the hotel chain Sercotel Hotel Group expects to close 2021 with sales of €52.4 million, a billing figure that represents a 105% increase compared to 2020. However, it remains a 27% of reaching the turnover presented in 2019. The company estimates to register a very relevant growth during this 2022, which would allow it to approach or even exceed the pre-pandemic figures. These forecasts include all of its business models, which in recent years have focused on direct operation, management and leasing, as well as its Quality System by Sercotel affiliation model. To all this, we must add the fact that the Spanish hotel company presented a positive net result as of the second half of 2021, and it expects that this ascending line of profitability will be maintained during the coming months.
“Despite the context of uncertainty that we have been going through since 2020, the company has done its homework very well and we feel comfortable with a plan that, despite being ambitious, is perfectly sustainable and realistic. We anticipate that this solid commitment to growth will lead us to increase our 2021 sales very considerably in 2022. In this way, we will not only try to recover the billing figures prior to the start of the pandemic, but we can even exceed them. 2021 has been a year in which we have been able to overcome and continue to consolidate ourselves in the Spanish market, demonstrating that our business model is strong and reliable and an option that hoteliers can trust”, has stated today José Rodríguez Pousa, CEO of Sercotel Hotel Group, at a media meeting held at Fitur.
The growth that the company projects for this 2022 is based on the recovery that its business has been registering during the last 6 months. The forecasts are based on a recovery of various markets and key channels for its revenue strategy, in addition to the contribution to the results of the new hotels that are being incorporated into the chain. Likewise, the Spanish group will continue to expand its hotel portfolio, focusing on models that allow it to strengthen its brand, that is, direct operation of hotels and franchises.
The growth of the company follows the reference of the business plan presented in 2020, which includes an ambitious expansion process that is being carried out to date, which will lead the group to reach 100 hotels in 2025, between direct operation or franchise.
Sercotel Hotel Group, currently has 40 operated hotels and incorporated 14 new establishments during 2021 for its portfolio in Spain, of which 10 will be managed under the exploitation regime and 4 under the franchise model. Of the total of these incorporations, a good part of them had been managed by competing chains and others are new projects.
Also, for this 2022, Sercotel Hotel Group already has 3 confirmed openings in Chipiona, Córdoba and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, while for 2023 it already has plans 6 hotel openings, signed between 2019 and 2020, two in Valencia, one in El Prat (Barcelona), two in Seville and one in Malaga.
Technological transformation and strengthening of the Sercotel brand
The Spanish company faces 2022 with the aim of implementing a process of digital transformation focused on both external and internal customers. The set of actions in the plan will allow the technological environment of the company to evolve with the aim of continuing to improve the chain’s proposal for its guests, while at the same time providing an excellent experience for its collaborators in their day-to-day activities.
The digital transformation plan of the Sercotel Hotel Group contemplates an investment that will be around 2 million euros, and that covers practically all areas of the organization in a period of 2 years. The bulk of the actions focus on customer-oriented technology, with a project for a new platform aimed both at promoting direct online and telephone sales and at improving the digital experience in the hotels themselves.
Another of the growth vectors identified is the value that Sercotel Hotel Group gives to its brand. The hotel brand has great recognition in the market, as well as an excellent reputation and appreciation by customers. From the Spanish chain they identify this reality as an excellent opportunity to improve their presence in the segment upper midscale Y upscale in the coming years, and for this it is promoting a project that will entail a evolution of your brand architecture.
The project, which will see the light of day this year, has the participation of Deloitte Digital and the creative agency SUMMA. The consequence of this commitment will probably entail changes in its portfolio to adapt hotel assets to the brand’s standards, as well as the reinforcement of its Quality System franchise model, so that they can successfully implement the company’s system and be able to continue working under the umbrella of the Sercotel brand. In this sense, continuity is given to the execution of the plan envisaged by the new management team of the chain, which has led to the reduction of its hotel portfolio in 2021, essentially those that were framed in distribution agreements and that were unrelated to the brand. There have also been adjustments in the portfolio in hotels that did not meet the brand standards or belonged to segments other than 3 and 4 star.
In this regard, José Rodríguez, CEO of Sercotel Hotel Group, states: “We work very hard to operate hotels with an orientation towards perceived quality and the safeguarding of assets. A goal that will become even more important this year, in which our main objective is to offer a Sercotel brand experience with improved quality standards in all our hotels. This will force us to be demanding in terms of portfolio”.
