Kike Sarasola is the brains behind the success of Room Mate Hotels, together with his husband Carlos Marrero. Room Mate Hotels is an international Spanish hotel chain that opened in 2005.

Kike and Carlos had brainstormed on how they want Room Mate Hotels to be different from the other existing hotels. They realized that they are paying too much and that they never had fully utilized all the amenities. Plus, most of the time the locations are far from the city. After considering all the experiences that they had, they realized that they need to create a hotel that will feel like you’re just visiting a friend. So, they removed some of the unnecessary amenities and services but made sure to retain the most important ones.

The philosophy behind this Spanish hotel chain is to view the hotel as their home, which is why their hotels are named after a name like hotel Luca in Florence and hotel Pau in Barcelona. At present, Room Mate Hotels have 22 hotels all around the world including Amsterdam, New York, Mexico City, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, Istanbul and Malaga. All their hotels are strategically located for easy access to the heart of the city.