Meliá Hotels CEO Eyes Growth in Emerging Destinations as U.S. Travelers Boost European Resorts
Photo Credit: Interior of Meliá's Zel Punta Cana hotel in the Dominican Republic. Meliá Hotels International
Skift Take
Meliá's ability to stay profitable while expanding is notable. CEO Gabriel Escarrer tells Skift he's turning the group into a global resort operator, not just a Mediterranean one.
Leaders of Travel: Skift C-Suite Series
What are the top trends impacting hotels, airlines, and online bookings? We speak to the executives shaping the future of travel.Meliá Hotels is seeing continued strength in travel demand across its portfolio, led by solid leisure and urban bookings in Spain and Latin America, even as economic uncertainty lingers.
CEO Gabriel Escarrer told Skift the company is experiencing what he calls a “healthy normalization” of rates and occupancy. “We haven’t seen any slowdown in demand so far,” Escarrer said.
Escarrer highlighted Madrid as one of the company's strongest markets, with the Spanish capital not only recovering but surpassing pre-pandemic visitor numbers. Meliá operates two dozen properties in Madrid.
Meliá's Spanish resort properties, particularly in the Canary Islands and Mediterranean coast, continue to see strong occupancy rates driven by international visitors from the U.S., Britain, and France.
"The number of U.S. customers going to our resorts in the Mediterranean, to Spain, to Italy, to Greece, to Portugal, is even
