PARADORES is a unique Spanish public company in the world. It was created almost 100 years ago with the aim of protecting artistic heritage and boosting the local economy. Today it has 97 hotels, mostly located in palaces, castles or old convents  in rural areas.

In  decline for decades, Paradores decided back in 2013 to carry out a profound rebranding. Being a widely known company, the new logo had to be based on the previous one (1999) and would have to live with it due to budget limitations.

STRATEGY

1. Create a new, fresh, elegant and very colorful language, fundamentally based on the use of photography.

2. The previous PARADORES logos went out of fashion precisely because of their excess of modernity. To be timeless, the new logo had to be based on a classic geometric construction and use a high-quality, big-eyed typeface (Big Caslon) to lighten its visual weight.

3. Due to budget limitations, the elements to be used inside the hotel had to be mostly in black and white.

4. Use the symbol (double frontispiece) as a graphic resource to create easily identifiable grids of different sizes. These grids are a metaphor and synthesis of the ornamental elements typical of the architecture of palaces and convents (cathedral fences, columns, corbels, etc.).

5.  Taking care of the local is important in each PARADOR. The company had a collection of vintage illustrations made by artists from each area and which were sometimes used on restaurant menus.

APPLICATIONS

The designs were collected in a 78-page Applications Manual.

OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED

In these 10 years PARADORES has gradually managed to be seen in a renewed way and increase the number of reservations. Favored by its rural locations, after the confinement due to the pandemic, its average occupancy was 85% and in 2023 its profits will exceed €310 million.