Inside ME Barcelona Hotel by Meliá: A Learning Walk in Five-Star Hospitality
There is a significant difference between reading about how a five-star hotel operates and actually walking through it with the people who run it. For students on ESEI’s Master in Tourism and Hospitality Management, the visit to ME Barcelona Hotel by Meliá made that difference tangible.
Students from the Hotel Management and Operations course, led by Professor Ariel Castillo, visited one of Barcelona’s most striking five-star properties for an industry visit designed to connect the theory covered in class with the practical realities of running a luxury hotel in one of Europe’s most competitive hospitality markets. The visit was led by Marcos Domínguez Morell, Aura Manager and Rooftop Supervisor at ME Barcelona.
About ME Barcelona Hotel by Meliá
ME Barcelona is part of the ME by Meliá brand, the lifestyle-focused hotel collection within the Meliá Hotels International group. Located on Carrer de Casp in the heart of Barcelona’s Eixample district, the property is a bold architectural statement, housed in a striking tower that has become a recognisable part of the city’s skyline.
ME by Meliá is positioned as a hotel brand for a culturally curious, design-conscious and socially connected audience. It is not a traditional luxury. It is lifestyle luxury, built around music, art, design and local culture, and ME Barcelona embodies that identity fully. The hotel serves as a destination in its own right, attracting both guests and locals to its rooftop, its bar and its spaces.
What Students Saw and Learned
The visit opened with an introduction to the company, giving students context on the ME by Meliá brand, its positioning within the Meliá group and its strategy for standing out in Barcelona’s saturated luxury hotel market.
Students were then taken on a comprehensive tour of the property, including hotel rooms, common areas and back of house. Seeing the operational infrastructure behind a seamless guest experience, the logistics of housekeeping, service flow, staff coordination and facility management, brought to life aspects of hotel operations that are difficult to fully appreciate from a textbook.
The visit also explored how ME Barcelona approaches marketing and positioning in a highly competitive environment. Barcelona is home to an exceptional concentration of luxury and upper-upscale hotels, and understanding how a property carves out a distinct identity, communicates it consistently across every touchpoint and uses its brand culture to attract its target guest profile is exactly the kind of strategic thinking the Hotel Management and Operations course is designed to develop.
The Value of Learning in the Field
This visit is a direct expression of what project-based learning at ESEI looks like in practice. The Hotel Management and Operations course is built around the belief that the most valuable hospitality education happens inside real properties, with real professionals, grappling with real commercial challenges.
Barcelona gives ESEI students access to an extraordinary range of properties to learn from. The ME Barcelona visit follows previous learning walks at SLS Barcelona and Cotton House Hotel, giving students a growing comparative understanding of how different luxury and lifestyle properties approach positioning, operations and guest experience in the same competitive market.
A particular thank you to Marcos Domínguez Morell, Aura Manager and Rooftop Supervisor, and Lisa Aponte, Assistant Aura Manager and VIP Services specialist, for hosting the group and sharing their professional insight with the students.
Explore ESEI’s Programmes
👉 If you’re considering starting your own journey in Barcelona, explore ESEI’s Short Courses, Bachelor’s and Master’s and MBA programmes and see how we can support you on your study abroad journey.
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