Nobu Hotels Amp Up Fashion and Design Services

Yahoo

24-05-2025

Room service is a given at most hotels, but now the Nobu Hotel Barcelona is adding 'dress service' to its menu.
Through an alliance with the Spanish start-up Trent, guests will be able to rent or buy designer clothing, accessories and jewelry from well-known brands and emerging Spanish ones. Starting Monday, overnighters can scan a QR code to place an order or connect with the company via WhatsApp with specific questions. Their choices will be delivered to the hotel within an hour. After the garments are worn, guests leave them with the concierge, who will see to it that they are returned. Trent also has a new showroom in Barcelona for those who want to try on their rentals beforehand.
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As is the case with the other 18 Nobu Hotels, the Barcelona locale aims to ingrain itself with the local community. Lorna Turnbull, director of marketing, said, 'For us, that is so important. Nobu is a worldwide and powerful brand. But it's been fun, discovering how we can cement Nobu into each place to give each hotel and restaurant a real link to where we are.'
Nobu Hotels was created by the famed chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro and Meir Teper with a spotlight on creating a sense of place with refined service. Nobu Hotel Barcelona is located near the Montjuïc neighborhood, where several museums are based including the Joan Miró Foundation, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary from June through March. The exhibition 'Exchanges: Miró and the United States' highlighting how American artists like Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Louise Bourgeois were influenced by Miró will be part of those festivities.
For the Barcelona property, design is also being infused through a new walking tour. And at its San Sebastian 20-room retreat, there is a Balenciaga Experience that whisks travelers to the Balenciaga Museum.
The Trent concept was created partially due to airlines' scaling back on passengers' baggage allowances, especially European carriers. Another incentive was driven by the many visitors who travel to Barcelona for specific events like music festivals and want to have a certain look. Access to Trent's rentals is meant to make packing easier and the chance to discover designers, whom they might not be familiar with. It is also a more sustainable option than buying an outfit that they would never wear again, Turnbull said.
Nobu Hotel Barcelona liked the idea of supporting Trent's founders Laia Cusco and Alejandro Assens, and the prospect appealed to the hotel's client base, who tend to be slightly younger guests who are more into fashion and events, according to Turnbull. 'Tourism for live events is booming,' she said.
Guests who are in the city for extended stays can also arrange for monthly rentals through Trent. The capital city location is one of 19 Nobu Hotels, and more are in the pipeline through 2030. Rome and Toronto openings are slated for this year, followed by Madrid, Lisbon and possibly some of the Middle East locales are expected to bow next year. Bangkok, Vietnam and other outposts in Asia are being planned.
Next month, Nobu Hotel Barcelona will host the opening party for Off Sónar and it will welcome popular DJs like Elrow and DJ Tennis to headline events on specific nights. The tie-in with DJ Tennis, who is a 'big foodie,' will include his 'Munchietown' cooking club, as that aligns with Nobu's culinary reputation. Through a partnership with Barcelona Fashion Week, the property periodically has pop-up shops.
In advance of Barcelona becoming the UNESCO World Capital of Architecture next year, which will coincide with the centennial anniversary of the death of the city's prized architect Antoni Gaudí, Nobu Hotel Barcelona hotel has teamed up with Barcelona Design Tours. The end result is a walking tour of the Sants neighborhood, which used to be a separate village before it was absorbed by the city. The area once housed many factories and helped to start the trade unionism movement, but it has evolved from being an industrial heartland.
This summer locals will show off their style, as in years past, by having neighbors get together to decorate their respective streets in a theme for a competition that is part of the annual Sants Festival.
On another front, the Nobu Hotel San Sebastian has partnered with the Balenciaga Museum in Getaria to offer guests guided tours. With 7,000 archival pieces, the museum's current exhibition 'Cristóbal Balenciaga: Technique, Material and Form' features interviews with former seamstresses who are now in their 90s. 'They talk about the experiences working for him in San Sebastian and some worked with him in Paris. They say how meticulous he was,' Turnbull said. 'One said, 'The doors closed at nine. And if you were late, you didn't get to work. So we would go to the beach.''
Ever intent on giving a global brand a sense for the city that is in, Nobu Hotel San Sebastian will be offering flower workshops to the public with a local florist and yoga classes with a local yoga instructor. The property has also teamed up with the Basque Culinary Center, which trains people and promotes Basque gastronomy. When the center flies in some of the best chefs in the world for an event, they will be hosted in the hotel. Emphasizing the importance of having locals enjoy Nobu Hotels, Turnbull said, 'We want people to know that the hotel is part of the city and it's for them as well.'
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