By spring, the new Meliá ME is expected to start operating, while, also by April of this year, the first AC by Marriott is expected in Miami.
Iberostar, for its part, is already working to make its first hotel in the country a reality in 2016. NH, in parallel, has also referred to the destination as one of its objectives.
A key reason why Spanish chains have agreed to land in Miami is to position their brands before the large Latino audience residing in the United States.
At the time, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, vice chairman and CEO of Meliá, justified his interest in London on a triple motivation: for its high average rate and occupancy; for being the United Kingdom its second international issuer -“and as such, we have to have ‘footprint’ and presence in this market,” he points out-, and for marketing, “for being the financial capital of the Western world, where our hotels are in the best ‘showcase’ of trends”. All these three arguments are valid for the city of Florida as well.
“London but not Liverpool, Paris but not Marseille,” Iberostar president Miguel Fluxá said a year and a half ago about his group’s expansion priority. “We are going to create a network of hotels in European tourist cities, because we understand that we have a lot of repeating people from the company, and in the same way that they come with us to Mexico, they can come to Paris,” Fluxá deepened.
To the objective of the three great capitals of the world was added the coincidence to disembark in Dubai, which was seen as a safe bet, thanks to the fact that the destination is achieving a balance between holiday and corporate travelers, and therefore the national hotel companies with portfolios mixture of urban and beach were those that previously expected to disembark in the most iconic enclave of the Gulf.
As highlighted by REPORTUR, this mix of vacation and corporate tourists also occurs in Miami, where in addition to kilometric beaches and decorated streets there is a business enclave of reference for the Hispanic market.
The website highlights that Miami stands as the natural port of entry for Spanish chains in their eagerness to increase their visibility to Americans.
In June of last year, Meliá Hotels International closed the signing of a new hotel of the ME brand in downtown Miami.
On that occasion, the hotel explained that the ME Miami would have 129 rooms, a spa, 5,000 square meters for meetings, several gastronomic areas and the first STK restaurant, a popular American concept of steakhouse, which already works in the ME London by the hand of The One Group group.
The CEO and Vice President of Meliá, Gabriel Escarrer, stressed, at the time, that it was a “dazzling” project for one of the most emblematic cities in the United States, “with a great Latin influence”.
The ME Miami, an establishment owned by Grupo Inversor Merchant, will be located in the current Hotel Casa Moderna, at 1100 Biscayne Boulevard.
A few months later, in November, it was learned that Fort Lauderdale would be the second Florida enclave to have a Meliá hotel in 2015. The Hollywood Beach area chosen by Meliá has more than 60 parks, seven golf courses, eleven kilometres of beaches and a four-kilometre promenade.
The new resort will have 304 rooms, a spa, fitness facilities and a rooftop infinity pool. Moses Bensusan, member of the board of directors of the developer Liberty Grande, stressed then that “there is no better brand with which to ally than Meliá”, while the CEO and vice president of the hotel company detailed that the Meliá Costa Hollywood “will strengthen our presence in the US market and attract travelers from all over the world”.
Likewise, the chain led by Carmen and Luis Riu has just opened its first hotel in the urban business segment in the country and for this it chose Miami, after an investment of 20 million dollars in reforming the establishment they already had in the city. According to the company, the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach, with 284 rooms and about 25 minutes from Miami International Airport, maintains its old façade but its interior structure has been modernized.
On the other hand, about a year ago, Iberostar revealed that it is also contemplating entering cities such as Miami and New York, where its competitors Riu and Meliá had already secured a presence. In the past Fitur, it was learned that the chain had already begun this year the reform of a four-star in Miami Beach, which will open its doors in 2016.
