Leading hotel chains in Spain currently have some 65% of their establishments open. With the state of alarm over, these are principally for the national market, hoteliers seeking some recovery from a first-quarter slump of 86% in terms of overnight stays compared with last year and of 89% compared with 2019.
According to figures from the National Statistics Institute, 8,416 hotels were open at the end of March - 61% of what were open in March 2019. There was average occupancy of just 19.3%, three times lower than two years ago. Employment was 70% lower than in March 2019 - some 54,050 people in all.
Of the large hotel groups, only the state-owned Paradores has had all its establishments open since last June. Of others, the NH Hotel Group has 82% of its some 100 hotels open, while the Eurostars Hotel Company (part of Hotusa) has 123 of its 154 establishments open.
The Mallorcan chain Riu has 40% open across Spain and 55% internationally. The company is waiting to see what further decisions are taken by the UK and German governments. Another Mallorcan group, Meliá, has around 50 of its 141 hotels in Spain open. The plan is to gradually begin operating in all the others. The Piñero Group, also Mallorcan, currently has no hotels open, but intends starting operations in Mallorca from May 14.
The CEHAT national hotels confederation is anticipating activity this summer to be 50% of what it was in summer 2019.