The big Spanish hotel chains skyrocket their rates to combat inflation thanks to the recovery of the sector.
This year's summer season finally gives way to the recovery of the tourism sector, a moment that companies in this industry had been eagerly waiting for more than two years.
The big chains were so eager for hotels to fill up again, that they are expected to close the year with higher levels in occupancy and rates compared to those of the previous year of the pandemic.
According to Expansión, the main hotel chains in our country anticipate an average occupancy like that of 2019 in their more than eight hundred hotels in Spain and almost nine hundred abroad.
Spanish hotel chains
In some destinations where it is expected to exceed 85% occupancy, hotel companies have significantly increased rates to cope with the energy and supply costs that have affected the economy in recent months.
This has only been possible thanks to the great increase in demand, especially from foreign tourists who are finally returning to our country.
Meliá points out to the media that they expect to exceed the results of the 2019 season in the holiday segment this year, with special attention to premium hotels in destinations such as Ibiza, Costa del Sol, and Cádiz.
As Expansión points out, the hotels of the chain led by Gabriel Escarrer – 140 of them are in our country - will reach levels like those of 2019, but with prices 18% above those of then to mitigate the impact of inflation.
Spanish hotel chains highlights
In the same vein, Barceló Hotel Group – with eighty out of 270 hotels in Spain - highlights the last-minute reservations that are allowing to reach levels like those of 2019 in destinations such as the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Andalusia, Valencian Community and Catalonia. What is more, sales for this summer are already 12% above those of 2019 and rates are 8% higher.
The same good path is followed by the hotels of the NH group – it has ninety in Spain out of a total of 350–, which already has similar reservations to those of 2019 for the summer months and three times higher than those of the summer season last year. From the chain they indicate to Expansión that thanks to the increase in rates they have been able to assume the effect of inflation.
Spanish hotel chains figures
The company that also expects to end the year with good figures thanks to the summer season is RIU. The chain, with twenty-seven hotels in Spain out of a total of one hundred in the world, expects to close the summer with an average occupancy above 85% and an average rise in rates of between 5% and 10%.
Also, not far behind are Iberostar, Vincci, Palladium or Paradores, which are overly optimistic about occupancy levels this summer and have chosen to raise prices. In the case of the state chain, 8% above the 2019 rates.
Despite the increase in the average rate in all large hotel chains thanks to the return of tourists, the prohibitive cost of energy and the price of products will soften the increase in their income statements.
