Meliá Hotels International (MHI), Spain’s leading hotel company, will continue to strengthen its international expansion and business model in 2013 and make progress in its adaptation to changing market conditions. This was announced on 30 January by CEO, Gabriel Escarrer, during a press conference at the FITUR Tourism Trade Fair in Madrid.
“Thanks to a consistent international growth plan, supported by strong brands and a model based on management contracts and variable leases, we added a hotel every three weeks in 2012 (15 in all), with 80% of the rooms outside Spain,” said Escarrer. “The company expects to keep up this rate of growth in 2013, and has managed to strengthen its position in international markets which already produce more than 80% of our operating profit”.
International growth
The Asia Pacific area continues to be one the major priorities. Meliá has intensified its growth in the region, managing to double its portfolio in just two years, thanks to new hotels in China, Indonesia and Vietnam scheduled to open in the near future. The recent agreement with Greenland, one of China’s major real estate groups, together with the previously announced alliance with Jin Jiang, will help to leverage MHI’s growth in China, the largest emerging market.
The company also plans to consolidate its presence in South American capital cities, promote its Paradisus brand in the English-speaking Caribbean, open in new cities in the USA, widen its network in the Middle East and even start operations in sub-Saharan Africa.
In Europe, one of the company’s traditional markets, Meliá continues to strengthen its presence in Germany, UK, France and Italy; while expansion in Spain will be more selective, focused on innovative products which will add greater value to the company’s hotel portfolio, such as the Calvià Beach Resort project in Mallorca or the two recently incorporated Innside by Meliá hotels in Madrid, one of the brands with the highest growth potential for the company.
New openings for 2013
Meliá Hotels International currently has more than 40 hotels and 12,000 rooms in the pipeline (pending opening), of which twelve are expected to open their doors this year. After the recent opening of the ME London (the new Meliá flagship hotel in the UK, opened in December 2012), and the two new Innside hotels in Madrid, the company is now working on more scheduled openings including the ME Vienna (Austria), Innside Düsseldorf Hafen (Germany), Meliá Isla Canela (Huelva, Spain), Meliá Surabaya (Indonesia), Meliá Da Nang (Vietnam) and two hotels in China (Meliá Jinan and Meliá Tianjin).
About Meliá Hotels International
Meliá Hotels International was founded in 1955 in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and is one of the world’s largest resort hotel chains, as well as Spain’s leading hotel chain. It currently provides more than 350 hotels and 90,000 rooms in 35 countries on 4 continents under its brands: Gran Meliá, ME, Innside, Tryp by Wyndham, Sol and Paradisus. Its product and service portfolio is complemented by Club Meliá, the only vacation club operated by a Spanish company.
