Meliá Hotels International has reached an agreement with BBVA bank to offer potential franchisees access to preferential financing conditions to meet their cash needs.
The Spanish hotel group has been targeting growth via independent operators and this incentive will help to improve its offering.
Meliá currently has a portfolio of 50 franchised hotels with another seven scheduled to join in the near future.
“[O]ur objective is to increase the benefits and attractiveness of our franchise system to deliver far more than just greater profitability to hotels that join our portfolio. We aim to cover all their needs as far as we possibly can and open up new avenues for improvement,” CEO Gabriel Escarrer said.
Under Meliá’s franchise arrangements, independent hotels can either adopt one of its brands or keep their own name and sit under under the “Affiliated by Meliá" umbrella.
“[It’s] a really attractive model, especially for hotels that are highly dependent on tour operators and are not up to speed on the digital side of things, many of which have suffered a great deal during the pandemic, and who will find Meliá the perfect partner to boost their revenues and become part of the hotel industry of the future,” Meliá director of expansion, María Zarraluqui, said.