Hotel business in the segment premium it goes from strength to strength Large hoteliers note a strong recovery in demand for luxury establishments. And this is exactly the place where prices are rising the most compared to the start of the pandemic.

According to the latest data from National Institute of Statistics (INE), five-star hotels have surged 25% since the health crisis. The average daily rate per occupied number (ADR) has increased from 175.49 euros in December 2019 to 219.63 euros.

Hotels four starsFor their part, their prices have risen by 12.87% over the past three years, from 92.68 euros to 104.61 euros. In the last year alone, their rates have risen by 8%. those of three stars, They are already 14.72% higher than the pre-pandemic level: 76.11 euros per night compared to 66.34 then. those of two stars They also raised their rates by almost 15%, while in some the amounts hardly change.

In 2022, hotel prices increased by an average of 17%. For this year 2023, hotel companies are already expecting new increases. This was announced last week by the directors of networks such as North Carolina or Melia within International Tourism Fair (Fitur), held in Madrid. CEO Melia, Gabriel escarrerexplained that the prices of its rooms will be 7% higher than last year in 2023, which represents prices 30% higher than before the pandemic.

According to the data provided, the company manages to capitalize on the new trends of a more demanding client looking for higher rates. “In superior rooms, we increased our revenue by 36% compared to last year.”, he added. In addition, he said that 65% of his current portfolio belongs to the segment premium D luxurious. And in expansion plans, this type of offer makes up 80% of the portfolio.

NH CEO, Ramon Aragones, He was also optimistic and hoped to sign a record-breaking year in 2023 with benefits higher than in 2019. “Demand remains very high. The company covers all market segments except budgetarywhich makes us very competitive,” he stressed.

Their strategy last year was to prioritize rate hikes over occupancy, which they want to improve in 2023 but “because of higher prices.” This, he said, is the “only” option to maintain profitability. The company had rates 20% higher than in 2019 and is expected to continue to rise by around 10% or 15% in 2023, Fitur said.

Increasing profitability

According to INE, there has been a noticeable recovery in demand over the past year. The number of overnight stays in hotel establishments in our country has reached 320.7 million people, which is 85.6% more than in 2021, but 6.5% less than before the health crisis due to a decrease in the number of foreigners. The number of overnight stays for local travelers was 0.3% higher than in 2019, while for foreign visitors it was still lower at 10.1%.

Of course, from the hospitality sector, they remember that an increase in the number of customers and rates does not necessarily have to mean an increase in profitability. In this sense, growth energy costs, raw materials and labor create problems for the income statements of many hotels in Spain. Average daily income per available room (RevPAR), which is due to the workload of hotel establishments, reaches 53.1 euros, an increase of 27% compared to last year.

However, the INE figures reflect that the profitability of the business has improved compared to the pre-pandemic period. If before the pandemic, the RevPAR of five-star hotels was 101.57 euros, now it is 120.16. This means an improvement of this indicator by 18.3%. Four-star hotels have risen in price from 57 euros to 63 euros, which means a 10.5% increase in revenue per room since 2019. The average for all categories increased from 61.2 euros to 67.8 (10.78% more).

Also within Fitur, CEO of the hotel group palladiumJesús Sobrino testified that strong demand gave the group the opportunity to raise its rates by 29% in 2022 to absorb rising inflation, and that its fields they have not decreased.

For tourist areas, INE data show that the destinations most frequently chosen by national travelers were the regions Andalusia, Catalonia and Community Valencianwhile foreign visitors preferred Canary Islands, Balearic Islands D Catalonia.

Hotels in the Balearic archipelago have the highest occupancy rates, averaging 74.2%, the Canary Islands 68.1% and Catalonia 57.7%. Mallorca ranks first with 43 million overnight stays, followed by Tenerife with 24.1 million and Barcelona with 20.7 million.

in the question Job, the number of employees in Spain’s hotels averaged 209,017 per year in 2022, down 4.9% from the nearly 220,000 they had in 2019, before the pandemic. Despite a poor start due to the promotion of the omicron option, employment picked up strength and hit its monthly high in August with 282,845 jobs, less than 4,000 fewer than this month of 2019.