Big interview Meliá remains
committed to global expansion, with 54 new hotels currently in the pipeline.
ourselves and be pioneers in service, people management, products and even destinations.” A key source of this evolution has been Meliá’s digitalisation strategy. The group has invested €170m between 2015 to 2020, improving its data management systems, marketing campaigns and customer relations.
€170m
Meliá invested in its digitalisation strategy between 2015 and 2020.
Meliá Hotels International 14
The future is green Another factor in the company’s growth has been its focus on sustainability. Escarrer has publicly stated on several occasions that being a “good company” is about guaranteeing a balance between growth, environmental protection and social welfare. “Sustainability is part of our brand’s idiosyncrasy,” he says. Since 2016, Meliá has invested €15m into energy efficiency, establishing a more circular economy in the destinations in which it operates. At present, almost 60% of the electrical energy consumed by Meliá hotels worldwide is renewable, with the figure rising to 100% in Spain. These efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 2019, the SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment ranked Meliá as the world’s most sustainable hotel company. The following year the Wall Street Journal declared it the seventh best company in the world in sustainable management. More recently, Meliá has announced an ambitious project to help combat climate change and bring it further towards decarbonisation. The initiative, submitted to the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, proposes a €129m investment from EU recovery funds to help reduce the company’s environmental footprint to zero. In addition, it plans to build a prototype for a sustainable hotel in Menorca’s Biosphere Reserve.
According to Meliá, this will act as a model for the hotel industry of the future. For Escarrer, the group’s strategy is a dualistic one. Not only is it good for the planet but it aligns Meliá with an emerging class of eco-conscious guests that prioritise long-term environmental stewardship over short-term convenience. “We recognise that our future depends on us acting now to protect the beautiful world in which we live,” Escarrer says. “Fortunately, millions of our clients also recognise the importance of playing our part [in protecting the environment] when travelling; this factor increasingly influences booking trends, and rightly so.” For Escarrer, the group’s sustainability model, in particular, is something that all companies should aim for. He cites a recent report from the World Economic Forum that cites “climate action failure” as the most impactful risk to communities, businesses and individuals worldwide. “What’s apparent is that we are running out of time,” Escarrer says. “It’s essential that we resume dedicated and coordinated global action as soon as the world overcomes the paralysis caused by the pandemic.” At the moment the group’s focus remains firmly fixed on the latter. “We need to consider vaccines, health protocols in the whole tourism value chain, digital health certificates and international coordination to create safe corridors for tourists to travel between source countries and destinations,” Escarrer declares. While Meliá’s road back to full recovery will likely be a windy one, under Escarrer’s calm and considered leadership the group looks set to climb back up to the summit of the mountain. ●
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Meliá Hotels International
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