Four new hotels will be opening in Palma over the coming months, adding to the 75 that there are at present. Thirty of these are in the historic centre of the city, almost as many as there were for the whole city (excluding resort areas) in 2003 - 32.
The Hotel Can Cirera will open on April 1. A four-star, it is on C. Palau Reial by the Palau March and is a stone's throw from the Cathedral. A fifteenth-century building, it was originally a convent. In 1836, it passed to the Cirera family.
Director Juan Ramón Pereiro explains that there are 19 rooms, a small meeting room and a cafeteria, where the focus will be on Mallorcan gastronomy. Sobrasada and organic cheeses will come from Son Cànaves in Llucmajor, which is also owned by the Cirera family. The hotel isn't part of a chain, the family's intention being that it is sustainable and true to Mallorcan heritage.
A short distance away, on C. Forn de la Glòria, the Puro Grand Hotel is being finalised. A five-star Grand Luxury, it will open on July 1. The old Can Coll is being refurbished and will include a terrace and restaurant. Company CEO, Andrés Zahines, describes it as "a building with a lot of history". Puro, he adds, are looking for similar possibilities in the city.
In Plaça Madrid, the Hotel Yurbban Palma is being built. This is a four-star superior with 56 rooms, a terrace, a swimming pool, a fitness area, a spa and a restaurant. It is part of the Smart Rooms chain, which has hotels in Barcelona and Miami. There is no opening date at present, but it will be some time this year.
And on C. Ramón y Cajal, the HM Palma Blanc is nearing completion for opening this spring. With 118 rooms, it has a Mediterranean design, features contemporary art and has been developed to high standards of sustainability. This used to be the old Firestone building.