Spanish hotel companies close 2023 with more than 60 new openings
There is no doubt that Spanish hoteliers have turned the page on the pandemic. In a year marked by the record figures achieved by the tourism sector and the imminent hotel growth, the results that were collected throughout 2023 lead us to baptise it as the year of total recovery.
Below, Sivarious has compiled the openings with which the most important Spanish hotel chains closed 2023.
Meliá Hotels International
Meliá Hotels, the leading Spanish hotel chain by number of rooms, has closed 2023 as the year of consolidation of the post-pandemic recovery curve initiated in 2022. In terms of expansion, for Gabriel Escarrer’s chain, this year has been a real year of growth, with 25 new hotels signed and 12 openings around the world.
Specifically in Spain, Meliá has added four new hotels to its portfolio. In this way, the Escarrer family’s firm has added a total of 1022 rooms with these operations, which also include the different suites.
In this context, it is essential to highlight that the group has focused part of its growth strategy on the refurbishment of hotels, with an investment of more than 25 million euros. Among the major operations that the company has carried out in its 2023 financial year, the premiere of ZEL, the brand that it has together with Rafa Nadal, stands out.
Barceló Hotel Group
For its part, the Barceló group, which has been awarded ‘Best Hotel Management Company in the World’ at the World Travel Awards 2023, has maintained its firm commitment to expansion in Spain. The chain, which closed the 2022 financial year with more than 61,000 rooms, has added a total of 1,466 rooms to its Spanish portfolio in 2023.
In this sense, the hotel company has made 14 openings, six of them in our country, which are in addition to the more than 277 hotel accommodations, spread around the world, with which it closed the previous year.
Riu Hotels & Resorts
For the Balearic hotel company Riu, 2023 has been a historic year with improvements in all business indicators. The chain currently has 99 hotels, more than two thirds of which are located outside Spain.
During its 2023 financial year, the company has made 3 openings and one of them has been incorporated into the Spanish market. In this regard, RIU Hotels & Resorts has added the 639 rooms of the renovated Riu Gran Canaria to its Spanish portfolio.
This reopening reflects the hotel company’s interest in continuing to grow on the island, as it is the seventh hotel in this destination, where it also has the Riu Palace Maspalomas (Adults Only), the Riu Palace Meloneras, Riu Palace Oasis, Riu Palace Palmeras, and those of the RIU Classic line: the Riu Papayas and the Riu Vistamar hotel.
NH Hotel Group
NH, which forms part of Minor International, has bid farewell to 2023 with one of its main objectives fulfilled: to surpass Meliá in turnover. In this regard, the net profit of 99.6 million euros recorded in the first nine months of the year already hinted that the hotel chain was going to close the year with good results.
In relation to its growth plans, the company announced at the beginning of the year its intentions to open around 50 hotels together with Minor by the end of 2024, which means a total of 4,471 new rooms. The good performance of the business has been accompanied by the opening of 2 new hotel accommodations in Spain.
Thus, the hotel group has ended 2023 with the debut in our country of the Avani Hotels & Resorts chain and the opening of the Hotel Tívoli La Caleta Tenerife Resort. Thus, it has added a total of 385 rooms to those that already form part of the chain’s offer in Spain.
Hotusa Group
For its part, Grupo Hotusa began the year with 9 planned openings and closed it as “the best year in history”, as stated by its president, Amancio López. According to López, this is due to two fundamental conditions: on the one hand, the good performance of demand, which has allowed the group to break records in both sales and results, and, on the other hand, to good management despite the difficulties caused by the environment.
In this regard, the company has made five openings in our country, which represent 248 new rooms. The operations carried out reflect the chain’s commitment to establishments of high cultural value under Áurea Hotels, its boutique hotel brand, which opened two new properties before the end of the year.
Palladium Hotel Group
The Spanish chain owned by the Matutes family has added six new properties to its portfolio of more than 50 hotels located in Spain, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Sicily (Italy) and Brazil. Of the openings during 2023, two are in the Spanish market.
In addition, in the first quarter of 2024 they plan to open the Only YOU Hotel Sevilla and in 2025 a hotel in Venice, which will represent the international expansion of the Only YOU Hotels brand.
Leonardo Hotels
The Leonardo Hotels chain closed 2023 by expanding its offer to 17 hotels and has positioned itself in the holiday segment. After leaving behind a 2022 marked by the investment of 165 million euros earmarked for the acquisition of eight hotel properties in Majorca, Ibiza and Fuengirola (Malaga), the chain focused in 2023 on the restyling of the establishments under its family of brands.
last summer was the first with the new hotels operating at full capacity and with a high and uninterrupted demand during the months of June to September. Between the seven accommodations in the Balearic Islands and the hotel on the Costa del Sol, Leonardo Hotels has added 1,380 rooms in two years. Strong tourist demand has led the chain to close the year with historic occupancy rates.
