Turkish group Kaya Hotels & Resorts has purchased another European gateway hotel, acquiring the ME Barcelona hotel in Spain for a reported price of around EUR100 million, or just over EUR600,000 per room.
The hotel is centrally located, just off Passeig de Gràcia and only a few minutes walk from Placa de Catalunya. It opened in 2021, and features 164 rooms with supporting facilities including a restaurant, bars and meeting rooms. The asset was sold by owner Actual Capital. For the immediate future, the hotel will continue to trade under the brand of the Spanish hotel group Melia. But the new buyer has indicated that, from 2028, it will rebrand the hotel as Kaya Palazzo Barcelona.
Growing Across Europe
The deal is a further western European acquisition for Kaya, after it bought in London in mid 2024. The company acquired the landmark Great Northern Hotel, adjacent to the UK capital’s Kings Cross station as its first international investment. The property, formerly with Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio, is now operating as the Kaya Great Northern Hotel.
Latterly, in 2026, Kaya accepted an offer to buy the long leasehold of the asset from local landowner King’s Cross Group, an investor backed by Australia’s largest pension fund, AustralianSuper, and Federated Hermes. The GBP20m deal provided Kaya with an opportunity to resell the hotel, while retaining the group’s presence in the London hotel market.
Today, the Kaya group’s tourism division numbers 15 hotels, across Turkey and northern Cyprus. It operates under the eponymous Kaya Hotels brand, as well as the Kaya Palazzo Hotels & Resorts brand. Antalya is one destination where the group has major interests, with four hotels there.
For Spanish hotel group Melia, the loss of one hotel in Barcelona will undoubtedly be a blow. But the group has a strong pipeline of properties both domestically and internationally. Across Spain, its planned openings extend to seven projects across key destinations, featuring several brands from its portfolio.
Those additions include two hotels due to complete in 2026. In Marbella, the Gran Melia Don Pepe will relaunch following a renovation that will deliver new suites, all promising sea views. And in Cadiz, three traditional houses are being converted to create a 40 room luxury hotel, Melia Collection Cadiz.
Melia Continues Its Growth
A further hotel will join the collection brand in 2027, with the opening of Melia Collection Santa Ponsa. The conversion property is on just outside Palma de Mallorca. Early 2027 will also see the Etuu Begur Hotel in Cataluna join the Melia business, as an Affiliated by Melia property.
Melia has four live ME hotel projects around the globe. Three of these are in Mexico, where the first to be open will be ME by Melia Guadalajara, a 152 room urban hotel opening in 2027. with rooftop bar and swimming pool. It is also planning ME by Melia San Miguel de Allende, a 140 room hotel in Guanajuato, opening in 2028. This will be followed by ME by Melia Sayulita, planned for a coastal site in Nayarit, on the country’s Pacific coast.
