AC Hoteles Plans To Open One Hotel A Week

7 November 2017 – Expansión

AC Hoteles by Marriott, one of the main Spanish hotel chains, plans to open 57 new establishments around the world between now and the end of 2018. Moreover, 12 of them will be launched before the end of 2017, according to the company’s President, Antonio Catalán.

“We are opening one hotel a week”, explained Catalán (Corella, Navarra, 1948) in an interview with Efe, in which he described the “spectacular” growth of the chain, which plans to have 190 hotels in total between 2017 and 2018, mainly in the USA and Europe.

Marriot Internacional acquired 50% of the AC brand in 2011 and since then, has rolled out establishments around the world and has started expansion into Asia. The chain forecasts turnover of €400 million this year, up by 20% compared to 2016. The US group contributed 110 million loyalty card holders to the group. “Marriott was a real coup”, said Catalán, who added that “the group has shown that it is there (for us) when the going gets tough”.

“Now, the company is completely healthy following the crisis and has no debt whatsoever”. Catalán founded the NH chain in 1977 when he purchased a hotel in Pamplona. In 1997, he decided to sell his stake and create AC. That chain now has 3,500 employees in Spain and 7,000 in the rest of the world. “I always talk about the big AC family; we do unusual things when it comes to recruitment. We don’t use temporary contracts”, says Catalán, whose aim “is not to earn millions at the expense of his employees”. (…).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake