The ‘dications’ conquer Barcelona hotels for non-hosted users
For a decade now, hoteliers in Barcelona opened the season for promote the many recreational uses provided by a hotel (especially superior categories) beyond the accommodation tourist. miles of Barcelonans have been able to enjoy terraces, restaurants, brunch, swimming pools, concerts, spas… through individual initiatives and the impulse of the Gremi d’Hotels de Barcelona. But now a platform powered by entrepreneurs, hotel breakpromises to multiply the calls ‘diacas‘ (activity associated with vacations but only punctual and during the day) to get out of the routine and without having to leave the city, not even at night. a Thirty 4 and 5 star establishments They have already joined the initiative locally, which allows the prior reservation of one or several chained activities, so that the place is guaranteed and registered.
The idea, inspired by a formula that works like a shot in the United States, has been developed by Cristian Alcoba and Maxime Renaudin. They created the Mallorcan startup Hotelbreak in 2019, which quickly penetrated hotels in the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Madrid and others, although it had to stop its expansion in Catalonia and other markets due to the pandemic. Now they have stepped on the accelerator territory and opted for Catalan, with Barcelona as the spearhead, at the same time that they have been deployed in nearby countries, with a total of half a thousand hotels in the portfolio.
In the case of the Catalan capital the climatology It allows you to enjoy many facilities beyond the high season, that is, to generate activity that, however, must behave during the overnight stay. The platform currently offers some 140 experiences to enter the local hotels. Although Barcelona has tourism (vacation or business) throughout the year, there are clearly off-peak months with low occupancy, where it is especially strategic to have the daytime clientele that gives life (and profitability) to the facilities.
Adhering participants include Expo Hotel Barcelona, Hotel Barcelona Condal Mar Affiliated by Meliá, Sallés Hotel Pere IV, Intercontinental Barcelona, The One Barcelona GL, Hotel Sofía Barcelona, Nobu Hotel, NH Collection Constanza, Acevi Villarroel, Hotel Marina Barcelona, Hyatt Regency, Meliá Barcelona Sky, Hotel Arts, Hilton Diagonal Mar…
During and after the pandemic
The ‘diacas‘ as a global urban trend hatched already during the pandemic, when many people avoid travel and travel due to mobility restrictions. Now, they are also promoted as a way to escape the routine, after the summer trips. They offer “experiences that make the client feel like they are on vacation, or with the glamor of a luxury hotel, but with the comfort that they can then go home to sleep”, explains Alcoba.
In this way, the range of prices range from 14.5 euros to 200 euros, in general, and includes very diverse options: tickets to enjoy a panoramic or heated pool, spa, massage and dinner combos, access to a yoga class in its gyms, concerts on the terrace… The most affordable in currently it is the breakfast buffet at Room Mate Ana, while the most elite is the spa plan, with a massage and beauty treatment at Arts. In some cases they are packages and combos. All this through an organized and registered reservation with your DNI, so that the user is not surprised that the hotel is already at the limit of its capacity in the common spaces.
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And with the advantage that some hotels in Barcelona that, due to their size or capacity, do not have open use of many of their spaces for non-guests, here they can be accessible because it is the hotel that contributes to the platform the quota of seats available according to their occupancy level on those days. “The regular host will never end up overrun,” he adds. While the prices (as with overnight stays) can be varied depending on the demand of the moment.
Alcoba also boasts of “democratizing luxury”, while some services that are usually only known to those who stay are now open to any punctual user who does not stay. A philosophy of dissemination of the hotel universe that the employers themselves have been trying to promote for years.
More women and above all wellness plans
The type of profile of the ‘diacationist’ is a woman between 35 and 50 years old who comes as a couple or with friends, they point out from Hotelbreak. The most common period for using the hotel facilities or services is from Thursday to Sunday, with an average of between three and five hours per activity. The swimming pools are the most successful plan in summer and the spas with massages, in winter. The average ticket at the moment is about 50 euros.