58 | TRADE NEWS
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EXCLUSIVE: NI Travel News Catches Up with Iberostar’s Business Development Director (UK & Ireland) AISHLING MCLOUGHLIN to Chat All Things Iberostar
IBEROSTAR AND ITS PROPERTIES
IBEROSTAR hotels is an international hotel chain, and we have 14 destinations currently with over 100 properties worldwide. To be honest with you, the Spanish regions have always been very, very popular. We've got the mainland of Spain, but also the islands, the Canaries, and the Balearics. Iberostar’s home is the island of Majorca. We've actually got 16 hotels just on that one island. We had a new opening last year. Iberostar Selection Es Trenc, which is really popular in a beautiful kind of hidden gem part of the island. So that's becoming more well known now and we're kind of spreading the word about that. So that's fantastic. And we also have Crete and Montenegro.
Again, we used to say Montenegro was like a hidden gem, but it's becoming more known to our customers. We've actually got a new property opening this summer, so we've got 4 hotels in different areas. Because it has been such a popular destination for us, we are investing in the destination even more, which is great. In Crete, we've got 2 properties there in Rethymnon They've just had renovations over the last 23 years. We have seen Iberostar Selection Creta Marine complete a full renovation. Morocco's selling through the roof. I don't know what's going on there. The destination is so popular. Triple digit increases over the last few years overall, but especially for the UK and the Irish market, which is great. And we've got properties in Marrakech and Agadir. We've got the city in Marrakech City property, even though it feels like a beach resort, it's like a kind of oasis and then 15 minutes from there, you're in the souks of Marrakech. It's crazy. And then we've also got Agadir Beach resort there and it’s very popular, but Tunisia is another North African destination where we've had a lot going on. New hotels have opened in the last few years. Over the last maybe 2 or 3 years, it's becoming more well known,more customers are trying it out and falling in love with it and the people and the beaches there are very good product. This November, we’re opening a new
destination; the east coast of Africa in Zanzibar. It’s a premium category. It’s going to be absolutely amazing. And Zanzibar, I don’t know if it’s because myself and the team have said we’re more aware of it now, but for the last 6 months, all we’ve been hearing about is Zanzibar. It will open officially on 1st of November. And then we’ve got our long haul. We’ve got the Caribbean, South America. We’ve got Miami in the US as well and we opened a new destination, Aruba last year. We’ve got new properties going on in the Caribbean. We also had a new opening in Mexico last winter. The product there is seeing a lot of renovations. We’re really upgrading and investing a lot in the Caribbean hotels because it needs it.
NEW TO TRAVEL: IS THERE HELP OUT THERE?
Whatever they need, honestly we've got a team of three. There's myself, James and Haley. We are always more than happy to have a visit, jump on a call - whatever they need. We've got so much content. We've got Iberostar agents which is our travel agent website. This was launched about 2 years ago now and you don't have to log in, you don't need a password, just a website purely to give our travel agent partners information at the click of a button. So we keep that updated from a head office point of view regularly. And then we have the star agent system, an agent loyalty system that's absolutely fantastic. A big communication tool, I would say to any agent is, ‘are you on Facebook?’ If so, join our agent Facebook group because that is where we put every bit of information and other agents also post on there. With star agents, that's where agents can get an account, register their customer bookings, and as soon as you register 3 customer bookings there, you unlock 50% discounted agent rates. So you go and enjoy your own holidays at such a great cost. In addition to that, when they register their own customer bookings via all channels, tour-ups, bedbanks, Iberostar pro, wherever they make the booking, you get your points. And those points turn into money basically to pay for that discounted
rate. We have so many agents that go away for nothing because they've accrued so many points.
June 2026
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AS A CORE MINDSET
It really stems from the passion of the owners of Iberostar, the Fluxà family, and they kind of put it into an official movement, but it was always in the DNA of Iberostar.
They brought
it into an official movement which launched officially in 2017 with the wave of change. But this has now grown. A lot of environmental actions were focussed on our love for the oceans because 95% of our hotels are directly on these coastal communities. So why wouldn't you look after the oceans? But it has extended beyond that now. It's all about the communities, aspects of it and working with the locals. Having a positive impact wherever we are around the world as much as possible and working with public and private sector organisations. We work with a community in Mexico, for example, and it's located far away from our resorts
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NI MARKETPLACE We've been coming to this market since the
first year I joined Iberostar, which is a long time ago now. We're very trade-friendly and you can see it in the results with the sales from our trade partners being fantastic. The UK and Irish market, for example, last year was very successful. And then when you look at coming over to Northern Ireland, the support you get from the partners; it's a very close-knit community. I always feel like I'm coming home when I come here. They took me under their wings many, many years ago, and they always make me feel very, very welcome, and you see the results.
in the jungle. It's a community of local people, and it's related to carbon emissions so we work together with them on loads of different aspects, but you've got a group of the community there that looks after the jungle. They're the wardens. But in the end, it will be to see whether they can enter the carbon market so it's quite interesting. We also work with the Grange Pen sanctuary which is a project that we launched in Jamaica in front of our resorts in the waters in Montego Bay. And again, it's run by the local fishermen, the Jamaican government, and Iberostar; we've all got an equal seat at the table. We all support each other with that and again, they're the wardens of the ocean, the local fishermen, because they're the guys with the knowledge, they know what they're doing, and it's about replenishing the fish stock in the waters and doing it in
the right way.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR AGENTS
Zanzibar is going to be a big focus for us. Also Montenegro because we've got the new property opening there in June. And with incentives, we're always always open to suggestions as well. If anyone has got any ideas, we are always very open to any kind of marketing opportunities and things like that so let us know. At the minute, for a number of our key properties that we're pushing right now, like our new hotels and the property we opened,
Iberostar Selection Es Trenc and
New York again, we've got 80% commission level.
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