Spain’s biggest hotel chain, Meliá Hotels International, is to open almost a dozen properties this year from the Caribbean to Asia with an emphasis on high-end hotels as its resort business begins to recover, CEO Gabriel Escarrer said.
“In this first quarter we’re seeing good business at our Caribbean resorts thanks to U.S. and Canadian visitors and we think the second and third quarters will see a return everywhere to the RevPAR levels of 2019,” he told a press conference at the FITUR travel trade fair in Madrid.
“There is a tremendous desire out there for leisure travel and I’m hopeful that we’ll see a return to normality this year, especially in our resorts which represent some 60 per cent of our portfolio,” Escarrer said.
“We’ve also seen a lot of interest in the MICE sector and organizers are not cancelling, but rather postponing their events. But our urban properties probably won’t get back to pre-pandemic levels until 2023,” he added.
Based in Palma de Mallorca, Meliá operates more than 350 hotels in 40 countries under the Gran Meliá, Me by Meliá, Paradisus, Meliá Hotels & Resorts, Innside, Tryp and Sol brands.
Last year, the chain debuted 13 properties: four in Spain, two in the United Kingdom and one each in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Morocco, Greece, China, Germany and Thailand.
“In 2022, we’re opening a minimum of 11 hotels in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Asia which are regions we believe we have a distinct advantage,” the CEO said.
New properties in Asia include the Gran Meliá Zhengzhou in China, the Gran Meliá Nha Trang in Vietnam and the Meliá Chiang Mai in Thailand. In the Caribbean, the chain will open the Paradisus Playa Mujeres in Mexico and the Meliá Trinidad Peninsula in Cuba.
Other openings include the Sol Marina and the Blue Sea Beach, both in Crete, and the Hotel Las Arenas in the Spanish Costa del Sol resort town of Benalmádena.
“We are also excited about bringing the Paradisus brand for the first time to Spain with the Paradisus Gran Canaria and the Paradisus Salinas Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, both upgrades of existing Meliá properties,” Escarrer explained.
The CEO said that Meliá had noted increasing demand from guests for a premium holiday focused on authentic local experiences and announced the launch of a new brand, The Meliá Collection, which will include the Hacienda del Conde on the Canary Island of Tenerife, the Villa Marquis in Paris and the Serengeti Lodge in Tanzania.
In total, Meliá has in the pipeline 52 hotels with 12,000 rooms in 18 countries, with 62 per cent aimed at the resort market and 38 per cent urban.
“We’re also opening the first five-star hotel on the Spanish Mediterranean island of Menorca which will also be our first hotel without a carbon footprint as part of our continuing effort to reduce CO2 emissions across all of our hotels.”
Along with improving its eco-credentials, Meliá staff used the down time during the pandemic to boost digital operations and measures to safeguard the health of guests and its 4000 employees.
The chain spent 20 million euros in technology upgrades over the past year and put its employees through training and reskilling programs in digitalization, sustainability and safety.
“Now 70 per cent of our sales are from our own or OTA digital channels,” Escarrer said.