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Tags: Room Mate Hotels / Hotel News / Budget Hotels / Hot Hotelier News / Enrique Sarasola / → All Tags

What's the Deal With Room Mate Hotels?

Room Mate Leo, Granada

Room Mate Hotels first caught our attention when Andre Balazs sold the Hotel QT to the Spanish chain and Times Square's pool-in-the-lobby hotel transformed fairly quietly into Room Mate Grace. Today, Budget Travel mentions the Spanish brand on a list of some of Spain's chicest hotel chains, and we just found a deal on Quikbook promising $119 rooms (if you stay 3+ nights) at NYC's Room Mate Grace.

Still, we didn't know too much about the chain's concept — or, for that matter, exactly why all the Room Mate hotels had person-names attached to them. So we put on our investigatin' pants and got in touch with Enrique “Kike” Sarasola, President and CEO of Room Mate Hotels — and (fun fact!) a former Olympic horseback rider.

Kike started the chain in Spain after realizing that most guests don't spend time in their hotel doing much besides sleeping, showering, or eating breakfast when they're there to see the city. With that in mind, the key priorities for every Room Mate hotel, he says, are 1) to make sure that all properties are in prime locations and 2) that the beds, showers and free breakfasts are excellent and consistent across the entire chain.

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Tags: Budget Hotels / Spain Hotels / Chic-Basic Hotels / Gat Hotels / Room Mate Hotels / → All Tags

Small, Cheap and Hip in Spain

Think Spain, think hip and think ultra-modern, but without a too-distressing price tag, and you’ve got what some are saying is a revolution of hotel mini-chains across cities like Barcelona and Madrid.

A cross somewhere between boutique hotels and budget hostels, we’re talking places like the two Gat hotels in Barcelona; Matt Gross gave the the Gat Raval kudos a couple of years back but the Gat Xino goes one step up by skipping the shared bathrooms, and gets more love than the Raval. Although you should be warned that even the Gat manager says herself that “Gat is not for people who like to spend a lot of time in their rooms." Gulp.

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Tags: Andre Balazs / Manhattan Hotels / Room Mate Hotels / Budget Hotels / → All Tags

Breaking News :: Hotel QT Becomes Room Mate Grace

Where: 125 West 45th Street [map], New York, NY, United States, 10036

The boutique dorm room hotel QT has become Room Mate Grace.

After we reported in May that Andre Balazs sold his Hotel QT to Spanish hotel group Room Mate, the place sort of dropped off everyone's radar and we didn't hear much about it.

But thanks to a heads up from Concierge.com we visited the QT's old website today and, lo and behold, the property has become Hotel Grace.

"She" appears to be an actual woman, and all the marketing stuff sort of talks about the property as though she is, like, a person. The website asks you to "discover her":

Room Mate Grace is the stylish solution for the savvy traveler who wishes to experience the sophistication and fun New York has to offer. Room Mate Grace features a unique lobby and event space, complete with an indoor pool, sauna and steam room. The 24 hour kiosk is stocked with everything from the most basic supplies to the most decadent treats.

Um, er, yeah. We're just happy the free WiFi is still there.

Fellas on the other hand, now you can say you went to Manhattan and slept with your buddy's Room Mate, Grace, and not be lying! Ha!

Rooms start around $249 per night.