanish hotels boast some of the best award winning restaurants on their premises. All the hotels provide elegant, exclusive and sophisticated accommodation, offering guests a stay in luxurious surroundings. In addition, the cuisine in their award winning Michelin star restaurants will satisfy even the most demanding of palates.

The Palace Hotel in Barcelona is one of the most prestigious hotels in the city. It was renovated three years ago but has kept its sophisticated décor with all the classic details. The restaurant Caelis has been awarded one Michelin star offering guests an exclusive and intimate atmosphere.

The Hotel Marqués de Riscal in Álava is surrounded by vast vineyards and is one of the… Click to read more about hotels in Spain

Last November the restaurant at the ABaC Hotel in Barcelona received a second Michelin star. This five-star Barcelona hotel is an excellent example of a hotel that is able to combine good taste with precision, luxury and simplicity.

The ABaC Restaurant & Hotel is a perfect choice for enjoying a weekend trip to Barcelona. The hotel is located right at the start of Tibidabo Avenue, one of the most popular areas of Barcelona. Surrounded by the Tamarita gardens and overlooking Kennedy Plaza, the location fits perfectly with the hotel’s concept of exclusivity.

The hotel is the product of the integration of two buildings, the legendary former U.S. Consulate and another building with contemporary design by the architect Antoni de Moragas. The hotel is renowned for its elegant features and tranquil atmosphere. White and cream decor with exclusive furniture and quality fabrics are the basic ingredients, although the final result is also thanks to the use… Click to read more about hotels in Spain

During the last quarter of 2011 the average room price across the hotels in Spain increased by some 5.9 percent, according to hotel price data recently released by hotel booking site Hotel.info. The hotels in Barcelona remained the most expensive among the major cities in Spain, although the hotels in Madrid also experienced a notable increase in their prices.

The report published by Hotel.info shows that the evolution of the average price per room is again increasing in Spain, as it is in many cities throughout Europe. In the month of November the average price of a hotel room in Barcelona stood at €97.16 compared to €94.64 in November 2010, representing an increase of 2.6%.

The second most expensive destination among the large cities of Spain was Madrid, where the average price per hotel night increased by some 13.93% between November 2010 and November 2011 when customers had to pay an average… Click to read more about hotels in Spain

In spite of the ongoing, unfavorable economic environment, the hotel sector in Spain continues to show some positive signs of recovery, according to a recent report into the hotel market in Spain carried out by leading Spanish financial consultancy firm, IREA. Last year sales of hotels in Spain grew by over 61 percent when compared to 2010 topping €829 million. Although still far removed from the volume of transactions made in the euphoria of the 2006 bull market, when sales reached €1,780 million, the figure is much closer to pre-crisis figures, when, for example, 2008 ended the year with €870 million worth of transactions.

The crisis continues to affect the hotel sector in Spain, but the results can seem to be somewhat paradoxical. Hotel investors, fearful of the fluctuations in the market due to the debt storm in the euro zone, appear to be more cautious and are taking refuge in safer assets…. Click to read more about hotels in Spain

The Casa Camper hotel has been voted the best hotel in Barcelona after a report showed that it received top scores from many of its customers on the popular hotel booking sites Booking.com, TripAdvisor and Trivago. This four-star boutique Barcelona hotel with just 25 rooms located in Elisabets Street in the Raval area of the city achieved the highest score with 27.5 points out of a possible maximum of 30.

The report selected the 15 best hotels in Barcelona among the three, four and five star categories and it is based on the points given by guests who have spent at least one night in these Barcelona hotels. The scoring assessment involved, among others, aspects such as personal attention, service, comfort and value for money.

In second place comes the Hotel Monte Carlo which received a score of 27.3 points. It is also a four star hotel and has 50 rooms. This hotel… Click to read more about hotels in Spain

Tenerife continues to establish itself as a popular tourist destination for high spending European tourists. The hotel industry has just closed a great year on the Spanish island and the managers of the main top class hotels there have confirmed that luxury tourism grew by some 20 percent last year when compared to 2010, which itself also ended with a 15 percent increase over the results obtained in 2009.

This success has been put down mainly to the fact that many of the island’s five star hotels have been renovated recently and have added more value to their offering by providing luxury accompanied by exclusivity, resulting in personal attention, relaxation and privacy. Tenerife’s climate and natural beauty provide the rest.

José Fernando Cabrera, owner of Royal Garden Villas, said “luxury tourism has evolved very positively over the past two years.” In addition, new markets have emerged to join the large numbers of… Click to read more about hotels in Spain

According to the monthly Hotel Price Index (HPI) published recently by Internet travel portal Trivago, the average rate for a night across the hotels in Spain at the beginning of 2012 is now €87. That’s just one euro cheaper than at the end of last year.

Within this headline rate some cities in Spain recorded significant price fluctuations. For example, hotels in cities such as Pamplona and Santiago de Compostela have managed to raise their average price by 14 percent compared with last month. A night in a hotel in Las Palmas will now cost you around 7 percent more than in December whilst hotels in the Caceres area are now showing a decrease of some 20 percent compared to last month.

There are also many variations on price depending on which autonomous region in Spain we might be travelling to. The hotels in Galicia and Navarre, for example, have increased their… Click to read more about hotels in Spain

The Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque located on the Spanish island of Tenerife was recently voted the best hotel in Europe at the Excellence Awards held by the publisher of speciality travel magazine Condé Nast Johansens. This magazine is dedicated to covering the best luxury hotels, spas and venues world-wide.

The hotels 3,000 square meter spa, its outdoor thalassotherapy sessions, its 40 villas with private pool and butler service, its traditional Canarian decoration and architecture and its eight restaurants surely played no small part in winning the award for this Tenerife hotel. The combination of all these excellent facilities and services made the Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque Resort an easy choice for the best hotel in Europe at the Annual Awards for Excellence given by Condé Nast Johansens.

The leading, multi-media travel publisher has six travel guides, with many recommendations for hotels, spas, villas, apartments and leisure and business centres throughout the… Click to read more about hotels in Spain

The Grand Hotel Mencey has re-opened its doors in Santa Cruz de Tenerife after two years of continuous renovations. In addition to a complete remodelling of the facade, all the rooms and common areas, the main innovation of the new Iberostar Grand Hotel Mencey is its spa. The spa is more than 2,000 square meters surrounded by gardens where guests can enjoy a full thermal circuit as it is equipped with Turkish baths, cold pool, jacuzzi and a thermal pool. Guests will benefit from a 50 percent discount rate when using the spa facilities.

Rooms rates vary depending on the day of the week, but it will usually be cheaper at weekends to stay in this Tenerife hotel. For a standard room, Monday to Thursday, the average price is €130 per night. For Friday, Saturday and Sunday the rate goes down to around €105, if we book far enough in advance. There are a total… Click to read more about hotels in Spain