Apartment hotels are certainly not a new concept in Spain, writes María Rosa Barcia of Horwath HTL’s Barcelona office. Condo-hotels, on the other hand, most definitely are. She filed this report on how this new industry segment will be presenting interesting opportunities in 2012 in Spain, one of the world’s top tourist destinations.

In Spain, “Aparthotels” have typically followed the traditional hotel operation, a formula well adapted primarily to a high Spanish demand, as well as foreigners’ demand when in Spain.

Condo-hotels saw their first real development in the USA, and the model was soon a winner in France. They should not be confused with timeshare, however, where the owner owns a “piece” or percentage of an apartment, along with other owners who own their “piece” as well. Timeshare is part ownership of a particular space in time each year, and the owner may use that apartment for a contracted number of weeks, or exchange his time for a similar timeshare in another destination. This type of owner does not receive any income from the rental of “his” apartment. In traditional Apartment Hotels, the building has one owner, and the apartments are rented out much as is done in a hotel.

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