Tag: AC Hoteles

Antonio Catalán Sells the Rest of AC Hoteles to Marriott

31 March 2019 – El País 

Marriott, the largest hotel conglomerate in the world with 7,300 establishments in its portfolio, has today acquired the remaining 40% of the share capital in AC Hoteles for €140 million. The two brands first joined forces back in 2011 when the US group entered a joint venture with the Spanish firm at height of the economic crisis.

The new operation will involve the dissolution of the joint companies and the creation of a new one, which will allow Antonio Catalán (Navarra, 1948), in his capacity as President of AC by Marriott, to use any of the hotel giant’s brands, not only AC and Autograph. In this way, he is thinking of entering the tourist segment on the Costa del Sol and the tourist apartment business in Sevilla.

The businessman manages 76 hotels (65 in Spain, 10 in Italy and 1 in Portugal) through the company Belagua 2013. In 2017, the latest year for which accounts are available, that company recorded revenues of €188 million and generated a net profit of €71 million, which is expected to grow by 8% in 2018. Catalán also owns other companies with individual hotels, bringing his total revenues to €260 million.

In Spain, AC Hoteles is working on several hotel openings in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Madrid, Cartagena and Andorra, assets that will operate under the AC by Marriott brand. It is also working on openings in Sevilla, Valencia and Bilbao, which will operate under the Autograph Collection brand.

Original story: El País (by Carmen Sánchez-Silva)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

B&B Adds 7 Hotels to its Portfolio in Spain

5 February 2018 – Expansión

Growth / The French group has added seven establishments from the H2 Hoteles chain, two under ownership. Its domestic portfolio now comprises 29 hotels and more than 2,700 rooms. 

B&B Hotels –owned by the private equity fund PAI Partners – is strengthening its commitment to Spain. The French group, which arrived in the country in 2015 with the purchase of four hotels and, one year later, purchased the low-cost chain Sidorme, has incorporated seven new establishments from the Catalan H2 Hoteles chain into its portfolio. Two of the properties have been included as owned assets and the other five are rental arrangements; these hotels contain 600 rooms in total.

With this operation, the company specialising in low-cost hotels now operates 29 establishments in the domestic market, comprising more than 2,700 rooms.

Specifically, B&B Hotels has completed the purchase of the management company and the rental contracts – which have a duration of almost 20 years – and has incorporated the H2 Hoteles establishments’ teams in Castellón, Elche, Getafe, Granada and Jerez de la Frontera, owned by AC Hoteles. Moreover, the French group has taken ownership of another two hotels in Oviedo and Rubí (Barcelona).

Following the purchase, H2 Hoteles will have three hotels left in its portfolio –H2 Sant Cugat (Barcelona), H2 Fuenlabrada (Madrid) and H2 Ávila–, as well as apartments in Cáceres.

The Director General of B&B Hotels Spain and Portugal, Jairo González, explained to Expansión that the company plans to sell the ownership assets in the short term. “We will likely incorporate other hotels to be able to have a portfolio of assets that we can sell all together, continuing with their management and following the company’s asset-light model”, he said.

In the framework of this strategy, in May, B&B Hotels reached an agreement with the investment fund Corum to sell eight hotels that it owned in Spain for €30 million. By virtue of that agreement, B&B will continue to operate those establishments under rental agreements for at least 15 years.

The director said that the H2 Hoteles establishments are “in perfect operating condition”, and will be adapted over the next few months to fit with the company’s corporate image.

“The forecast investment for the seven hotels amounts to almost €1.5 million and will be limited to adapting the establishments to our identity”, he added.

Plans

In terms of growth plans, the executive expressed his intention to continue to increase his firm’s presence in Spain. “We have more than 20 projects under development in different degrees of maturity in the Iberian Peninsula. In Portugal, for example, we expect to announce more news soon. We forecast that we will have more than 50 establishments by the end of 2019”, said González.

B&B’s roadmap in Spain allowed the firm to triple its revenues last year to reach €30 million. Besides Spain, B&B Hotels Group has a presence in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Morocco, the Czech Republic and Brazil. The company’s plans involve strengthening its world network to reach 600 hotels by 2020, with around 50,000 rooms.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

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

Hilton To Double Its Presence In Spain In 3 Years

14 April 2015 – Expansión

Growth / The US hotel giant, which is the second largest chain in the world, operates eleven hotels in Spain and is now backing its own growth in Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla.

Hilton is redoubling its commitment to Spain. The US hotel giant, which is the second largest chain in the world by size (with 4,115 properties and 678,630 rooms at the end of 2013, according to the ranking published by Hotels magazine) manages nine hotels in Spain (66% through franchise agreements).

In addition, Hilton owns two other hotels, which are due to be incorporated into its network imminently, including the Reserva del Higuerón complex (in Málaga). Hilton will take over the reins there this summer and will thereby return to the Costa del Sol after (an absence of) more than 40 years.

“Our model is based on management; investment is undertaken by a partner, and it has been difficult to finance projects in Spain in recent years, but now the market is starting to open up and we have always been very interested in it”, says Simon Vincent, President of Hilton in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and a member of the chain’s Board of Directors.

“The market in Spain is very fragmented, but we believe that opportunities exist for refurbish existing hotels and incorporating them into our network; furthermore prices are beginning to recover”, he adds.

In terms of the numbers, Vincent’s objectives are clear: “Doubling our size in Spain in two or three years would not be unreasonable, since that is what we have done in Turkey”. In Europe alone, Hilton operates 353 establishments and will incorporate a further 447 hotels (into its network) over the next three years. Barcelona and Sevilla are both on its priority list, but its primary focus in Spain will be on Madrid. “We were the first international brand (in Madrid), when we opened the Madrid Castellana Hilton in 1953 (today the Intercontinental) and the capital city is a high priority for the group and all of its brands”, he says.

At this stage, a priori, Hilton has ruled out forming an alliance with a local partner to accelerate its growth, like Marriott did with AC Hoteles in 2010.

Market consolidation

Vincent is very familiar with the travel sector; he has two decades of experience working for groups such as Opodo – today part of the eDreams Odigeo group – and Thomas Cook. He considers that if Spain lacks a large hotel group of its own, then “that is because the market is regional with strong (local) brands, which is precisely one of its strengths”. Nevertheless, “over time, there will be consolidation in the industry and the tour operators will want to participate and control the experience they offer their customers”.

In terms of the emergence of Socimis (Sociedades Anónimas Cotizadas de Inversión Inmobiliaria or Listed Real Estate Investment Companies), which are similar to REITs in the USA, the executive belives that “they may help to professionalise the sector, because that is how the funds that invest in hotels work”.

In his opinion, “the key (to success) in the hotel sector is size at the global level. For Hilton, the most important objective is not to have a presence in as many countries as possible, but rather to bring the greatest number of customers as possible to those countries through our (its own) system”. This is demonstrated by its loyalty program, which has more than 40 million users.

With 12 brands, Vincent argues that Hilton’s success is “based on our ability to convert revenues into profitability and growth, because our brands are in very high demand”. Thus, 19% of the hotels that the chain will open around the world over the next few years will bear one of the Hilton’s own brands. Nevertheless, the door is open to new brands as well. “We think that there is still space (in the market)”.

Over the medium term, Hilton’s route map includes increasing its scale and enhancing its geographical diversification and the appeal of its brands, as well as promoting the digitalisation of its content, and expanding its distribution channels.

Hilton recorded revenues of (US)$10,502 million and profits of (US)$673 million in 2014 and predicts further growth again this year, both at the operational level, as well as in terms of its share price, which is currently trading at $30.38/share. According to Vincent, “we are very happy with our IPO, the foundations of our business are solid and the market acknowledges that”.

Original story: Expansión (by Yovanna Blanco)

Translation: Carmel Drake