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🕪 During Semana Santa, there is a 49% surge in Spanish traveler flow compared to Easter 2024. Short-distance trips make up 60% of bookings, with top destinations including Italy, UK, Morocco, Portugal, and Poland. Marrakech, Dublin, and Wroclaw are cities with a significant increase in demand. Morocco and Ireland bookings have quadrupled and quintupled, respectively. The average airfare cost on Kiwi.com is €180, 10% less than in 2024, while long-distance travel costs have decreased by 12%. Reservations in Spain favor destinations like Mallorca, Barcelona, Tenerife, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. April 16 and 17 are the peak travel dates, with an average stay of five days, down from eight days in 2024. Reservations for couples and families are slightly up, while group bookings remain stable.

📖 El Congreso de los Diputados aprobó el jueves pasado una ley contra el desperdicio alimentario, impactando más de 350,000 empresas de hostelería y alojamiento en España. CEHAT y Hostelería de España requieren clarificación urgente sobre la ley que obliga a donar excedentes de alimentos y una respuesta concreta sobre las modificaciones técnicas propuestas en el Senado. Solicitan tomar en cuenta al sector para evitar publicidad negativa y cumplir con una ley que podría afectar al mayor generador de empleo en la economía española.

🌈 Axel Hotels, focused on the LGBTQIA+ community, opened a new hotel in Bilbao's old town with 110 rooms. Targeting an 85% occupancy rate, they expect a median price of €114 per room, aiming for €3.75 million in revenue this year. The hotel offers a Skybar, retractable pool, and wellness club. With this launch, Axel Hotels now operates 10 properties, reinforcing its premium destination portfolio and plans to open 20 more within five years through franchising.

🏨 Published on March 26, 2025, Donovan Castro Fariña explores the profound impact of automation in the hotel industry, highlighting its necessity beyond trendiness. The hospitality sector has witnessed efficiency enhancement through technology from reservation to check-out. Self-service kiosks, mobile apps, and digital keys streamline check-ins, while chatbots and AI ensure 24/7 guest communication. Room automation with smart sensors optimizes energy consumption, reduces operational costs, and supports sustainability efforts. However, challenges include balancing technology with human service, high initial investment costs, data security, and staff training. Automation, if implemented correctly, can significantly strengthen a hotel's market position by combining technological benefits with personalized guest experiences.

🏨 The hotel forecasting process estimates future room and service demand using historical data, market trends, and external factors to optimize planning and occupancy. Artificial intelligence and predictive models have significantly improved forecasting accuracy. Forecasting guides hotel strategies, pricing, and operational resources, impacting profitability and efficiency. It incorporates real-time data, system integration, and factors like global trends, economic conditions, and climate. Hotels use revenue management, operational, and financial forecasting methods to maximize revenue, manage resources, and plan budgets. Best practices include using historical data, market analysis, data quality, real-time adjustments, and combining technology with human expertise. These strategies ensure precision and flexibility in the dynamic hotel industry.

🏖 Ávoris Corporación Empresarial, led by Juan Carlos González, aims to exceed 50% of its EBITDA from international markets in the coming years from the current 20%. The company has expanded its presence in Italy, will open in Morocco and Mexico in 2025, and has entered France while strengthening its positions in Romania and Bulgaria. Ávoris has renewed its agreement with Latin American tourism giant CVC to grow its presence in the continent and has incorporated Travel.land for operations in Iceland.

📈 Eva Blasco, Vice President of International Relations at CEAV, criticized the impractical bureaucracy imposed on travel agencies by Real Decreto 933/2021. She mentioned that agencies struggle with manual data entry, using tools like Excel. The sector is firmly requesting exclusion from this regulation, which they believe should be enforced by accommodations at check-in. FETAVE, led by re-elected President César Gutiérrez Calvo, echoed this sentiment and noted the lack of response from the European Commission to a complaint filed in January 2023. Legal action is considered if their concerns are not addressed in the upcoming ministerial order.

🏨 Miguel Salom of The Hotel Factory presented data on emerging non-hotel accommodation models at Updating Hotelero 2025, hosted by HOSTELTUR. The event, held last Thursday, featured a panel with All Iron Real Estate's David Iriso, ByPillow's Marc Molas, and Wecamp's Albert Montesinos. The next session, including a dozen experts, is scheduled for this Thursday at 10 am, discussing the hotel investment market, new management models, and business succession.

🏨 In the week of March 17-23, Spanish hotels saw reservations increase except in the Valencian Community. Andalusia topped the list with 18.3% of total bookings, a 7.5% week-over-week increase and a 13.6% year-over-year increase. Catalonia and the Canary Islands followed with 16.6% and 14.8% of bookings, respectively. The Basque Country, Castilla y León, and Galicia saw significant booking increases of 31%, 27.2%, and 18.2%. Spain and the UK lead the market, accounting for over 70% of total reservations, despite a 1.8% and 5.9% decline, respectively. Bookings from China, Germany, and the US rose by 29.1%, 19%, and 16.9%. Most bookings (29.74%) were made more than 90 days in advance, with 49.29% for stays of 2 to 5 days. Couples and solo travelers made up 72.5% of bookings.

🏨 Spain hosts over 700 international hotel chains with more than 650,000 rooms, 8.46% of which are under international brands, rising to 17.67% when focusing on total room numbers (116,349 rooms). Hyatt Hotels Corporation leads with 55 hotels and 13,895 rooms, followed by Marriott International's 95 hotels and 13,824 rooms, and Accor with 95 hotels and 11,750 rooms. Together, these top three chains encompass 33% of the total rooms tracked by HOSTELTUR. Recent developments include Hyatt's acquisition of three hotels in Tenerife from Blantyre Capital and Marriott's opening of El Autor in Madrid and The Luxury Collection branded Hotel Palace Madrid after a €90 million investment.