Gestión Hotelera

🏗️ Calvià's Town Hall has signed a purchase agreement with the owners of Hotel Teix in Magaluf, to be made effective by March 30. Funded by the EU's Next Generation Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan through the Balearic Tourism Ministry, this includes a similar deal for Hostal Colom in Paguera. The Hotel Teix, closed for years, will be demolished to create public spaces as part of a municipal policy involving €20 million in improvements including Magaluf's first line, Peguera boulevard, and Santa Ponça's main avenue. The combined purchase and demolition of Teix and Hostal Colón total €5.78 million, marking the first 21st-century hotel demolition by the municipality.

🏢 José Elías has invested in a new 100-meter tall hotel with 520 rooms in Barcelona, expected to finish by late 2025. Hoteles Servigroup started 2025 with its first tourist apartment complex in Benidorm. Cádiz will get a new luxury hotel, Fairmont La Hacienda, with a €150 million investment announced in Fitur. BlueSea Hotels is likely to acquire Meeting Point Hotels' contracts, unaffected by FTI Group's bankruptcy. Jaime García-Calzada, president of FER, passed away. Óscar Perelli became Exceltur's vice president on January 1, 2025. Fitur 2025 saw over 255,000 attendees, 155,000 professionals, participation from 9,500 companies, 156 countries, and generated a €445 million impact on Madrid. Viajes El Corte Inglés appointed Ricard Plans for its wholesale division. Air New Zealand, Iberia, and Vueling ranked among the safest airlines in 2025. Independent hotels in Spain pay a 6.9% higher salary than hotel chains, according to Turijobs' "Salary Trends 2025" report.

👨 Beatriz Varela, the general director of social tourism at Ávoris, suggests that the Imserso program could benefit from expanding its capacity to potentially serve hundreds of thousands more people. Currently, there's a proposal for the Imserso to increase its offering by 1.5 million places. Varela also recommends opening the program to foreign retirees, potentially attracting 100,000 to 300,000 additional beneficiaries in the initial years. Key markets include the UK, Germany, and Nordic countries. This expansion aims to boost the Spanish economy during the low season. The possibility of including destinations in France and Portugal has been discussed, with potential implementation in the upcoming season.

🏩 Madrid, 30 January 2025: Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH) teams up with Fagor Multimedia Solutions, part of MONDRAGON Corporation, to advance digital transformation in the hotel sector. The collaboration aims to enhance customer experience and competitiveness through telecom and multimedia solutions. Álvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, ITH Director, and Fagor's Director General, Gorka Guerra, highlight the alliance's focus on innovation, sustainability, and technology as key to addressing industry challenges. Fagor, after acquiring Triax Digital Solutions, aspires to be a leading European player in telecommunication infrastructure solutions, promoting energy efficiency and intelligent connectivity from its Gipuzkoa bases in Arrasate-Mondragón and Astigarraga.

🏨 Safestay PLC, a major European hostel group, announces a multi-year partnership with Cloudbeds starting January 2025 to transition over 20 of its European hostels to Cloudbeds' Enterprise platform, utilizing its award-winning Property Management System (PMS). The move is part of Safestay's "Platform for Growth" strategy, aimed at improving guest experience, commercial and marketing strategy, and reducing operational costs. Enhancements include AI-driven pricing software, direct booking strategies, guest preference monitoring, multi-language guest communication, and personalized membership offers. Larry Lipman, Chairman of Safestay, and Adam Harris, CEO of Cloudbeds, express excitement for the efficiency and growth this partnership promises.

💰 In Spain, 38% of hotel staff blame their Property Management System (PMS) experiences as a key factor in resigning from jobs. New regulations require the adoption of holiday and absence management systems, like Factorial. Digital systems are replacing physical time-tracking methods, freeing HR teams to focus on training, team building, and talent management. Cloudbeds' study indicates that 38.1% of hotel employees cite technical issues with reservation systems as a major resignation factor, in an industry with a 40.5% turnover rate. Efficient systems are valuable for monitoring work hours, promoting work-life balance, and attracting talent. Automation reduces errors and integrates with payroll systems, ensuring precise salary calculations. Spain's law mandates digital time-tracking to avoid fines up to €6,250. Hotels are moving from manual records to cloud-based tools, with options like Factorial, Sesame HR, Beebole, Clockify, TSheets by QuickBooks, Hubstaff, Ficha.Work, and Kenjo available on the market.

🏨 Maricarmen Álvarez, with over 30 years in tourism, specializes in tech solutions for the hotel sector and leads Alojapro as CEO. Alojapro was founded in 2008 to provide flexible management tools for vacation hotels and travel agencies. The most demanded service is their reservation engine, aiding direct booking and client loyalty. They serve independent hotels to large chains, offering personalized, scalable solutions including a CRM with AI. Their emergency services operate 24/7, with a focus on data-driven optimization and a commitment to sustainable practices.

🏨 Hotel architecture is not just about building four walls but creating an immersive experience with every detail designed to make guests fall in love. It involves factors like location adaptation, guest-targeted design, sustainability, sensory experiences, cultural authenticity, and diverse styles including boutique hotels, resorts, themed hotels, capsule hotels, hostels, rural inns, and eco-lodges. Key trends include advanced technology, biophilic design, art and cultural integration, adaptive spaces for hybrid events, and inclusive architecture.

🏨 BlueSea Hotels, backed by Portobello Capital, is set to acquire the contracts from Meeting Point Management Holding, which operates five hotel brands. The deal, expected to close in the coming weeks, includes 16 hotels in the Canary Islands, previously part of a portfolio of 3,100 rooms. BlueSea, currently 25th in the Hosteltur Ranking of large hotel chains, operates 28 hotels in Spain and one in Morocco. The acquisition will strengthen its position in the 3 and 4-star segment, following Portobello's November announcement of a new fund to fuel expansion. The move comes post-FTI Group's bankruptcy, with several hotels already changing managers or being sold, such as Labranda Costa Adeje and Hotel Costa Mogán.

📈 Employee retention involves building work relationships based on respect, recognition, and professional development, crucial in the hospitality industry for guest satisfaction. Retaining a cohesive team reduces selection and training expenses, enhances customer experiences, increases productivity, strengthens organizational culture, and minimizes operational disruptions. Fifteen strategies to improve talent retention include professional development, open communication, recognition, flexible scheduling, competitive salaries, work-life balance, adequate tools, wellness programs, internal promotions, soft skills training, team achievements celebrations, constructive evaluations, mentoring, and fostering a sense of belonging. In essence, investing in employees is investing in the hotel's success.