The Company founded by Gabriel Escarrer Juliá is celebrating its 70th anniversary, marking the milestone at FITUR 2026 alongside the wider tourism industry. In its traditional press conference, Gabriel Escarrer presented the results for 2025, linking the Company's strong performance to the seven-decade legacy of its founder, Gabriel Escarrer Juliá, who passed away in 2024. A legacy rooted in vision and strategy, but also in values that continue to inspire Spain's leading multinational hotel group and form the foundations of its current strength—across business performance, people, and sustainability.

70 years of growth

2025 was a solid year in terms of results. As previously anticipated by Gabriel Escarrer, the Company has met market expectations on the financial front and exceeded expansion forecasts. During the year, the Group signed a total of 51 new hotels, representing nearly 9,200 rooms, 52% of which are already operating or will be incorporated into the portfolio within the next 12 months. As a result, Meliá is expected to operate at least 411 hotels by the end of 2026.

These 51 signings are concentrated in what Meliá refers to as its “leisure axis," which accounts for the bulk of the Group's global footprint. Sixty percent correspond to hotels located in the Mediterranean and Europe, both in countries where the Group already enjoys a strong presence—such as Spain, Italy, Albania, Malta, and Greece—and in new markets such as Hungary and Andorra. Twenty-two percent are located in the Americas, across Latin America and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Argentina, Honduras, and Peru), as well as in the United States (Miami). The remainder are distributed across markets that are already strategic for Meliá's expansion, particularly in Asia, with 6% of new signings in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Meliá continues to diversify its portfolio to attract different customer segments, strengthening the presence of its most emblematic brands. These include Meliá Hotels & Resorts, with flagship international projects such as Meliá Maldives Whale Lagoon, Meliá Seychelles, Meliá Bahrain, and Meliá Serenity Cam Ranh in Vietnam, as well as SOL by Meliá, the Group's iconic family resort brand, which is unveiling its refreshed brand identity at FITUR to adapt to new times.

Among the Group's most recent brands, notable growth is expected for ZEL, which will open new hotels in 2026 in Madrid, Cozumel, Fuerteventura, and Crete. The Meliá Collection will also expand with new openings of distinctive, character-led hotels in exclusive destinations such as Lima, Mallorca, and Cádiz, in addition to incorporating the MiM Hotels portfolio—owned by Leo Messi—into The Meliá Collection brand.

Quality-driven openings and repositioning

In both its current and future expansion, Meliá's strategy prioritizes the world's most sought-after destinations and the luxury segment, across both new additions and its ambitious repositioning program. In 2026, the Group will open 28 hotels, including its first properties in highly exotic destinations such as the Maldives and the Seychelles.

As Escarrer emphasized, this growth will not come at the expense of Spain, the Group's country of origin, where Meliá remains the leading hotel company by number of rooms, holding an absolute leadership position in Andalusia and the Balearic Islands. In 2026, new hotels will open in Estepona, Cádiz, Benalmádena, and Granada, as well as in Mallorca, Madrid, and Fuerteventura.

Seventy-eight percent of hotels in the development pipeline fall within the premium and luxury segments. Meliá already has nearly 50 hotels affiliated with some of the world's most prestigious luxury consortia, such as Leading Hotels of the World (11 hotels), AMEX Fine Hotels (31 hotels), and Virtuoso. Central to this positioning is Meliá's repositioning strategy, which will have transformed—whether or not involving a brand change—more than 90 hotels since 2023, through joint investments with partners totaling over €975 million.

The Group boasts a higher-quality and more sustainable portfolio, with upgraded categories and facilities. Notable reopenings in 2026 will include several flagship properties, such as Paradisus Bali, Paradisus Cancún, and Gran Meliá Don Pepe, among others.

Innovation and partnerships for sustainable growth

As Meliá's Chairman highlighted, in addition to a revitalized and increasingly valuable portfolio and a strong brand platform, the Group counts its proprietary distribution and personalization capabilities—via its direct sales channels—among its key strategic assets, representing a clear competitive advantage in today's market. At the same time, Meliá has built a robust ecosystem of top-tier partners to support long-term strategic growth.

Since 2023, the Company has doubled the number of joint ventures in which it participates with hotel property owners, encompassing 40 assets with approximately 14,000 rooms and an estimated valuation of close to €3 billion. Meliá intends to continue strengthening preferential partnerships with trusted, long-term partners as a core vehicle for expansion.

The Group has also embraced innovative management models such as branded residences, with a total of 28 hotels—open or in development—that incorporate this ownership format while leveraging Meliá's most prestigious hotel brands. Through these alliances, the continued shift toward the luxury and lifestyle segments, and the strengthening of its direct channels, Meliá expects to sustainably drive the Group's expansion while enhancing the resilience and optimization of its revenues.

70 years focused on people

Finally, Meliá's Chairman reaffirmed his confidence that a key pillar of the Company's strength remains the solidity of its culture and values. This is reflected in the Group's leadership positioning in areas of critical importance to the sector, such as sustainability and talent, supported by top rankings in global benchmarks including S&P Global, Top Employer, and MERCO Talento.