Gabriel Escherer Jaume, Executive Vice President and CEO of Melia Hotels International, assesses the hotel’s results for the first quarter of the year. Thus, they have indicated that “the first quarter confirms the recovery of tourism worldwide, not only for holiday and urban leisure, but also for groups and businesses (MICE segment)”.
According to Escarrer “the behavior of demand maintains the effect of “revenge” or “bottle of champagne” that began following the withdrawal of restrictions due to the pandemic, although a more structural behavior of demand appears to be consolidating, indicating The growing preference for travel in lifestyle and consumption habits in key markets, which also defies inflationary stress, rising interest rates, turbulence in markets such as energy and the risk of recession in some markets.
The CEO further explains that “this response is also beginning to be visible in countries that later rolled back sanitary restrictions, such as China, Japan or Australia, where demand abroad is strongly appreciated from the second quarter of 2023, Especially destinations in Southeast Asia.”
“At the same time, we see a series of trends already observed during 2022 consolidating globally and which form this new phase, which will transform our company in terms of digitization, brand and experience, sustainability and commitment. People and talent; Increased digital consumption, preference for superior and luxury hotels and rooms, orientation towards “purposeful” experiences, last-minute bookings – despite a growing proportion of early bookings – And trends such as the expected, and healthy, return to our main destinations of the “mixture” of nationalities among the issuing markets, explains Gabriel Escherer.
Melia’s director says that: “This strategic strength and the firmness of demand allow us to expect a recovery of operational normality in practically a year on forecasts, although the confluence of the inflationary context makes the said recovery difficult.” This has translated to a similar ratio of margins and results, which is why we continue to focus on driving revenue growth as well as controlling our costs and optimizing our operating margins.”
Thus, and with a view to the immediate future, according to Escarrer “we anticipate a positive summer season in development that prices will remain, and that occupancy levels, which may eventually exceed those registered in 2019, are still a Envisioning broad margin improvement in both prices and volumes, which confirms our prudently optimistic outlook for Year 2.
