Melia Hotels International : MELIÁ HOTELS INTERNATIONAL REFLECTS ON 2017

by Gabriel Escarrer, Vicechairman and CEO

2017 has been another positive year for the global travel industry, an industry that continues to grow more than other industries and has demonstrated its resilience in the face of geopolitical and social instability, terrorism, and devastating weather events.

At Meliá Hotels International we have stuck to our course, taking advantage of the favourable winds, such as the increase in demand for our most important destinations in the western Mediterranean and Canary Islands caused by the situation in Turkey and North Africa. Above all, we have continued to bolster our Strategic Plan, focusing on both the renovation and repositioning of our brand and product portfolio, and on the cultural and digital transformation of the company to strengthen our leadership in a changing and extremely competitive environment.

Regarding the former, our portfolio has continued to grow, adding more than 30 new hotels to open between 2018 and 2020, and opening new hotels in places such as Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Hamburg, Iguazu, Palma and Rio de Janeiro, among others. Between 2018 and 2019, we have almost 50 openings scheduled, including hotels that will become international benchmarks, such as the Gran Meliá Venice, the ME Dubai, or the Gran Meliá Maldives, among others. We have also carried out an extensive renovation of our brands to ensure they remain the most competitive in their segments in the international arena. In line with this new brand vision, we have continued to renovate and reposition our hotels, achieving extraordinary results in destinations both in Spain and the Mediterranean, as well as in the Caribbean.

This has led to the Net Promotor Score for our hotels reaching a remarkable 51% in the first nine months of the year, making Meliá one of the highest rated consumer brands. For Meliá Hotels International, raising the standards of our brands and anticipating the needs of increasingly demanding travellers is both a business priority and an essential part of our commitment to our destinations and society as a whole.

Given our awareness of how the digital paradigm is transforming our industry, we continue to focus on our digital strategy, strengthening our MeliaRewards customer base and the melia.com website. The website is now the company's biggest sales channel and also a great tool for the company and hotel owners. The new Meliá Pro website will also strengthen B2B sales and enhance and personalize relationships with professional clients.

In 2017, Meliá Hotels International was once again named the travel company with the best corporate reputation in Spain, the best corporate brand in the hotel industry worldwide, and global industry leader in ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance), further increasing the level of excellence and responsibility that our customers and partners expect of us.

These successes have come in a year in which we have also overcome numerous challenges, such as hurricanes, volcanoes and international instability, all while continuing to grow and create value thanks to the professionalism of more than 45,000 employees worldwide, a solid and consistent strategy, and the trust in our company of our most important stakeholders.

We know that in an increasingly cold and impersonal world, the values that inspire our activities, such as warmth, a sense of belonging to a family, a vocation for service, innovation and personalized attention, are more valuable and highly appreciated than ever before, and we aim to continue to share them with you.