Meliá will open the Palacio de Congresos de Catalunya and will reopen the Gran Meliá Miranda de Pedralbes in January

According to what has been reported in some of the media, Barcelona Commercial Court No. 11 dismissed Fairmont's claim yesterday to keep the operation of the old Rey Juan Carlos I hotel, closed since 2020, when the operator left the hotel management contract “on hold”. The judicial resolution would thus give free rein to the new project, entrusted by the new property and the investor Tyrus Capital, to Meliá Hotels International, so that the Spanish hotel company will assume the management of the establishment and the Palacio de Congresos that is part of the complex.

Meliá will open the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya in October this year and January 2024 is set as the target date for the hotel, renamed Miranda de Pedralbes, from Gran Meliá, and transformed into a leading urban resort-destination, to also reopen its doors. As Ramon Vidal Castro, who will leave his position as Director of Operations in Palma de Mallorca, explains to lead the start-up of this important asset: “although the property, with the support of Tyrus Capital, began the necessary reforms and fine-tuning of the infrastructure months ago after three years of inactivity, this resolution represents a new turning point in the work aimed at returning to the city of Barcelona a leading hotel and congress complex for the congress and urban leisure segments,

The Gran Meliá Miranda de Pedralbes is emerging, according to the Melia project, as an oasis of tranquility within the city, both for guests and local residents. The project enhances the communication between the hotel spaces and the more than 25,000 meters of historic gardens in a romantic and modernist style that surround it, bringing light and life to the common areas. The reform project is led by the architect specialized in hotels Álvaro Sans, from the ASAH studio.

The Miranda de Pedralbes hotel is also committed to offering leisure, well-being and lifestyle experiences, such as the varied gastronomic offer that will incorporate signature restaurants, “all-day dining” proposals, a Jazz Club, a Night Club, and a pool area full of energy with the best views of Barcelona, ​​as well as a spectacular rooftop terrace with 360º views of the city, which is quite a declaration of the intentions of transforming the establishment.

Once renovated, the 391 rooms and suites (65 in total) of various types, including the "Red Level Penthouse suite" which will be the most exclusive in the city, will immerse business and/or leisure travelers in the Gran Meliá brand experience, which evokes the essence of luxury and Mediterranean elegance, simple pleasures and connection to the land.

The reopening of the iconic hotel will take place at a time when the city of Barcelona is "reborn" and is recovering individual and luxury tourism, and once again positioning itself among the leading international destinations in tourism for meetings, congresses, conventions and incentive trips. In this sense, the new Palau de Congressos de Catalunya will provide a new infrastructure with the most modern facilities and equipment, with Meliá's experience in all kinds of events and its expertise in sustainable events, which will add 39 halls of various sizes to the overall capacity of the region, an Auditorium with capacity for more than 2,000 people, and more than 4,000 square meters of spaces for Fairs and Exhibitors.

A new beginning

The hotel, which was born as "King Juan Carlos I" for the 1992 Olympics, under an architectural project by Carlos Ferrater who received the National Architecture Award, had various operators until the then hotel owners ceded management to Fairmont, the American brand of the European group ACCOR, in 2014. After the pandemic broke out in 2020, the closure of the establishment became indefinite, as the operator left the operating contract that linked them to the hotel "on hold". . After a change in ownership, the new owners, with the support of Tyrus Capital, managed last April to get the court to approve the proposed Bankruptcy, thus clearing a major obstacle to the recovery of activity.

With the decision of the Commercial Court yesterday, the go-ahead would finally be given for the hotel to reopen its doors under the name of Miranda de Pedralbes, of Gran Meliá, and with a new and exciting management project, led by Ramón Vidal Castro, whose credentials include directing the Meliá Castilla hotel for 6 years – a flagship of the group in Madrid that hosts more than 6,000 events a year- and which he launched and managed. or also with notable success the complex of Hotel and Palau de Congressos de Palma.

For the President and CEO of Meliá, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, "this judicial decision marks a definitive step in the long and tortuous path that has taken the reopening of an asset destined to mark a new era for congress and business tourism in Barcelona, ​​improving its management and reputation thanks to the Gran Meliá brand, which this year will have opened, among others, outstanding luxury hotels such as the Gran Melia Nha Trang, in Vietnam, or the Gran Meliá Palazzo Cordussio , in the historic center of Milan. Furthermore, I am sure that the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, together with the Palau de Congressos de Palma, will become the undisputed winning pairing in the entire Mediterranean for a segment that attracts high-income tourism 12 months a year”.

Tony Chedraoui, CEO of Tyrus and main investor in the project, reaffirms his confidence in the courts, stating that “he had no doubts that the exemplary commitment shown by Meliá's highest management, which will allow this project to proudly reappear again soon in Barcelona, ​​would be recognized by the courts; Since mid-2022 we have been aware that the receptivity of the previous operator was not up to par, despite our strenuous efforts and our calls to expedite a process that threatened the viability of the project. In the interest of the project, its employees, and the city of Barcelona, ​​at the end of 2022 we decided to contact Gabriel Escarrer and his team as new operators, whose response was immediate and in accordance with the urgency required by the situation.