Los bares de los hoteles están siendo renovados

Spain has always had spectacular hotels, and its bars have long been among the best places to drink in the country. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the Palace Hotel in Madrid was the great school of the Spanish bar. But from the Ritz in Madrid to the Majestic in Barcelona, ​​many luxury hotels presented barriers: exorbitant prices, strict dress codes, impersonal service, and a lack of atmosphere.

The palaces were often bastions of the most reactionary conservatism. And many never even considered stepping inside for a drink.

"There was almost a theatrical aspect to entering a hotel to go for a cocktail," recalls Miguel Pérez, head bartender at Isa, the restaurant and cocktail bar at the Four Seasons in Madrid.

The hotel, ranked 24th on the World's 50 Best Hotels list, has sought to break this unfortunate trend. And indeed, on its social media, the list highlights this establishment as "a meeting place for both locals and visitors." Pérez agrees: "Our philosophy is to have our doors open to all local residents."

Outside of our borders, luxury hotels opened up to a wider audience about twenty years ago. The first to realize the potential of cocktails were the British. From the Savoy to the Connaught, luxury hotels created modern spaces, sometimes with cutting-edge menus. And they positioned their bars among the most renowned in the world.

Next came the major Asian cities, particularly Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, where chains like Four Seasons and Rosewood became famous for 360-degree offerings, with gourmet restaurants and highly ambitious cocktail bars.

“The food and beverage department is, nowadays, one of the main differentiating factors when choosing one hotel over another” Carlos Hernández, founder of Food Design Company and consultant, explains to 7Caníbales. “There is a type of discerning, gourmet, and high-spending client who has always sought to have a unique experience when staying in a top-tier hotel” he adds.

In Spain, the turning point was a long time coming: it was marked by the arrival of the Mandarin Oriental group, which finally decided to equip the Ritz Madrid with a bar worthy of its prestige. With windows overlooking the street and direct access from the terrace, Pictura is a temple of classic cocktails that faces the city instead of turning its back on it.

But perhaps the most striking opening has been that of Isa at the Four Seasons, a few months after the hotel's opening in September 2022. Designed by AvroKO, a specialized consultancy with extensive experience in Asia and the United States, Isa is a "unique space," according to Pérez, the setting for a contemporary cocktail offering with its own laboratory, avant-garde and sophisticated but with flavors recognizable to the end consumer and easy to drink.

Named best hotel bar at FIBAR in 2022, the main Spanish trade fair for the sector, Isa has also managed to attract the Madrid public, despite being located on the first floor, which means going through the lobby.

This local acceptance is crucial: a strong culinary offering can't depend solely on guests. The EDITION Madrid understood this perfectly: with two restaurants and, including the rooftop bar, five bars, they had to open their doors wide.

For cocktail enthusiasts, it's a small paradise: it offers the best of Latin America in Oroya (with piscos and pisco sours) and Jerónimo (with agave spirits and margaritas) and an exceptional place, the Punch Room, whose concept focuses on cocktails to share in a beautiful and warm wooden environment.

But it's the Lobby Bar that best illustrates this paradigm shift, according to Simone Ruta, its bar manager. A lobby bar is usually the closest thing the hospitality industry has to a 'non-place', cold and impersonal. However, Ruta explains, The EDITION Madrid's Lobby Bar serves hundreds of cocktails a week and attracts a sometimes very young and trendy crowd, transforming the lobby into a vibrant living space for many Madrid residents.

It used to be said that the Spanish public didn't like drinking in hotels, but these success stories indicate that the problem was more one of supply. Besides offering a more casual, street-bar experience, stylish and modern interiors, and a bit of atmosphere, these bars have also understood that price is key: they all position themselves slightly above the city's bars, but within an acceptable range.

We're seeing similar changes in Barcelona as well. Ten years ago, with the Ohla Boutique Bar and Banker's at the Mandarin Oriental, the city was ahead of Madrid. The capital now seems more dynamic, but noteworthy developments include, on the one hand, the arrival of Coya, the Peruvian restaurant group, and its cocktail bar at the W, and on the other, the work of Libertine, with its cocktails on tap at Casa Bonay.

But just like in Madrid, The EDITION stands out in Barcelona. The Punch Room (several hotels in the chain have a bar with this name and style, though the drinks menu varies from hotel to hotel) in the Catalan capital, which has just launched a new menu, symbolizes this new wave: modern cocktails, sometimes highly technical, but with a clear focus on powerful and recognizable flavors sold at a fair price. And to liven up the evening, there are DJs, events, and special sessions designed to entice those who aren't staying at the hotel.

Consultant Carlos Hernández highlights one last important factor: investments from international groups have played an essential role, but if these groups believe that cocktail bars can make a difference in Spain, it is also because of "the unstoppable rise of the Spanish cocktail scene and its continuous international recognition."

Perhaps without the examples of Paradiso or Salmon Guru, the move wouldn't have been so clear. And this is just the beginning. In the spring, Broken Shaker, already present in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami, opened its first bar outside the United States in Madrid. A significant choice. They simply want "to be part of a scene that is already wonderful," says Christine Wiseman, the chain's bar director and recently named America's Best Bartender by Tales of the Cocktail. Broken Shaker is located on the rooftop of Generator, which is essentially a hostel. Top cocktail bars in hotels without stars and luxury hotels with cocktail bars for everyone. The change is now.