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 Premium Gold category will also offer five-star hotels of the highest quality, service and entertainment at very competitive prices. According to a hotel spokesperson: “This selection of hotels is an excellent option for families looking for the best cuisine and a wide range of entertainment for children and are to be found in great locations”.

Within the Iberostar Premium group the…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

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 best known luxury designer hotels in Spain. Its top quality restaurant has been recently awarded a single Michelin Star.

The Abama Golf & Spa on Tenerife is a great luxury resort to enjoy an unforgettable holiday. It offers incredible views of the Atlantic Ocean and the island of La Gomera and boasts a wonderful beach, tennis courts, golf course, an exclusive…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

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 of €92.53 compared to just €81.22 in 2010.

Hotels in Palma de Mallorca also raised their rates by some 6.19%. The average price in November 2011 being €86.93, up from the €81.86 that would need to be paid a year earlier to secure a room. After Barcelona and Madrid the most expensive cities in Spain were Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Bilbao,…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

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. In the hotel sector these safe bets are easily identifiable with the value of property ruled by an almost universal scale – the number of stars. For this reason, last year 90 percent of the investments were distributed among hotels bearing 4 and 5 stars.

There was also some investment in three-star hotels but this only accounted for 11 percent of…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

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 prices by around 9 percent, whilst hotel rates in La Rioja have dropped by 21 percent this month and it is now the cheapest region in Spain with an average nightly rate of just €64. Other regions where it will be cheap to stay during January are Valencia, with an average room rate of €68, Castille-Leon and Aragon both at…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

The average price of hotels in Spain decreased by around 9 percent in November, that’s according to the monthly THPI survey carried out recently by travel portal Trivago in Spain. Although a decline in prices is considered normal at this time of year, due to the fact that we are now firmly in what is considered the low season, nevertheless the percentage fall was higher than in October when hotel rates fell by some 6 percent across Spain.

The biggest drop in prices was among hotels in the region of La Rioja in northern Spain where prices fell by some 21 percent. This was followed by hotels in Andalusia where prices were 18% lower, then Catalonia down 15% and then the Basque country and Galicia, both down 12%. At this time of the year it looks like some of the cheapest hotel rooms in Spain can be found in the regions of Murcia and Galicia, where rooms can be had for an average of €64 and €63 respectively.

In contrast, the most expensive hotels in Spain in November were those on the Balearic Islands where a night in a hotel would set you back €110 on average, then Catalonia at €108 per night, and then came the hotels in Madrid and the…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

In August the hotels located in the Balearic Islands were among the most expensive of all the most popular tourist destinations in Spain. Last month the hotels in this part of Spain experienced price increases of some 18 percent achieving an average price of €151 per night. During the same period the prices in the hotels in the Canary Islands rose by 13 percent to an average of €94 per night. This information was extracted from the monthly HPI (Hotel Price Index) survey produced by Internet travel portal trivago.es. The survey showed that prices also rose about 10 percent along the Mediterranean coast. In some places like Benidorm there was an increase of 12 percent meaning a night in the popular resort would set you back, on average, €145 whilst in Salou prices were up 6 percent to €167 per night.

The study also highlighted Marbella, where hotel prices exceeded €200 per night in August and stood at an average of €220, representing an increase of nine percent over the previous month. Thus, the prices in hotels in Malaga overtook other popular destinations in Spain, like Madrid and Barcelona, which at many other times of the year are normally more expensive than Malaga. This August hotel prices in Barcelona were averaging €120…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

Hiking, diving and all sorts of adventure sports are now being promoted as holiday options to attract new tourists to Spain in addition to those who seek the traditional two-week, beach holiday. All across Spain hotels have started to seek synergies with other activity-based businesses in their vicinity so that they can promote a wider selection of holiday options to potential guests.

For example, the Abba Huesca hotel recently came third place in a list of the best hotels in Spain for enjoying an active holiday as produced by travel portal trivago.es. Guests have can enjoy walking or hiking both in the great natural environment that surrounds the town of Huesca or in the Natural Park of La Sierra Guara and the Pyrenees mountains which are not too far away. The nearby Canyons of  Guara also provide many opportunities for practising a wide variety of outdoor adventure activities like canyoning. The nearby natural environment is characterized by great cliffs and the large and beautiful ‘Gorgas Negras’ are located just a few miles from Huesca. The four star Abba Huesca is just a short walking distance from the fantastic natural landscape offered by the ‘Mallos de Riglos’, an area characterized by large rock formations ideal for climbing. The hotel is also near the Somontano Winery for…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

According to a recent survey of the users of the hotel booking engine hotel.info, the five star Alameda Palace Hotel located in Salamanca in central Spain, achieved an average score of 9.4 out of ten. This score situates the hotel at the top of the table in the evaluation of luxury hotels in Spain as rated by users of the site.

Salamanca is one of those towns in Spain that is off the normal tourist track but is definitely worth a visit. It is known for its beautiful medieval architecture and famous central square, the Plaza Mayor, which is surrounded by cafés and restaurants. The Old Town was declared a UNESCO world heritage site back in 1988 and it is the most important university town in Spain. The university was founded in 1218 and today’s 30,000 students ensure the town has a diverse multicultural feel beyond an ordinary town of this size. So, if you fancy a visit it is worth considering a stay at the Alameda Palace, just five minutes from the Plaza Mayor at No1 Paseo de La Estacion.

Second place in the survey, as far as hotels in Spain are concerned, was taken by the hotel Duques de Medinaceli in Cadiz. The hotel is also a five star establishment and obtained an…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News

The hotel brand Campanile, which is owned by the Louvre Hotels Group, expects to exceed €2.5 million in turnover in Spain over the summer months and it is projecting that more than 90,000 people will stay in one of the eight hotels the chain currently operates in Spain over this peak period of the year.

The chain recently reported that six out of every ten bookings for their hotels in Spain this summer came from international tourists, mainly from France followed by other neighboring European countries. Overall, occupancy rates are expected to increase by six points this summer when compared to the same period last year and is projected to average 75 percent. The busiest hotels the chain has in Spain will be the ones in Barcelona, Malaga, Alicante, Las Rozas and Alcala de Henares. These last two, both located in satellite towns near Madrid, will achieve 100 percent occupancy during the week of 16 to 21 August when Pope Benedict XVI will visit the capital of Spain.

The group reports that the average customer of Campanile hotels stays two to three days with the family in the summer period and usually takes advantage of added services such as half board and late checkout which allows you to stay until late afternoon to…Click to read more about Spain Hotel News