Meliá Hotels International closed the first nine months of the year with net profit of €93.5 million, which represents a 47.4% decline compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year.
This setback is explained mainly by a negative extraordinary impact of €79.8 million linked to the cessation of its activity in Cuba, the company said this Tuesday.
Despite this, the consolidated result for the third quarter practically mirrored that of last year, reaching €89.4 million, with a slight increase of 0.2%.
The Majorcan hotel company reached consolidated revenues without capital gains of €1,707 million up to September, 7.3% higher than in the same period of the previous year.
Between July and September, revenue without capital gains rose to €659.6 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.7%.
Gross operating profit (Ebitda) without capital gains totaled €443 million in the first nine months, 3.2% more, and €198.3 million in the third quarter, 4.1% higher, despite the negative effect of the reopening of Paradisus Cancún and works at the Gran Meliá Don Pepe, whose combined impact is estimated at -€5.8 million, as well as the -€3.1 million reflected in Ebitda due to the change of the Hotel Innside Nueva York from rentals to management.
So far this year, Meliá Hotels International has signed 20 new hotel contracts, which add 4,500 rooms to its future portfolio, and has launched 17 establishments.
The company maintains its goal of closing the year with up to 40 signings, which would mean incorporating more than 8,400 rooms, and expects to complete 24 openings that will add 3,300 rooms to its operating portfolio.
This strategy is supported by the rotation of non-strategic assets, in order to improve efficiency in capital allocation.
The chairman and CEO of Meliá Hotels International, Gabriel Escarrer, highlighted the strength of the business and the good outlook for the coming quarters.
"Meliá thus maintains its confidence in culminating the year with a high single-digit RevPAR growth, while continuing to advance toward a more solid, diversified business model oriented toward value creation," he said.
The executive stressed the dynamism and strength shown in most destinations, especially in Spain during the high season, and highlighted that, together with cost discipline and commercial strategy, they allow absorbing extraordinary impacts "and maintaining solid expectations for the full year, supported by the strength and resilience of our business".
During the third quarter, Meliá notably strengthened its main operating indicators in hotels owned, leased and managed, with an average daily rate (ARR) of 181.1 euros (+13.5% year-on-year), an occupancy rate of 74% (+7.3 percentage points) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) of 134 euros, which implies an increase of 25.9% versus the previous year.
In the accumulated period from January to September, the group consolidated this improvement with an ARR of 160.6 euros (+9.2%), an average occupancy of 66.5% (+4.2 points) and a RevPAR of 106.9 euros, 16.5% higher than in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Net debt stood at the end of September at 2,102.9 million euros, which represents a reduction of 98 million compared to 2025. In contrast, financial net debt excluding leases increased by 67.6 million, to 846.2 million euros.
The company reiterates its intention to maintain a stable leverage ratio in the range of 2.0x-2.5x, which provides it with the necessary flexibility to seize growth and repositioning opportunities for hotel assets.
The group continues analyzing asset rotation operations involving non-strategic assets with low cash generation, with the aim of optimizing the use of capital.
POSITIVE OUTLOOK
With a view to the year-end, Meliá Hotels International maintains an optimistic tone, as 'On The Books' reservations for the fourth quarter are double-digit higher than those for the same period of the previous year.
The company expects a high single-digit increase in RevPAR across the full year, supported by the solid performance of the Spanish market.
However, annual Ebitda will reflect the effect of the transition of the Innside New York hotel to a management model, with an impact of 7.4 million euros in the second half of the year—an operation that reduces exposure to fixed rents and improves the group’s risk profile.
The hotelier concludes that “the tragic railway accident in Urda could generate some occasional slowdown in demand towards the destinations in the south of Spain during the fourth quarter”.