Founded in Mallorca, Spain, in 1956, Melia Hotels International has evolved into a major hospitality player, with a global portfolio of more than 380 properties across more than 40 countries. Its 10 brands include luxury flags like Gran Melia Hotels & Resorts and ME by Melia as well as the high-end, all-inclusive concept Paradisus by Melia. Hotels editor Christina Jelski recently caught up with Melia Hotels International COO Andre Gerondeau for an update on the fast-growing company.
Andre Gerondeau
Q: How did the company's portfolio perform in 2023?
A: We ended 2023 with about four points less occupancy than in 2019 but with about 25% higher ADR, for a number of reasons. One is because we've been focusing a lot of strategy on upper-upscale and luxury hotels. Today, about 15% of our rooms are upscale or luxury, but they generate almost 40% of the revenue.
Q: What's your bird's-eye view of the current global travel demand picture?
A: Last year, we were facing a number of challenges. Obviously, the situation in Israel is delicate, so we had some concerns of how that could impact travel, especially in Europe. And we still have the Ukraine situation. One thing we can say, though, is that this business is very resilient. Customers are willing to travel. And I say this because our pace has not slowed down. It did not slow down in summer, and it has not slowed down as we enter the winter. We have very strong demand in Q1 with the Caribbean, and the pace is strong in the Dominican Republic. It's also very strong in the Canary Islands.
The U.S. market coming back to Europe was very strong. In some of our destinations, which were not key U.S. destinations, like the Balearic Islands -- Minorca, Ibiza, Mallorca -- the U.S. market became the third most important market for some of our luxury properties last summer. Previously, it may have been the fifth, sixth or seventh most important market.
Q: What are the headwinds and tailwinds when it comes to growing Melia's all-inclusive presence?
A: The biggest challenge is the U.S. brands coming into the all-inclusive market in the Caribbean, and that has been a challenge for all all-inclusive properties. At the same time, it's the biggest opportunity, because the segment is becoming far more well known. People are understanding that it's possible to drive a luxury experience in all-inclusive.
Q: What's new on the Paradisus all-inclusive front?
A: There are a few things we're doing. We opened our first two Paradisus properties in the Canary Islands, on Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. And we are converting one of our properties in Bali to Paradisus, so our plan is to take the footprint of the brand to the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Southeast Asia. And we understand there are certain markets where you can't be a 24-hour, self-contained resort, so we've created Destination Inclusive. This is a program for some of our categories where we add a number of activities within the destination as part of your experience. Some of these are curated, private experiences for hotel guests. For example, we have a cenote that is only for our Paradisus Playa del Carmen and Paradisus Cancun guests.
Another thing we did, because we realized that all-inclusive was becoming a little vanilla and there are only so many restaurants and pools that you can have, is the conversion of the Melia Punta Cana Beach to create a wellness-inclusive resort. It's a spa without walls. There are a number of activities related to the spa circuit, there are wellness suites.
It's creating a whole well-being atmosphere. And that's something we'll continue to add to our Paradisus resorts, as well.