Meliá to open Glasgow and Birmingham hotels
Presenting the company’s Strategic Plan at its annual press conference this week, Meliá vice president and chief executive Gabriel Escarrer said the firm would build a new 175-bedroom hotel in Glasgow and a new 180-bedroom hotel in Birmingham.
The hotels will bring the total number of Innside properties planned for the UK to three, with the first – a 208-bedroom hotel in Manchester – due to open later this year.
With a focus on technology, quality and value for money, Innside is Meliá’s fastest growing brand. It currently includes 14 hotels in Germany and Spain, and a further 22 openings are planned across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
The Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham hotels will be Meliá’s first in the UK outside of London, where it currently operates ME London on The Strand and Meliá White House in Regents Park.
Global expansion
Meliá is now the third largest hotel chain in Europe and the twelfth largest hotel chain in the world. The UK openings are part of the company’s wider international expansion plans, with at least 11 hotels due to open across Europe, Asia and the Americas in 2015.
The company added 100 hotels to its portfolio in 2012-2014, and has enjoyed 17 quarters of uninterrupted RevPAR growth. Its share price has increased by 127.5 per cent over the past three quarters.
Escarrer attributed Meliá’s strong performance in recent years to innovation around its products, services and the ‘digital revolution’ as well as partnerships with travel agents and tour operators and investment in direct sales channels such as its website.
“Our Strategic Plan has allowed us to carefully manage a few difficult years and we have levered our resort leadership and international presence to become one of the largest hotel management companies in the world, all while retaining our commitment to Spain where we have continued to invest and reinvent our value proposal for guests and for society as a whole,” he said.
