Meliá Hotels International to open a new Innside by Meliá hotel in a historical building in Essen, Germany

Essen is located in the heart of the industrial Ruhr region, with excellent access both by road and other transport options, and includes amongst its many attractions monuments dating back to the industrial revolution which have been declared Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Despite housing the corporate headquarters of some major German companies, nowadays the city is geared more towards the service sector, providing great opportunities for quality hotel development.

The first Innside by Meliá hotel in Essen will be located in the city centre, and the project has been praised for an innovative solution to converting the historical "OSRAM" office building, built in 1928, into an attractive hotel with 107 rooms, a gym and meeting rooms. The Innside Essen, which is scheduled to open in 2015, aims to meet the expectations of their guests, providing a lifestyle business experience, efficient and smart service, contemporary design and the latest technology, which are the core attributes of the Innside by Meliá brand.

Amongst the virtues of the project most highly valued by the local property market is the preservation and promotion of the history of the building (designed to accommodate the bulb manufacturer OSRAM) through the use of a special lighting concept that highlights the historic facade. The hotel will also help reposition the urban environment of downtown Essen, providing a building which is almost one century old with a sustainable use in a growing industry. The Innside brand has considerable experience in masterfully blending ancient architecture with radically new, surprising and successful hotel concepts, as it proved most recently in the Innside Dresden.

For Gabriel Escarrer, Vice Chairman and CEO of Meliá Hotels International, "Innside is an urban, young and dynamic brand with a strong personality and style: just the kind of hotel needed for this building and for Essen".