Hispania Invests €190M To Reposition Its Hotel Portfolio

25 September 2017 – Expansión

Hispania is going to invest €190 million to reposition its hotel portfolio between now and 2019 to maximise its value. At the end of the first half of the year, the Socimi managed by Azora owned a portfolio of 39 hotels and 11,059 rooms, most of which are located in the Canary Islands.

Some of the most strategic hotels, according to the presentation to investors submitted by Hispania to the CNMV on Friday, include the Hotel Club San Miguel (Ibiza), on which it is going to spend capex of €50 million; and the Hotel Holiday Inn in Madrid, acquired in 2015 and in whose modernisation, the Socimi is going to invest €34 million. In parallel, Hispania has another €100 million of capex budgeted for other potential projects.

In addition to the investment in the modernisation and repositioning of the establishments in its portfolio to superior categories, Hispania is basing its model on a diversified portfolio of operators – it works with Barceló, Meliá, NH and Vincci, amongst other hotel chains – and it has lease contracts that combine fixed and variable components. Its roadmap, according to the presentation, forecasts achieving cost savings through economies of scale, as well as enhancing direct sales.

Currently, 69% of the revenues from its hotels come through tour operators. Thanks to its asset optimisation strategy, Hispania expects to increase the value to its shareholders by more than €30 million in the Guadalmina and Holiday Inn Hotels. Meanwhile, in the portfolio as a whole, it hopes to generate €60 million of additional cash.

The company, which has not detected any impact on demand following the terrorist attack in Barcelona in August, expects revenues per available room (RevPar) to grow by more than 10% this year.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake