Three Malaga city centre hotels plan to expand by going up in the world

Three hotels in the Guadalmedina area of Malaga city centre have unveiled expansion projects, which foresee more floors, category evolution and an increase in the number of rooms. The hotels are the Ibis Málaga Centro, Ibis Budget and Suite Novotel. All three belong to the Accor hotel group, which is processing a joint dossier before the municipal urban planning department to make these extensions possible.

Malaga city council gave the initial approval on Friday. However, the urban planning process will be long, as the project must undergo a prior environmental report, evaluated by the regional government, which usually takes a year or more to be completed.

The plan is covered by a decree approved by the Junta de Andalucía in 2021, which allows for an increase of up to 20% in the floor area of existing hotels if this also means an increase in category.

According to the document drawn up by the Domingo Corpas architecture studio, the Ibis Málaga Centro hotel, which currently has 189 double rooms (378 hotel beds) and 47 parking spaces, 19 more rooms could be added and the height could be increased by three more floors to the current volume of the building. This increase does not require justification under the aforementioned decree from the regional government, since the current urban planning regulations for that area of the city centre allow it, as noted in the file. Therefore, the building's height would go from ground floor plus three and ground floor plus four, to ground floor plus six and ground floor plus seven.

The dossier includes a series of images that recreate the future appearance to prove that the changes would not have an excessive visual impact on the urban environment. Two options are contemplated: one involves an increase in the built-up area by 15%, which would add 169 square metres for new services; or an increase by 20%, which would guarantee an increase in category from the current two stars to three stars or higher, with an increase of 390 square metres for new services.

As for the Ibis Budget hotel (one star and 125 double rooms) and the Novotel Suite (four stars and 85 double suites), an increase in height from ground floor plus four and ground floor plus five to ground floor plus six, respectively, is proposed. The justification is that, this way, they would be brought into line with the level of other adjacent buildings.

Ibis Budget has the opportunity to upgrade to a two-star or higher category, allowing for a 20% increase in floor space and the addition of 13 rooms. Meanwhile, Suite Novotel could climb to a five-star or higher rating, with plans to add nine rooms and 328 square metres dedicated to new services.

The dossier states that extension work could be carried out technically without the hotels having to completely cease their activity. The promoters of the plan state that, with these changes, the number of quality hotels in Malaga will be increased and seasonality will be reduced. The project also includes the planting of trees for the future installation of an outdoor terrace with tables and chairs for Novotel Suite's ground-floor café.