The president and chief executive officer of Meliá Hotels International, Gabriel Escarrer, defended this Thursday that the selective holding of strategic assets and hotel management "do not contradict each other: they reinforce each other," within a model that combines a solid asset base with capacity for growth and generation of sustained value over time.
In a reflection shared on LinkedIn under the title "The strength of combining ownership and management: creating value with our strategic assets," Escarrer stressed that "growing does not consist solely of adding new hotels to our portfolio. It also requires identifying the assets with a differentiated strategic value, deciding where to invest and finding the formulas that allow us to develop all their potential together with our partners".
As a representative example, he mentioned the recent renovation of Paradisus Cancún, a project in which the company is allocating 50 million euros. As he recalled, "four decades ago, my father's vision made it possible to anticipate the tourism development of Quintana Roo and to bet on an exceptional location. Today, the investment of 50 million euros in its renovation allows us to preserve that legacy and adapt the hotel to the new expectations of the traveler".
The executive has emphasized that there are establishments that cannot be replaced because of their location, track record or unique character. "Preserving and renovating them makes it possible to maintain that competitive advantage and develop their business and profitability potential," explains the executive, who in the same vein referred to the 40 million euros that Meliá is investing in the update of the Hotel Don Pepe Gran Meliá, in Marbella. "Losing hotels like this would mean giving up a key positioning and sustained return," he stated.
Escarrer has pointed out that studies such as The Hotel Property Telescope 2026, prepared by EY, and the debates at the International Hospitality Investment Forum of New York University coincide in highlighting renovation and repositioning of assets as one of the major levers of value creation for the hotel industry.
The property, he added, also fulfills a strategic function for the group’s brands. "A hotel can be one of the best expressions of the identity and experience we want to offer", he wrote, mentioning the case of ME London as a showcase for the ME by Meliá brand. This vision, he stresses, is "especially important now that Meliá’s growth is increasingly linked to the Premium and Luxury segments".
In parallel, the chief executive has highlighted the relevance of management as a lever for international expansion: "It allows us to grow, expand our international presence and develop our brands without assuming the real estate investment in all cases". In certain projects, he detailed, the group decides to co-invest with its partners through joint ventures, so that "in this way we share with our partners both the opportunities and the risks".
Escarrer has broadened the perspective beyond the hotel itself, linking this strategy to the contribution to the tourist destination: "When my father bet on Cancún four decades ago, he was not choosing only a location: he was betting on a destination and on the people who were going to build it with us".
He concluded by stressing that "growing is not just about adding hotels. It is about knowing where to invest, what we can contribute, how we can sustain the return and with whom we want to build the future. That is, for me, the difference between having assets and turning them into a source of lasting value".