It all started with a dream: "In 1956, only 21 years old, a young enterprising Escarrer Julia Gabriel begins to praise and operate its first hotel: Altair Hotel located in the residential area of Son Armadams (Palma de Mallorca, Spain), the first of 60 rooms of the future Sol Meliá. "(Annual Report 2006)

The report also "opens" with a photo of a couple walking along the beach away from the camera and where at the same time, a professional who is speaking for a mobile phone to turn his face toward the camera itself. That sums up the hotel business is not only dedicated to leisure, but also for businesses. This makes the organization of hotels is very different. Hotels require more sophisticated services for Internet connections, for example, for business users.

In 2006, Sol Melia (with emphasis on a) celebrated its 50th anniversary. Striking fact about this hotel chain is the property: it is a family business. The president is Gabriel Escarrer Julian (father) Sebastià Escarrer Jaume n is "2nd Vice-President and General Manager John Gabriel Escarrer Jaume is the Executive Director. (Annual Report 2006).

The geographical distribution of the hotels are mainly concentrated in Central and South America. There are some exceptions (Far East New York, etc.).

Hotels Sol Meliá fall into two broad categories: the municipalities (48%) and seasons (52%).

The organization is divided into hotels other hotels under management contracts (46%), ownership (30%), leasing (14%) and Franchises (5%).
In this way, and in 2006, Sol Melia served 27.8 million trips, we have organized about 80,000 rooms and 406 hotels.

The hotels are – in contrast with a string such as Accor – classified by the "stars", 3 stars represent 25%, 4 stars 41% and 5 / luxury represents 34% of the company.

Although not stated explicitly Sol Melia group facilitates the use of frequent flyer club and the services they offer opportunities to attract customers and build customer loyalty.

Like other hotels the group has a sustainability program. It is difficult to compare the various programs of the hotel chains. The 2006 report of a reduction of 38 liters of water "by the life "compared to the previous year. The partnership with Philips to reduce energy use and many other initiatives mentioned in this report.

Company News mentions that the President of the company bought the shares during the first quarter of this year, saying that the shares have fallen too far from their highs of 2007.

A summary of some of the unique features of this company:

• A family led business
• Fifty / division among fifty business hotels resorts
• The main distribution in Europe and (South) America
• Organized by: the contracts managed (46%), ownership (30%), leasing (14%) and franchised (5%).

Hans Bool

Hans Bool writes articles about management, culture and change. If you are interested to read or experience more about these topics have a look at: Astor White.

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