Important! This article is written by orangesmile.com editors and is protected by copyright law. The article can only be re-used with a direct link to www.orangesmile.com

Madrid Hotels Enjoy More Visitors in 2017

After a period of low popularity, Spain returned back on track in 2017, and its hotel market became one of the hottest across Europe. Hotel operators enjoyed high occupancy during the year, improved daily rates, and higher RevPAR. If in 2016 nearly 75 million tourists visited the country, the preliminary 2017 data shows a significantly higher result - 80-85 million travelers.

The country’s hoteliers say that four years ago their business was a total disaster. It was incredibly hard to run business in Spain and Portugal, but the situation has become a lot better. Both international and domestic demand is back, and tourists spend more money again. Madrid hotels had an exceptionally busy year. Catalonia’s referendum and desire to secede from Spain made this region less attractive for tourists. Consequently, Barcelona hotels had to deal with many cancellations. The Catalonian capital has become less interesting for investors as well due to the ban on new hotels in the center of the city. Not only Madrid benefited from that, but also secondary Spanish cities, such as Seville, Granada, and San Sebastian.

The largest hotel operators in Spain, namely, Barcelo Hotels Group, Marriott International, and AccorHotels, have 14 new hotels in the pipeline with the total of 1,925 guest rooms. As many as 17,356 hotel rooms are to be added in Spain by 2019, but that will increase the total room supply by just 5%. The recovery of the tourism industry of Spain started with the beginning of the Arab Spring – continuous problems in North Africa and the Middle East made these regions less attractive for leisure tourists. Europeans decided to change their vacation destinations to safer areas, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, or Costa del Sol.

Even though domestic Spanish operators have always been dominant on the resort market, many international companies decided to join in. Therefore, a number of large resort complexes are to appear in the city. For example, Marriott International together with Platinum Estates (Hong Kong) will open a hotel in Marbella. Operating under the W Hotels brand, the beachfront resort will have the main complex with 200 guest rooms and a separate complex with 100 condos and villas. This project is due by 2021. France headquartered Club Med will renovate a 40-year old hotel in Marbella together with Arab investors.

With Barcelona losing its popularity, such cities as Madrid, Granada, San Sebastian, Bilbao, and Seville are expected to become top tourist destinations in Spain. These cities have a rich historical heritage and offer a developed infrastructure for tourists. Many interesting projects are to appear in these cities. For example, Room Mate Hotels is expanding its chain of boutique hotels across Spain. B&B Hotels are very interested in San Sebastian and have as many as 10 hotels in the pipeline in the country.

03.01.2018

Previous article / Back to news index

Stay in touch with the latest news of a worldwide hotel industry. All up-to-date analytics, reports, and news about hotel business trends on OrangeSmile.com.