Spending a holiday in Spain has never been as expensive as this summer. The season concludes with unprecedented hotel prices and three consecutive months of record-breaking rates, which has forced travelers to shorten their average stay to adjust to the cost of accommodations. The establishments have received more tourists than ever between June and August, 37.36 million including both Spaniards and foreigners, according to the survey of the Hotel Tourism Industry published yesterday by the INE. And in this context, the main hotel chains claim that they have closed a “very good season”, both in terms of employment and income. If it’s not his best summer, he’s getting close.
In 2019, a reference year for the sector when it comes to measuring the evolution of activity, 36.55 million guests arrived at the country’s hotels during the three months of summer, while in 2022, the worst of the pandemic having passed, 36.18 million arrived. However, overnight stays do not reach pre-covid numbers. This high season closed with 126.1 million hotel nights between June and August, compared to 127.46 million in 2019 (123.4 million in 2022). In other words, the hotels have had more customers, but the latter have reduced their holidays to adapt to the rise in prices, industry sources point out. For the year as a whole, on the other hand, overnight stays do exceed those of the first eight months of 2019, which indicates that demand is beginning to not tolerate the increase in prices so stoically. In fact, in August hotel occupancy fell slightly by 0.3% year-on-year, up to 74.8%. The degree of occupancy by places at the weekend also fell by 0.6% and stood at 77.5%. This small decline was offset, in any case, by higher revenue per room. The average rate in August reached 136.5 euros, which represents an increase of 6.7% compared to the same month in 2022 and 25% above the pre-pandemic summer.
However, the increase in the price of accommodation has moderated in the last two months. “We are starting to hit the ceiling in the sector and it is possible that from now on we will see some erosion in prices”, says José Rodríguez Pousa, CEO of Sercotel. With one hundred hotels in Spain, the hotel chain’s occupancy has reached 80%, three points above the previous summer, and prices have been 10% higher. In the city of Barcelona, ??they have even reached full capacity, with rates 15% more expensive than a year ago. “It has been a very good season”, says the manager.
The big hotel companies in Spain are satisfied with the season. From Meliá they comment that this third quarter they have exceeded by almost 30% the reservations in monetary terms of the same period of 2019, and have even improved those of 2022. Regarding the increase in hotel prices, they point out that it has not obeyed only to inflation, but also to the investment made by many companies, such as Meliá itself, “in improvement and in the repositioning of products with a greater weight in the premium and luxury segment”. A larger portfolio of superior five-star accommodation has pushed rates up. The hotel company Riu has raised, for its part, the occupancy of its 27 establishments in Spain to 95%, with an average rate increase of nearly 10%.
They have the same balance in Barcelona (85 hotels in Spain). The results of the summer season have been “very positive thanks to the good behavior of the main international sending markets, especially the British, French and German”. Once the month of August was closed, they managed to increase income by 20% compared to last year, and “the result of our hotels in the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, the Levant and northern Spain stands out, where we have reached a 90% occupancy and an average increase of 10%” of the average daily rate.
As for the Hotusa group (165 hotels in the country), which has also met its expectations this summer, they point out that the increase in prices “is linked to the good behavior of demand”. “On the contrary, a price war would be cause for concern”, they add. They also remember that operating costs have also skyrocketed. And they insist that, compared to destinations like Paris or London, hotels in Barcelona or Madrid continue to be cheaper.
The good prospects in the sector do not end here. A benign weather at the beginning of autumn and an Imserso program with more places will allow the season to be extended and a good part of the activity to be maintained.
