LA BOURSE ET LA VIE TV était présente à l’évènement EUROPEAN MIDCAP EVENT organisé par CF&B Communication.

Didier Testot : Agustin Carro, thank you to be with us today.

Agustín Carro : My pleasure, thank you so much for the opportunity.

Didier Testot : You’re Investor Relations for Melia International. We will talk with you about traveling, hotel in the world during the past months. How was the business for your company?

Agustín Carro : Yeah. Thank you so much. Yes, obviously, we are a 370-hotel company. We are a more resort player and it’s a really nice and interesting time to be in the market. We understand that people are really looking forward for experiences and the customers are really looking and keen to devote time and resources to traveling. So we are capitalizing on that as a worldwide company, obviously more present in Spain, which is really with a lot of good trends and good momentum, but not only there, also in Europe, in the Caribbean, and also in Southeast Asia. So overall, really nice time to be in the market and tourism is looking really, really strong.

Didier Testot : We have seen because of geopolitical things, taxes, etc., during the past months, moving, maybe different moving from the customer for the group international. Do you see some new trend?

Agustín Carro : Well, overall we benefited to some extent from what happened in the Middle East. We are not fully present in the area and in some cases some of the demand has relocated to some destinations and precisely Spain to some extent. Nevertheless, we are looking forward that the situation is going to stabilize and that we are going back to normal sooner than later.

Didier Testot : About the strategy of your asset, between franchise, between hotel you have owned by the company… How is moving the strategy of Melia?

Agustín Carro : Yeah. The strategy of the company is growing on the asset-light model. So all of the future growth we are going to be having is going to be mainly under management and franchise. More skewed towards management because as a resort company we tend to manage more because it’s a bit more difficult product. At the end you have to oversee for not only the accommodation but also the F&B, the experiences and entertaining your customer which tends to be a higher number and stay longer with you in-house.

Didier Testot : The investors are looking for and asking you about the RevPAR growth. It’s normal. Do you think it can improve again or it’s at a high level now?

Agustín Carro : Yeah. Well, our latest guidance was from a low to mid single digit RevPAR increase, and a high single digit on constant currency. Obviously we are subject to some FX effects from our operations for instance in the Caribbean, but overall we understand that yes, there’s still room to grow and so far it’s looking good on that aspect.

Didier Testot : As we were talking about geopolitical, the Cuba subject is a subject for you. Investors are asking you about how you were moving or going out?

Agustín Carro : Well, it was not an easy decision to take, but subsequently the company through the subsidiary decided to wind down the operations. So that had a non-cash impact in the accounts which is conducted as discontinued operations.

Didier Testot : As we were talking about climate or things like that during the past months and even today, did you see customer changing their maybe usual things to a reservation in this area or this area because of the weather? Do you see some moving, changing?

Agustín Carro : We are not seeing movings in the short terms and our one of the things we measure quite a lot is the NPS, the Net Promoter Score, which overall evaluates the satisfaction of the customers, and those tend to be still really strong. So overall we’re not seeing a change, a sudden change, but it’s something we’re paying attention to definitely.

Didier Testot : Because some people in this traveling business talking to me and he say, « Didier, it’s finished the south of Mediterranean is finished and you have to go on the north. »

Agustín Carro : No, yeah. We get sometimes the question, but overall there’s the calendar effect. Obviously the corporates are tied to a calendar effect with all the families for instance. And the infrastructure we have on the mature locations we are, we understand it’s almost difficult to replicate in other destinations. So overall that should serve us to defend our positioning.

Didier Testot : In your business, the ESG subject in tourism are things that investors here can ask. What you are doing, your capex in this kind of subject?

Agustín Carro : Yeah. No, definitely. I mean, Melia has been really pushing forward in terms of sustainability. We are recognized as one of the most sustainable companies by S&P Global, which we are happy to be renewing our positioning in that aspect. And yeah, it’s not only about the hotels and to properly source them, but also the impact we have on the communities. So this is something that the company has been doing for quite long years now, and we are happy to be recognized as one of the leaders in that aspect.

Didier Testot : We were talking about the consumer and also there are some movement we can see about, for example, American coming more in Europe. This kind of thing can change the strategy or your strategy can be moving because of that?

Agustín Carro : Well, yes, we are seeing, for instance, direct connection with newer routes directly connecting some cities in Spain with the US. And we are happy to see that the US customer has become more and more important. The fact that we are capturing that client as well, is a client that really appreciates the experiences and really, you know, is looking forward to stay at nicer and nicer hotels, which the transformation we did towards a more luxury is really starting to pay off and we have the good fundamentals to take advantage of it.

Didier Testot : Looking ahead, how do you see the coming months for your company and what will be your key priorities?

Agustín Carro : Well, looking forward for the rest of the remaining of the year is making a good Christmas season, a good end of the year. And also about the promotional campaigns we are coming in the next couple of months, we have the Black Friday campaign, which is going to be interesting to know how the Q1 is shaping for next year. But overall we are confident and we are happy with the performance we are having.

Didier Testot : Agustin Carro, thank you to be with us today.

Agustín Carro : Thank you.

Résumé des principaux points développés par Agustín Carro

1. Une excellente dynamique du marché touristique : Le secteur connaît une période très favorable car les voyageurs sont particulièrement enclins à investir du temps et de l’argent dans des expériences touristiques. Meliá profite fortement de cet engouement mondial, particulièrement en Espagne, mais aussi en Europe, aux Caraïbes et en Asie du Sud-Est.
2. Modifications des flux liées à la géopolitique : Les tensions au Moyen-Orient ont entraîné un report de la demande vers des destinations jugées plus sûres, ce qui a indirectement profité à l’Espagne. En parallèle, Meliá a pris la décision de cesser ses opérations à Cuba, entraînant un impact comptable non monétaire.
3. Stratégie d’expansion « Asset-Light » : La croissance de l’entreprise repose désormais sur un modèle allégé en actifs (franchise et gestion). Meliá privilégie les contrats de gestion directe, un modèle indispensable pour contrôler finement l’expérience globale en « resort » (hébergement, restauration, divertissements).
4. Croissance des revenus et solidité financière : Le RevPAR (revenu par chambre disponible) continue d’augmenter avec des prévisions de croissance à un chiffre (fourchette basse à moyenne), démontrant qu’il reste encore de la marge pour progresser malgré les fluctuations des taux de change.
5. Résilience face au changement climatique : À court terme, Meliá ne constate pas d’impact négatif sur ses réservations lié aux vagues de chaleur autour du bassin méditerranéen, la satisfaction client (NPS) demeurant très élevée. Les contraintes des calendriers scolaires et la qualité des infrastructures existantes protègent l’attractivité de leurs destinations historiques.
6. Engagement ESG fort : L’entreprise investit depuis des années dans la durabilité et l’impact positif sur les communautés locales, ce qui lui vaut d’être reconnue par S&P Global comme l’un des leaders de son secteur en matière d’ESG.
7. Essor de la clientèle américaine et montée en gamme : La multiplication des vols directs entre les États-Unis et l’Espagne amène de plus en plus de touristes américains. Cette clientèle est en recherche d’expériences premium, ce qui vient valider et rentabiliser la stratégie récente de Meliá visant à monter en gamme vers l’hôtellerie de luxe.
8. Perspectives de fin d’année : L’entreprise aborde les mois à venir avec confiance, ses priorités étant de réussir la saison des fêtes de fin d’année et la campagne du Black Friday, qui servira d’indicateur pour les performances du premier trimestre 2027.