Aperture

🏨 Best Western Hotel Rome Airport at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport to expand to 144 rooms and upgrade to Best Western Plus by summer 2025, adding a new three-story building with independent access. Interior design and artistic direction by Lorenzo Bellini Atelier, focusing on functional elegance for contemporary travelers. Ground floor rooms feature 9 square meter private terraces. The 48 new rooms offer a domestic yet refined atmosphere with custom-made furniture and a color palette enriched with blue and rust accents. Bathrooms highlight Italian Alps green-gray stone with earthy tones, and the lighting enhances comfort both indoors and outdoors. Construction progress includes completed concrete structure, exterior walls, ongoing internal systems installation, and future outdoor spaces for ground floor rooms.

🍴 Gordon Ramsay's Hell’s Kitchen to debut in Europe at Palladium Hotel Group’s The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel, marking the group's first venture in Spain and Europe. This collaboration emphasizes a commitment to top-tier service and innovative dining, reflecting Ibiza’s vibrant essence. Renowned chef Gordon Ramsay expresses excitement about bringing Hell’s Kitchen to the island, known for its energy, nightlife, and world-class cuisine. Raúl Benito, COO of Palladium Hotel Group, highlights the launch as part of The Unexpected Hotels brand, aiming to blend luxury hospitality with cutting-edge culinary concepts and entertainment.

🏕 Baia Holidays, an Italian hospitality group, will open its fifth campsite in Sardinia in July, bringing their collection to 13. Located in Santa Teresa di Gallura, the new campsite joins four others in the region, offers access to two walkable beaches, and is already bookable. Renovations included revamping pitches, services, dining areas, and adding mobile homes with 2 or 3 bedrooms. Baia Holidays now provides 4,500 pitches and 2,000 mobile homes totaling approximately 25,000 beds.

🏠 Accor will open the Hotel Giacomo Morra Alba - Handwritten Collection in Alba in March. The hotel features 92 rooms, including 4 suites, an inner courtyard, Green House communal spaces, a bar with a selection of wines, a fitness area, and 3 modular meeting rooms accommodating up to 80 people. The Handwritten Collection added 20 properties last year and has approximately 25 hotels under development and over 150 projects in negotiation.

🏠 Limehome acquired 3,000 new units in Europe in 2024, reaching a total of 9,000 contracted units across 150 European cities. About 50% of the company's overall growth is due to recurring partner contracts. In Italy, Limehome now operates 6 facilities in 4 cities and plans 7 more projects. New sites were added in Rome, Florence, and Milan in 2024, often repurposing outdated or abandoned commercial or touristic buildings.

🏢 The Social Hub opened its second facility in Florence on Viale Belfiore, following its 2018 debut on Viale Lavagnini. A €150 million investment produced a 9-story complex with underground parking, comprising two buildings separated by a commercial street and topped with a 7,000 square meter rooftop garden, Florence's largest panoramic terrace. The hub features 550 rooms, offering flexible stays from one night to a year, and one of Tuscany's largest coworking spaces at 3,300 square meters for 500 people. Additional amenities include restaurants, a bar, a pool, a gym, 32 offices, and 10 meeting rooms. Introducing a monthly subscription for service access and a dedicated app, the Florence opening, along with an upcoming Rome location in May, marks significant growth for TSH, with aims to expand further in Milan and Rome. Italy is set to become TSH's second most important market after the Netherlands, where it has 8 facilities and its headquarters in Amsterdam. CEO and Founder Charlie MacGregor expresses ambitions for innovation and integration with the local community.

🍕 Il Pastaio, a Brescia-based company founded in 1983, is set to open a new facility in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, covering over 6,600 square meters. The plant will start with five production lines, focusing on traditional, stuffed, gluten-free, and organic gnocchi variants to cater to U.S. market demands. Initially employing 75 people, Il Pastaio aims to meet the rising popularity of Italian cuisine in the U.S. With an annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes of gnocchi and pasta, and a workforce of over 300 employees, Il Pastaio is expanding its presence in the global food industry. CEO Pierluigi Colombi, supported by Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development, views the new venture as a celebration of Italian culinary tradition and a strategic step for the company's international growth.

🏦 Rocco Forte Hotels, focusing on expanding the group segment and increasing room occupancy, hosted its Showcase 2025 in Edinburgh at The Balmoral with top management and clients from around the world. Jan Arnold, VP Sales, noted that despite financial challenges in 2024 with yearly financials ending in May, the group is leveraging group segments for revenue growth. With identity based on the uniqueness, authenticity, and family spirit of its hotels, Rocco Forte is planning new openings in Milan, Noto, Naples, and Sardinia, and exploring opportunities in Saudi Arabia, the USA, Spain (Barcelona and Madrid), and Southeast Asia (Korea and Taiwan).

🏕️ Virgin Limited Edition's Mahali Mzuri camp in Maasai Mara is undergoing a full renovation, including a revamp of 12 luxury tents and common areas. The redesign, in collaboration with Lynne Hunt London, features contemporary African style with natural materials and a color palette complemented by red and black. East African artists' works will be celebrated throughout. The camp reopens in June 2025, in time for guests to witness the annual Great Migration from July to August.

🍕 "Crunch Teglia", a new venture by the successful "Gruppo Crunch Dazio", whose "Crunch" was ranked among Lazio's top ten pizzerias by "50 Top Pizza" and awarded 2 slices by Gambero Rosso, has opened in Talenti, Rome, at Via della Bufalotta 284. The establishment offers highly hydrated biga dough pizzas and quality street food, including both classic and gourmet options, available for dine-in, takeaway, and delivery via Glovo, Just Eat, Deliveroo, or direct service from the locale after 19:30. The 5-meter corner counter and white and red decor enhance the dining experience. The group plans to expand this successful format across Rome, standardizing toppings and fried foods to maintain quality.