Barcelona’s Hotel Axel expands

Spanish hotel grows from one resort to a mini chain of gay hotels… Hotel Axel Barcelona, which opened in 2003, likes to call itself the “first gay hotel in the world! That may come as a surprise to the many clothing-optional guesthouses and inns that have catered to the GLBT market for decades.But Axel means something slightly different. Axel isn’t “discrete��? about its gay clientele, nor is it a private facility. No, Axel is an out-and-proud, urban, contemporary, designer hotel with a cosmopolitan flair and lots of half-naked men tanning themselves on deck chairs.

Certainly queer globetrotters have responded to its concept. In 2005, Hotel Axel won the title “best gay hotel in the world��? by the readers of Out Traveler. But the tremendous success of the Barcelona site has apparently encouraged the owners that the brand will work elsewhere, too — even on this side of the Atlantic.

Axel has announced plans to open other international accommodations. One is set for Buenos Aires in April 2007, but the group also plans to expand throughout Europe and into North America as well.

The B.A. hotel is currently under construction and will feature 48 rooms, a cocktail bar and restaurant, popular modern amenities and of course a pool. After all, why go to gay hotel if you’re not going to see sunbathers?

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