Barcelona Openings Underline a Luxury Market in Transition
Photo Credit: The Sir Victor facade. The hotel is one of Barcelona's newest openings. Sir Hotels / Amit Geron
Skift Take
Sophisticated serenity is the best way to describe luxury hospitality in the Catalan capital where troubles including sky-high petty crime rates, legality surrounding Airbnb, and political tensions bubble under the surface. For a city once considered the coolest in Europe, its development is useful to watch for other cities just now entering their gilded age of tourism.
Barcelona has transformed from overlooked to overcrowded in a few decades, but the Catalan capital is now ready for its latest act.
There is no hotel that better marks its latest evolution as a tourism hot spot than the Sir Victor hotel. Opened this June off the famed Passeig de Gràcia, the city’s newest luxury lifestyle addition celebrates what Barcelona is and what its visitors hope it to be.
The opening comes from Liran Wizman’s Sir Hotel brand that spans Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, and Ibiza. Wizman got his start in hospitality in Israel, first as a lawyer and then in real estate, where he purchased small guesthouses to turn a profit. His investment portfolio continued to grow until the runaway success of the Park Hotel and its restaurant, Momo.
"Everybody asked, 'How do you open a restaurant in a hotel? Nobody from Amsterdam will go to the hotel,'” explained Wizman.
“It was the opposite, because it was such a big hit and packed from day one. The city loved it,
