The Women Shaping Barcelona’s Hospitality Scene

From hotel bars to global communities, three women are helping shape the city’s next chapter in hospitality.

Barcelona’s hospitality scene has never been short on creativity. From cocktail bars tucked into historic neighborhoods to hotel lounges redefining what a night out can look like, the city has developed a reputation for treating food, drink and hospitality as part of its cultural identity.

Bianca Grisolia: Putting Hotel Bars on the Map

For Bianca Grisolia, changing Barcelona’s hospitality scene begins with changing the way people see it.

A communication strategist and PR expert, Grisolia is the founder of BG PR & Communication, an international agency specializing in hospitality and drinks brands. The agency works with cocktail bars, bartenders, chefs, restaurants, premium brands and food-and-drink events, connecting them with audiences through PR, branding and creative communication.

But one of Grisolia’s most ambitious projects is one she created specifically for her adopted city’s hotel bars: Barcelona Hotel Bar Week. As she explained,

“Barcelona is a well-known city for cocktails, but hotel bars still needed to shine. There are so many talented women behind hotels, in both management and behind the bar. They needed the spotlight and use this time to express themselves, and get to know each other.” 

Launched in 2025, the event was conceived as the world’s first cocktail week dedicated exclusively to hotel bars. Its premise is deceptively simple: to encourage both locals and visitors to look beyond Barcelona’s independent cocktail bars and discover the hotel bars that have been quietly developing their own identities, cocktail programs and hospitality experiences.

The second edition, held from September 21–27, 2026, expanded to more than 30 hotel bars across the city, with guest shifts, tastings, masterclasses, special menus and international collaborations. For Grisolia, the project is about more than cocktails. It is about changing the relationship between hotels and the city around them.

Anna Sebastian: Building a Community Beyond the Bar

While Grisolia is creating platforms for hospitality businesses and bartenders to connect, London-based hospitality consultant Anna Sebastian is focused on the people behind the industry. As she remarked,

“The whole point of Celebrate Her is bringing the community together, having those micro conversations that you just never know what they might turn into.” 

Sebastian is the founder of Celebrate Her, a global community created to support and empower women working in hospitality. The organization grew out of conversations among women working in bars about the lack of visibility and support for women in the industry. What began with events showcasing female bartenders evolved into a wider platform centered on community, wellbeing, education, career development and events.

That mission came to Barcelona Hotel Bar Week in 2026 through a dedicated partnership between Grisolia and Sebastian. The week included a women-in-hospitality networking dinner, panel discussions and women-led guest shifts, bringing Barcelona’s community into conversation with an international network.

“With Anna, we share many values together. That’s why it was important for us to had a community dinner where we invited some of the main key players in the industry in Barcelona,” said Grisolia. 

It was a natural collaboration: Grisolia creates the platform, while Sebastian helps ensure that the people working within the industry have a stronger platform of their own.

Marie-Amélie Fabre: Leading From Behind the Bar

Then there is the most immediate form of hospitality: the person standing behind the bar. At Punch Room Barcelona, inside The Barcelona EDITION, Marie-Amélie Fabre serves as Head Bartender, bringing her own creative voice to one of the city’s most distinctive hotel bars.

Fabre has become part of a growing generation of female bartenders whose influence extends beyond simply making excellent drinks. Her role is particularly significant within Barcelona’s evolving hotel-bar culture. Punch Room is not simply a place to order a drink; it represents the increasingly sophisticated role that hotel bars are playing in the city’s cocktail landscape. As she indicated,

“Now there are more women in Barcelona’s cocktail bar scene. Actually, it’s kind of funny because on my team, I’m the only female head bartender in all of the Punch Rooms around the world. But here in Barcelona, there’s a bar (The Circle) completely led by women.” 

Fabre’s work behind the bar is therefore part of a larger shift: women are not simply participating in Barcelona’s cocktail culture—they are leading teams, creating menus, hosting events and helping define what the city’s hospitality experience can become.

A Different Kind of Hospitality

What connects Grisolia, Sebastian and Fabre is not a single job title or even a single definition of hospitality. It is the understanding that hospitality is ultimately about people.

Grisolia builds bridges between brands, venues, media and bartenders. Sebastian creates a global network designed to make the industry more supportive and equitable for women. Fabre represents the craft itself, translating creativity and hospitality into an experience one guest at a time.

Together, they point toward a Barcelona hospitality scene that is becoming more collaborative and more international, while also becoming more conscious of who gets to shape it.

And perhaps that is the most interesting evolution happening behind the city’s bars. The future of hospitality is not being defined solely by the cocktail in the glass or the hotel behind the door. It is being shaped by the people creating spaces where others can connect, find opportunity, exchange ideas and feel welcome.

Barcelona has always known how to entertain. These women are helping redefine what it means to truly host.