Distribución y Revenue Management

🏨 Casual Hoteles, from June to August, increased income by 7.2% compared to summer 2023, earning €8.6 million with a 94.8% occupancy rate. RevPAR grew to €111.24, a 6.91% rise over last year's €104.05. International guests accounted for 73.78% of stays, while the Spanish market slightly declined by 0.56%. The top five nationalities were Spaniards, Italians (14.43%, up 9.93%), French (6.85%), British (5.45%), and Americans (5.26%). The hotel chain, with 25 properties (881 rooms) in 13 cities, plans expansions into Ibiza and Naples in 2025.

📍 Play, an Icelandic private airline inheriting a legacy of predecessors' failures, is making a profit and expanding its European routes, including twice-weekly flights to Valencia, Spain, on Tuesdays and Saturdays starting next summer. The airline, which flies to Madrid, Barcelona, and other Spanish destinations, also plans a new route to Porto. With ten single-aisle aircraft, Play connects 40 destinations in Europe and North America, leveraging Iceland's strategic location for transatlantic flights.

🏖️ TikTok's study by FreeSpinsTracker shows top travel destinations based on hashtag views. Seoul leads with over a billion, followed by Paris with over 481 million views and Barcelona in third with 101+ million. Europe has five spots in the top 10, with Amsterdam and Singapore rounding out the top five. Bangkok, Rome, Istanbul, New York, and Tokyo also feature in the list, with views ranging from 34 million to 23.6 million. The study highlights the influence of TikTok on travel decisions.

🏨 Booking.com critiqued for being favored over hotel websites despite hotels' ability to offer lower prices without contractual obligations to the American portal. Travelers often find hotel direct booking prices higher than on Booking.com, except for one major hotel chain promoting direct purchases with slightly better rates. Hotels faulted for not understanding consumer price-searching behavior and not offering the lowest prices on their websites, contrary to the practice of low-cost airlines. ????️

🏖 Benidorm, previously holding nearly one in five Imserso program spots, sees a drastic reduction in its hotel offerings for the upcoming season starting September 23, due to hotels refusing contract conditions that don't cover operational costs. Only 16 participating hotels are confirmed—11 three-star and 5 four-star establishments. The number has nearly halved from 28 hotels in 2022/2023 to 20 in the last campaign. Hotels will receive 25 to 26 euros per person per night, well below the desired 34 to 35 euros.

✈ Turkish Airlines launches a new route from Santiago de Chile to Istanbul, starting on December 18, with a stopover in Sao Paulo. This addition means Chile becomes the tenth American country Turkish serves, connecting to its 26th airport in the continent, and further expanding the network for residents traveling to the Far East. The Gulf airlines, specifically Emirates, have also expanded in the region, serving cities like Rio and Buenos Aires.

📡 In the context of hotel accommodation choices, 94% of travelers use metasearch engines to book their stays, making such platforms essential for hoteliers to tap into new markets and increase bookings.

📖 The "Viaja+65" initiative in Valencia offers subsidized stays from October to December for seniors, with accommodation compensation of €35 per person per day, a notable increase over the official Imserso program's €25. Participants can choose from 5-10 night stays at a 40% subsidy, with €100 extra credit for activities. There's a €600 subsidy cap for solo travelers and €900 with a companion. The program begins on October 14, with an initial €1.1 million investment, aiming for 50,000 overnight stays and 7,000-8,000 beneficiaries. By 2025, a €6 million investment is planned to offer 40,000 spots and nearly 300,000 overnight stays.

🏖️ Turismo Social, part of Ávoris Corporación Empresarial, announces its hotel offer for the 2024-2025 Imserso travel season, with 201 hotels across the Spanish coast and islands—9 more than last season, representing a 5% increase. Sales start on September 23, featuring 886,269 spots divided into: 443,887 for Coastal Peninsula Tourism, 230,039 for Insular Coast Tourism, and 212,343 for Getaway and European Tourism. Destinations include the Mediterranean coast, the Balearic and Canary Islands, and cultural and nature tourism options with accommodations distributed as 53 in Catalonia, 48 in Valencia Community, 38 in Andalusia, 30 in Canaries, 25 in Balearics, and 7 in the Region of Murcia.

🏨 Gabriel Escarrer, CEO of Meliá Hotels International, suggests room for increased hotel prices in Spain, highlighted during the opening of La Casa de las Artes Meliá Collection in Madrid. Comparing Spanish regions like Marbella and Ibiza to pricier destinations such as Santorini, Mykonos, and the Italian coast, Escarrer notes Spain's competitive edge in both vacation and urban settings. He emphasizes quality over quantity, aiming to attract high-value tourists from America, the Middle East, and Asia, enhancing Spain's offerings beyond just sun and beach to include cultural heritage, gastronomy, infrastructure, and safety.