The Hotusa hotel group, chaired by Amancio López Seijas, has resumed the path of growth interrupted by the pandemic. The company will close 2023 with more than 250 hotels under management after adding 17 establishments to its portfolio this last year – one of them owned. Among these, the former Dolce Sitges stands out, which the French company Perial bought from Angelo Gordon (previous owner of the asset) for around 75 million euros, or the Eurostars Royal Tanau, its second luxury establishment in Baqueira Beret.
By 2024, it plans to add around twenty more hotels, details López Seijas, with the intention of maintaining the percentage of owned establishments above the current 33%. The company continues with its strategy of alliances with “institutional and stable” funds, highlights López Seijas, and with industrial families that want to diversify their investments to carry out this growth. The focus of its expansion remains in Europe, where the president of Hotusa continues to see opportunities – it is in 20 markets, also in Latin America and Africa – although he is exploring new destinations in Asia.
The incorporation of new hotels to its portfolio and a demand that does not weaken despite inflation has led the group to break its income record this year. Until the end of the year, the area of service provision to independent hotels and reservation center will bill around 800 million euros, while the hotel operation area, with Eurostars, will earn around 700 million. These 1,500 million euros in total are 23% more than the previous year, and 10% above the 2019 figures.
The generation of income has allowed the group to reduce its debt, which skyrocketed during the pandemic, and to return 51 million euros to the SEPI in advance. Hotusa received the largest loan during the pandemic after Air Europa and Ávoris, with a total of 241 million euros. This year the repayment of the loan could also be brought forward, although this point “has not yet been decided,” comments the president of the group.
López Seijas also defends the validity and potential of the Barcelona brand, which events such as the Copa del América will contribute to maintaining. Among the pending challenges for the city, the expansion of the Barcelona airport stands out: “We are the city best connected to Europe and now we have to be connected to the rest of the world.”
