Meliá Hotels International

Meliá Hotels International, S.A.

Type	Sociedad Anónima
Traded as	BMAD: SOL
Industry	Travel, tourism
Founded	1956
Founder(s)	Gabriel Escarrer Juliá
Headquarters	Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Key people	Gabriel Escarrer Juliá (Chairman), Gabriel Juan Escarrer Jaume (CEO)
Products	Hotels and resorts
Revenue	€1.251 billion (2010)[1]
Operating income	€141.8 million (2010)[1]
Profit	€50.1 million (2010)[1]
Total assets	€3.390 billion (end 2010)[1]
Total equity	€1.116 billion (end 2010)[1]
Employees	16,820 (average, 2010)[1]
Website	www.solmelia.com

The Melia Madrid Princesa hotel.

Hotel Gran Meliá Salinas in Lanzarote.

Meliá Hotels International, S.A. (formerly Sol Meliá) is a Spanish hotel chain which was founded by Gabriel Escarrer Juliá in 1956 in Palma de Mallorca. The company is the world's largest operator of holiday resorts^[2] and the 13th biggest hotel chain worldwide.^[3] Domestically the company is the market leader in both resort and urban hotels.^[4] Currently Sol Meliá operates around 300 hotels in 27 countries worldwide, employing almost 17,000 people.

History

The origins of the company reach back to 1956, when the then-21-year-old Gabriel Escarrer Juliá leased the Altair Hotel in Palma, Majorca.^[5] Over the subsequent years Escarrer took advantage of the island's increasing popularity as a tourist destination for package holidaymakers, adding further properties to the portfolio of his company, Hoteles Mallorquines.^[5] The company expanded geographically in the 1960s and 70s, acquiring hotels in the Canaries as well as the other Balearic Islands. After the decline of General Franco's dictatorship, tourism in Spain developed more rapidly and Hoteles Mallorquines aggressively moved onto the Spanish mainland, establishing a presence in much of the country by the early 1980s.^[5]

In 1984 the company renamed itself Hoteles Sol (English: Sun Hotels), before establishing itself as the largest hotel chain in the country with the acquisition of the 32 location-strong Hotasa group.^[5] Another merger followed three years later as the company combined with the upmarket Meliá chain to form Sol Meliá.^[5] The deal increased the geographical scope of the company into the Caribbean, Americas and other parts of Europe.

A 1996 split of the company into two separate businesses, one for hotel ownership (Inmotel) and another for management (Sol Meliá, which listed on the Bolsa de Madrid), was reversed three years later amid major consolidation in the industry.^[5] Gabriel Escarrer Sr. subsequently stepped down from the chief executive role, replaced by his sons Gabriel Jr. and Sebastian, who became deputy CEO.^[6] The following year brief takeover talks were held with Hilton International,^[5] but Sol Meliá instead chose to make an acquisition of its own, paying €360 million for smaller peer Tryp Hotels.^[7] Tryp had come close to being purchased by rival chain NH Hoteles a year earlier.^[8] Tryp continued to exist as a separate brand within the Sol Meliá group. Rights to the Tryp brand were sold to Wyndham Worldwide in 2010, but Sol Meliá continues to own and operate the hotels under a licensing agreement.^[9]

On 3 June 2011 the company changed its name to Meliá Hotels International.

The company has recently sought to forge partnerships with other companies in the leisure industry, opening hotels based on the Hard Rock Cafe concept in conjunction with then-parent The Rank Group,^[10] and Flintstones-themed hotels with Warner Bros.^[5]

Although publicly traded since 1996, the Escarrer family continues to control Meliá Hotels, holding a combined stake of over 63% at the end of 2010.^[1]

Operations

The company employs various commercial brands to offer their product, including Gran Meliá, Meliá Hotels & Resorts, ME by Meliá, Innside, Tryp Hotels, Sol Hotels, Paradisus Resorts and Sol Meliá Vacation Club.

The firm operates almost 300 hotels as of May 2011, of which over 150 are in Spain. Of the other 26 countries in which Meliá Hotels operates, the largest numbers of hotels are located in Cuba, Germany, Croatia, Brazil and Portugal.^[11]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Annual Report 2010". Sol Meliá. http://inversores.solmelia.com/en/show_annex.html?id=3407. Retrieved 8 May 2011. 
2. ^ Brandt, Nadja (4 June 2007). "Deutsche Telekom, Ryanair, Sol Melia: European Equity Preview". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a3mAN8YCYLUY&refer=europe. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
3. ^ Harding, Ben; Hetz, Robert (11 November 2008). "Spain's Sol Melia cuts capex, gloomy on 2009". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSLB19139720081111. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
4. ^ Harding, Ben (7 August 2008). "Sol Melia's H1 profit drops 41 pct, to miss target". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSL772301820080807. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Cohen, M.L. (2006). "Sol Meliá S.A.". International Directory of Company Histories. The Gale Group. http://www.answers.com/topic/sol-meli-s-a. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
6. ^ "Annual Report 2004". Sol Meliá. http://inversores.solmelia.com/en/show_annex.html?id=442. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
7. ^ "Sol Melia Will Pay $326.8 Million For Spanish Hotel Group Tryp". The Wall Street Journal. 22 August 2000. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB966852984842490468.html. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
8. ^ "Sol Meliá sella un acuerdo para la compra de Hoteles Tryp" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 1 August 2008. http://www.elmundo.es/2000/08/01/economia/01N0094.html. Retrieved 2008-12-07. 
9. ^ Chang, Michelle (7 June 2010). "Wyndham Buys Tryp Brand". Toronto Star. http://torontostar.morningstar.ca/globalhome/industry/news.asp?articleid=340085. Retrieved 8 May 2011. 
10. ^ "Rank Group Plans Hard Rock's Growth". The New York Times. Associated Press. 19 June 2003. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F7081EFA3A5C0C7A8DDDAF0894DB404482&fta=y&archive:article_related. Retrieved 21 October 2010. 
11. ^ "Hotel directory". Sol Meliá. http://www.solmelia.com/hotels/home.htm. Retrieved 8 May 2011. 

External links

• Official website