Ruby Hotels reveals plans for second Italian property
Ruby Hotels has confirmed it will launch its first hotel in Rome in 2025, continuing its expansion across Italy following its 2024 opening in Florence.
Located near the capital’s Spanish Steps, the 165-room property will occupy a former office building with a historic exterior. Inside, new facilities will include a 24/7 bar with café as well as a rooftop terrace overlooking the city centre.
“Within Rome’s market, which is demonstrating stable growth, affordable luxury is an over proportionately growing, albeit underserved, niche segment,” explains Catherine Hilt, Group Senior Manager of Development at Ruby Hotels. “With our Lean Luxury concept, we aim to address this specific demand. This project fits perfectly, and we are particularly happy to be developing it jointly with ECE.”
The conversion of the former office building is being carried out under the management of ECE Work & Live, the hotel’s investor and developer. Interior design meanwhile will be led by Ruby’s in-house design team, spearheaded by Matthew Balon. The property’s landlord is ECE Group, a longstanding partner of Ruby Hotels.
Torsten Kuttig, Director of Hotel Development at ECE Work & Live, comments: “Our first hotel project in Italy combines the key objectives of our strategy in the hotel segment, to expand our international activities and extend them to attractive markets such as Italy, to invest more in the conversion of existing properties, and to focus primarily on hotels with a leisure and business focus. We are therefore very pleased to have identified a suitable existing property in the heart of Rome, which we can convert into a modern hotel building together with Ruby Hotels as our partner.”
Founded in 2013, Munich-based Ruby Hotels operates 15 existing properties, with a further 21 under construction or in the planning phase.
