Smart Room, a group that manages tourist and seasonal accommodation, takes another step in its growth plan with the opening of its first hotel in Andalusia. The company founded in Barcelona by Oriol Serra has just added a new establishment in Seville under its Uma Suites brand, in the middle segment, and is finalizing the inauguration of another coliving building in Bogotá starting in August under the banner The Spot, with 40 bedrooms.
The group already has fifteen establishments under its management (it operates under the Yurbban, Uma House, Uma Suites, Spotty and The Spot brands) and a total of 1,050 rooms. The forecast, explains Serra, is to close the year with some 1,900 rooms through the new openings that are planned, focused mainly on the Latin American area.
Apart from the main urban destinations -they have a presence in Barcelona, Madrid and now Seville, as well as Miami-, Latin America and specifically Colombia have become a priority market for the company. “Tourism in Colombia is flourishing and there are great opportunities, which is why we have placed two people from the expansion team there,” comments Serra.
In addition to the coliving that they will incorporate next month in Bogotá, in June they opened another establishment in Chía, north of the capital. “We are studying opportunities not only in Colombia, but also in other markets on the continent”, advances the founder.
In Miami, where they operate an establishment under the Uma House brand, they have not completed their opening targets. “The market grew a lot as soon as the covid came out and now it has cooled down, the demand for the destination has dropped but we are confident that it will recover and we maintain our intention to add establishments there,” says Serra. “The Americans are all on vacation here,” she jokes. And it is that the American country has become one of the main emitters of tourists to Barcelona.
With the recovery of tourism and the progressive openings, Smart Room has gone from billing six million euros in 2021 to 22 million in the last year. Counting the current portfolio, the company expects to reach 27 million euros this 2023. It is, says Serra, a decisive year for the group. They have incorporated new professional profiles – they employ more than 250 people – and improved their internal processes to face the new stage that they want to open with Latin America and the Spanish provincial capitals as leverage.
