Hotusa focuses on luxurious tourism | Business | EUROtoday

The story of Hotusa is a narrative from earlier than. That of that Galician entrepreneur, Amancio López Seijas (1955, Chantada, Lugo), who 47 years in the past took issues into his personal palms, settled in Barcelona and, along with some pals, determined to take a position his financial savings: 150,000 pesetas (the equal to 13,000 euros) and, with out expertise or coaching, arrange his personal firm, the seed of the present Hotusa Group. Made up of three enterprise areas (Eurostars, a resort chain with 270 institutions in 20 nations, 35% owned; Keytel, a providers agency with 3,600 lodges in 87 nations, and Restel, the reservation middle that markets 130,000 lodging on this planet and manages 3.5 million annual reservations), the conglomerate broke its historic turnover document in 2023, with 1,418 million euros, 23% greater than the earlier 12 months, and working revenue, with 202 million, 51% above.

López Seijas is having fun with the unprecedented rebound that the tourism sector is experiencing after overcoming the pandemic. “Surely the champagne effect and the cult of hedonism,” he says. “We will have a tremendously good year. A new record in 2024, with revenues between 10% and 12% higher than in 2023 and EBITDA growth above 20%,” he says. The president of Hotusa boasts that the corporate he runs “has always made profits except for the two years of covid and, except in 2019, every year surpassed the previous one.” However, the businessman begins to see the wolf’s ears. The development of the sector can’t final ceaselessly: “Next year there may be a drop in tourism, although not significant,” he warns.

With 6,000 staff, the group is aware of that certainly one of its largest handicaps is personnel. “Talent is the scarcest asset that exists,” says the president of Hotusa, “and it is not an easy time for hiring.” This 12 months they may signal between 400 and 500 folks and the identical quantity subsequent 12 months. “We are growing in staff between 7% and 8% regardless of the evolution of prices,” he factors out.

The majority for its resort department, the very best identified, however which represents round 45% of its enterprise. The provision of resort providers and the reservation middle account for the remaining 55%. “Keytel is the soul of Hotusa, the business with which we started,” maintains López Seijas, who was talking on the congress of the Association for the Progress of Management (APD) in Santiago de Compostela, the place this interview was held a couple of weeks in the past. , of the necessity to construct initiatives that transcend and vindicate the function of the entrepreneur in a world filled with financiers, buyers and businessmen. “Money is not an end in itself, but the consequence,” he acknowledged, believing that it’s businessmen who generate wealth with their want to create a legacy. “Sometimes I have the perception of being from another time and another world,” he acknowledged.

Now their intentions are set on recovering buildings with historical past, comparable to these they’ve in La Toja, Santander or Naples. It is due to that sense of legacy, of dedication to the territory, maintains López Seijas, that they need to contribute to the conservation of heritage. Hotusa is rehabilitating the Tinta palace, in Malaga, and that of the counts of Puerto Hermoso and the Casa del Almirante, in Cádiz, in addition to as much as six institutions, of which it doesn’t provide the funding determine. However, the president believes that administrations ought to assist businessmen on this job, “because sometimes private initiative alone cannot make hotels profitable.” They are half of the institutions they’ve beneath building, he factors out, and their technique to evolve in the direction of greater high quality tourism.

With this goal they’re additionally going to launch a model of five-star luxurious institutions originally of the 12 months. They will begin with a dozen lodges, together with some Eurostars and different historic ones which are a part of their Áurea model, says the businessman. Thus betting on attracting American and Asian clients, who’ve the very best buying energy. The Reconquista resort in Oviedo can be beneath building, to which a funds of two million euros might be allotted.

Purchases for 86 million

Hotusa is snug with its debt, 675 million euros, based on López Seijas, which intends to proceed repaying early the 241 million euros it acquired from the SEPI Strategic Companies Support Fund. Meanwhile, it continues buying lodges. In 2024, the corporate has acquired six, the final in Miami, disbursing an quantity of 86.5 million euros. “We are going to continue buying hotels, but we do not have a defined objective, we operate according to the opportunities that arise,” he says.

The group intends to proceed with its 20 annual openings (thus far it has closed 18 agreements between acquisitions, leases and administration contracts) and increasing into new markets, each European and American, and now it’s beginning with the African ones (it’s constructing three lodges in Morocco). . “You can see the customer’s reaction to the rise in prices,” says the president and largest shareholder of Hotusa, who estimates that they’ve elevated a mean of seven% because of the sharp rise in prices. “Currently both parameters are returning to stability,” he says.

Regarding the brand new registration that the Government has simply authorized for vacationers, the businessman believes that “this measure will negatively affect demand, reducing it significantly. No client likes to be questioned upon arrival or to wait in endless lines to get into their room.” López Seijas maintains that the tourismphobia motion that has permeated some Spanish and world populations will not be towards tourism usually. “Tourism contributes 13% of the GDP in Spain and there are many sectors that depend on it. The problem has to do with housing, which has become a tourist business. It makes no sense and the administrations have gotten out of hand. Tourist apartments must be regulated,” he concludes.