The Meliá Executive Vice President, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, discussed the focus on the company’s 2020 vision, describing the three major areas where it will be focusing its efforts up to the end of the decade. Firstly, the company aims to continue to strengthen its leadership in resort and “bleisure” hotels(urban hotels also offering leisure experiences and lifestyle attributes). Escarrer explained that Meliá will continue to grow internationally in both city and resort hotels and currently has 51 new openings planned up until 2020. The Meliá CEO highlighted growth in the Caribbean, a region it has been committed to for over 30 years, with upcoming openings including the spectacular Paradisus Playa Mujeres in Mexico or the Meliá Internacional Varadero in Cuba. These new openings accompany the important investments made in 2018 in the Dominican Republic, with the opening of the Grand Reserve at Paradisus Palma Real, Meliá Caribe Beach and Meliá Punta Cana Beach. Up to 2020, the company will open at least 10 new hotels in the Americas.
Asia and the Pacific coast will continue to grow strongly, with 16 openings planned up to 2020, three of them in Vietnam, two in China and also the first hotel in the Maldives, the Gran Melia Huravee, scheduled to open this year.
The highest growth for the company is concentrated in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with at least 25 new hotels to open up to 2020, including hotels in major European countries and the iconic ME Dubai Hotel, a masterpiece designed by the deceased Arab architect Zaha Hadid. In Spain, the company is also preparing unique projects in the most attractive city destinations, such as the future ME Barcelona, but is prioritising growth in resort hotels where it sees major opportunities in adding some of the numerous independent hotels that require repositioning through management contracts.
Escarrer presented the vision at the “Innside by Meliá” stand, a brand that has been repositioned with a strong focus on bleisure, combining a leisure experience with business trips and conforming to the strictest sustainability standards.
Sustainable hotels
The sustainable stand at FITUR is aligned with the Meliá 2020 vision, one of whose aims is to become a benchmark for sustainability and corporate responsibility. In response to the trust it enjoys in the market and among major stakeholders, the company intends to further enhance a commitment to corporate responsibility that saw it named the third most sustainable hotel company in the world in 2018 according to RobecoSAM, the agency responsible for ranking companies for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
Up to 2020, the company will intensify its environmental and social strategy, with a particular focus on children, inclusion, diversity and philanthropy.
The Meliá strategic vision prioritises continuity of the financial strength achieved over the last 10 years and the creation of shareholder value. To achieve this, Escarrer explained that the business model consolidated throughout the last Strategic Plan and built around an asset-light model (around 60% of the portfolio) allows it to achieve rapid growth with a low level of leverage and greater resilience to economic cycles.
