Spain's NH Hotel Group staged celebratory events late last year to open two five-star properties, one in Barcelona and one in Madrid, joining the group's upper-upscale Collection brand.
The featured hotels are in historical buildings and notable for outstanding terrace views, unique dining experiences and proximity to tourist sites, but their debuts were also significant as part of a companywide plan.
NH is in the fourth of a five-year branding program meant to more clearly distinguish each of its 380 properties worldwide, often after major refurbishments.
Here are the details regarding the Barcelona and Madrid hotels:
• The NH-owned, 255-room NH Collection Gran Hotel Calderon in Barcelona, built in 1973, completed a refurbishment and upgrade from four to five stars in 2016. The terrace, slated for completion in May, will have a pool and solarium and promises 360-degree views of Barcelona including clear sightings of the Sagrada Familia church.
The Gran Calderon's modern exterior was unchanged, but the interior is both updated and more eclectic. The most striking feature is the 600-square-foot LED screen behind the lobby's staircase that offers rotating displays.
Lunch and dinner are served at chef Andrea Tumbarello's Don Giovanni restaurant; the award-winning chef is known locally as the "king of truffles."
Gran Calderon guests can walk to selected houses designed by Antoni Gaudi and other modernists and to the Gothic Quarter. For the intrepid, Sagrada Familia is three subway stops away.
Rates start at about $210 per room.
• The exterior of the 123-room NH Collection Hotel Suecia in Madrid affirms the hotel's Scandinavian roots. It was the Sweden House, built in 1951, and was a sometimes residence for Ernest Hemingway. Recently, Melia operated the hotel after which NH leased the property, refurbished it and opened it as a five-star facility.
Retro aspects of the redone interior recall its founding decade, most especially — and amusingly — when visiting the basement speakeasy, Bar Hemingway, accessed via a washroom. The guestrooms, on the other hand, are sleek and modern.
Suecia's 2,045-square-foot terrace is on two levels. The best terrace view is the Madrid city hall seen in the late-day light.
Guests can walk to the Prado and other museums as well as into the popular Barrio de las Letras (Literary Quarter).
Rates start at about $215 per room.
These properties share elements, dubbed Brilliant Basics, common to all NH hotels: exclusive mattresses, rainfall showerheads, Nespresso coffeemakers, 46-inch LED TVs and high-speed WiFi.
Among the NH hotels, 318 are in Europe and 47 are members of the Collection group, the premium brand in urban sites.
Hugo Rovira, country manager for Spain, Portugal, Andorra and the U.S., said Collection properties are "upper-upscale but not luxury, [and] rates vary widely by season and locale. It's a premium product [where] customers find we are very consistent with service and quality for the price."
He added, "Wherever U.S. travelers go in Europe, we have hotels, except Paris, [and] we're doing our best" to remedy that.
Americans account for only 4% of NH's European sales, but Rovira said agents (including OTAs) account for almost all of that. He said, "Of course, we sell on our website, but we are happy to have agent partnerships." See www.nh-hotels.com.