Meliá, Barceló and NH, the major hotel companies describe the summer as ‘positive’.
Major hotel companies such as Meliá, Barceló and NH assure that the results of the summer season are positive and exceed or at least equal those of last year, which had a very high level of tourist demand due to the ‘champagne’ effect, as it was the first year without travel restrictions since the pandemic.
Meliá Hotels International has told EFE that in its holiday establishments in Spain – Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and mainland coasts – the positive trend and the forecasts announced in the presentation of the results for the first half of the year last July, which pointed to a good evolution of bookings in the third quarter, are being maintained.
These forecasts are being met, as bookings not only exceeded, as the company announced then, by around 30% those of the same period of 2019 in monetary terms, but even improved by high single digits those recorded for the third quarter of last year.
Likewise, the trends noted in terms of the recovery of the mix of issuing markets are confirmed, with the British and American markets standing out in particular.
In addition to recovering advance sales, the Mallorcan hotel group is having “a very positive performance” in last-minute sales, again especially from the United Kingdom.
HOTELIERS’ DEMAND FOR LUXURY ESTABLISHMENTS GROWS
On the other hand, the nationality with the highest increase and contribution of rate is the US, which is especially positive for its hotels in the Balearic Islands ‘luxury’ and the new Zel Mallorca.
In general, it also reaffirms the increased demand for luxury hotels and superior rooms, the company added.
And this demand from the hotel chains, together with the increase in the average rate, especially in this segment, is helping the three aforementioned areas “to improve results from previous years, with occupancy that continues to improve, but which still has room for improvement”, according to Meliá.
Along the same lines, Barceló Hotel Group told EFE that its results for the summer season are positive, thanks to the company’s advance sales in both the domestic market and in the main international countries of origin, especially the United Kingdom.
REVENUES GROW BY 25%
With August still to close, the group is 25% ahead of last year in terms of revenue, highlighting the “very good performance” of its hotels in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Levante and northern Spain, where it has reached 90% occupancy.
Barceló has detailed that, although at the beginning of the season there was a certain slowdown in sales, especially in the domestic market, there was finally a reactivation of last-minute demand not only because of the high temperatures, but also because people were eager to go on holiday.
As for rates, the hotel company has recalled that it has increased prices “moderately” with respect to 2022 and has done so not only due to the increase in inflation and energy costs, but to “the significant investment it has made in the last two years in the repositioning of several hotels in Spain”.
NH Hotel Group has also indicated to EFE that the performance of the different destinations in Spain (mainly on the coast) “continues to be positive” this summer for the hotel companies.
BETTER RESULTS IN JULY THAN IN AUGUST
Although the results in July are better than in August compared to the previous year, both months experience double-digit growth of 19% compared to 2019, before the pandemic, he pointed out.
According to NH, July was favoured by international events, both business and leisure, in cities such as Madrid (Gay Pride and MadCool) and Barcelona (World Parkinson Congress and Harry Styles concert) in Barcelona, as well as in San Sebastian (Tour de France and Donosti Cup), Pamplona (Sanfermines) or Vitoria, among others.
“This allowed us to close comfortably above last year, thanks to the strong performance of destinations such as Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, San Sebastian, A Coruña or Alicante, among others, both in occupancy and price”, NH has detailed.
DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH FOR HOTEL COMPANIES
For August, the data are also double-digit growth compared to 2019, but if compared to last year, destinations such as Barcelona or Santiago de Compostela “miss” events in that month of 2022.
Despite this, the company highlights “the good performance of other areas (Cantabrian coast, Coruña, Andalusia, Valencia or even Madrid) that cushions this fall, managing to match the results at the end of 2022”.
With regard to the issuing markets, the national market accounts for almost 55% of the nights sold by the chain, a percentage which, however, is lower than that of 2019 or 2022, so that it gives weight to other countries such as the United States, which reaches a 10% share, followed by the United Kingdom, France and Mexico, all growing at double digits.
