Latest news with #GabrielEscarrer
Skift
10-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
Meliá Hotels CEO Eyes Growth in Emerging Destinations as U.S. Travelers Boost European Resorts
Meliá's ability to stay profitable while expanding is notable. CEO Gabriel Escarrer tells Skift he's turning the group into a global resort operator, not just a Mediterranean one. Leaders of Travel: Skift C-Suite Series What are the top trends impacting hotels, airlines, and online bookings? We speak to the executives shaping the future of travel. What are the top trends impacting hotels, airlines, and online bookings? We speak to the executives shaping the future of travel. Learn More Meliá Hotels is seeing continued strength in travel demand across its portfolio, led by solid leisure and urban bookings in Spain and Latin America, even as economic uncertainty lingers. CEO Gabriel Escarrer told Skift the company is experiencing what he calls a 'healthy normalization' of rates and occupancy. 'We haven't seen any slowdown in demand so far,' Escarrer said. Escarrer highlighted Madrid as one of the company's strongest markets, with the Spanish capital not only recovering but surpassing pre-pandemic visitor numbers. Meliá operates two dozen properties in Madrid. Meliá's Spanish resort properties, particularly in the Canary Islands and Mediterranean coast, continue to see strong occupancy rates driven by international visitors from the U.S., Britain, and France. "The number of U.S. customers going to our resorts in the Mediterranean, to Spain, to Italy, to Greece, to Portugal, is even
Reuters
08-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Hotel chain Melia sees higher 2025 summer sales in Spain as tourism boom continues
MADRID, May 8 (Reuters) - Spain's largest hotel chain Melia ( opens new tab expects summer sales in its home country to rise this year compared to 2024, Chief Executive Gabriel Escarrer told shareholders on Thursday. Leisure travel demand remains strong in Spain, with tourist numbers rising 5.7% year-on-year in the first quarter after a record 94 million tourists were registered in 2024, according to the latest official data. Some airlines and the travel booking system Amadeus have warned of a slowdown in global air traffic compared to last year caused by weather disruptions in the United States and the introduction of trade barriers. "Despite the caution we must maintain in the current turbulent environment, we continue to see no signs of a slowdown in reservations for 2025," Escarrer said during the company's annual shareholders meeting. During Easter week, the beginning of the high season in Spain, Melia recorded a double-digit increase in both the number of guests and average room prices from a year ago, Escarrer added. Melia expects a single-digit increase in revenue per room in 2025 as the company focuses on luxury accommodation to better benefit from the tourism boom. Melia will release first-quarter results later on Thursday.
Reuters
27-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Spanish hotel chain Melia's profit up 25% with focus on luxury tourism
MADRID, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Spain's largest hotel chain Melia ( opens new tab on Thursday posted a 25% rise in net profit to 162 million euros ($169 million) in 2024, beating analyst expectations, after focusing on luxury accommodation to better benefit from a record tourism boom. Analysts, on average, had expected a net income of 130 million euros. Melia has invested 400 million euros in the last two years in turning more than half of its hotels into premium destinations. It plans to open more luxury hotels in Barcelona, Malaga and Madrid to boost room rates as smaller rivals also bet on the upmarket sector. Revenues per room at Melia increased by 11% in 2024, and the company said that 75% of this was due to higher room rates. Revenue rose 5% to 2 billion euros, in line with analysts' estimates. Spain, Melia's main market for city and resort hotels, attracted a record 94 million visitors last year, prompting protests from some locals who say excess tourism has made housing costs too expensive. Melia's chief executive Gabriel Escarrer said in January he didn't agree with Spain's ambition to boost foreign tourist arrivals to 100 million a year, arguing that it was best to focus on attracting higher-spending North American and Middle-Eastern tourists to relieve pressure on locals and the environment. Melia expects to open a hotel every two weeks this year and 80% of the pipeline, mostly in the Mediterranean and Caribbean destinations, are premium ones. The company says bookings are growing at a high single-digit rate this year, but its hotels have confirmed 16% more corporate events than last year. The Mallorca-based company reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 575.4 million euros in 2024, surpassing the company's target of 500 million. Excluding capital gains, EBITDA totalled 533.6 million euros. ($1 = 0.9589 euros)
