It is a decisive moment for Meliá Hotels International. The main Spanish hotel company is preparing to take a business leap after the shock caused by the pandemic. 2023 is a year that, as predicted by its president and CEO, Gabriel Escarrer, could end up being a record. The current accompanies, with Spain breaking the visitor record.
In terms of business figures, the company has already accumulated a consecutive year of constant growth and the short and medium-term horizon invites optimism. The key to the positive data lies in the rise in rates, which the customer is paying without any problem. Specifically, for this summer the company’s book reservations for Meliá holiday hotels are 30% above average compared to prices for the same period in 2019, the reference year for the sector. All this, in addition, improving occupancy by 5%. In other words, the customer travels more and is willing to pay higher rates.
In coastal destinations, this increase in Meliá rates reaches 34%, while in the Canary Islands it is around 28%, and in the Balearic Islands, 18%, according to data provided by the company. The increase in prices seeks to cover the rise in energy costs and fresh food, but it is also due to an improvement in the brand and an increase in the quality of the services offered, he highlights. “We took advantage of the covid to remodel and improve our portfolio,” explained Escarrer, who last week succeeded his father as president of the company, maintaining his position as CEO. In this way, a succession plan activated in 2016 was completed, when the founder of Meliá voluntarily resigned from his executive functions as president and transferred them to his son Gabriel.
Meliá’s plans this 2023 include continuing to open new hotels and, therefore, continue with its growth. The company had, at the end of 2022, 110,000 rooms throughout the world, the highest figure in history, which will increase this year. The priority for 2023 is Southeast Asia and the Balkans. The hotel company believes that South Asia will be the fastest growing area this year and they will focus there. The Chinese market is traveling to those places after the strong restrictions that they experienced due to the health emergency. A growing middle class eager to travel and which Meliá wants to welcome. On the horizon for the coming months is the opening of a Meliá in Vietnam or Malaysia. The goal is for these establishments to be among the company’s most profitable in the medium term.
In the Balkans, Meliá is focusing on Albania –where it is going to open a new establishment and become the first hotel company in the country, with seven– and on Montenegro, a country where the management team sees potential for growth. The expansion strategy is completed with Italy, paying special attention to Milan, where Meliá will open a boutique hotel next to the Duomo, the Palazzo Cordusio; in Cuba, where the Meliá Trinidad aspires to become the best hotel on the Caribbean island in the coming years; in Seychelles, with three new establishments; in Tanzania, next to the crater with the most vegetation and fauna in the world, the Ngorongoro conservation area, and in China.
Also closer, in Majorca, where Escarrer opened the first Zel hotel a few days ago with the tennis player Rafael Nadal as a reference partner. It aspires to be the first establishment of several that will be located in the cities where the man from Manacor has triumphed in his sports career. Paris could be the next destination. The United States, however, where the hotel company is present, is not a priority market for Meliá due to competition from other large hotel groups, such as Marriott itself, associated with AC Hotels.
In Catalonia, one of the jewels in the crown will be the old Rey Juan Carlos I hotel in Barcelona. Meliá aspires to reopen the emblematic establishment of the city at the end of the year, explained Escarrer himself, once its future has been guaranteed with the approval of the bankruptcy agreement with the support of 73.1% of the creditors. The complex will be completely remodeled and negotiations are underway to extend the ERTE that affects more than 300 workers.
As for employment, the hotel run by Gabriel Escarrer had 11,274 workers at the end of 2022, close to the 12,000 that it touched five years ago. After recovering the level prior to the covid, the company highlights having taken advantage of the labor reform to also improve the stability of its workers thanks, essentially, to the discontinuous permanent contract. And aspires to more contracts. For this 2023 the objective is to incorporate 2,500 professionals through different selection processes open in different parts of the world.
One of the problems is the difficulty in retaining talent. There are leaks of workers who do not want to continue developing their professional careers in the same chain or who change sectors. To try to train her quarry, the hotel run by Escarrer has signed agreements with 80 universities.