The hotel will open in late 2014 and operated under a lease agreement as part of the Meliá Hotels & Resorts brand. This important addition to the hotel portfolio consolidates the Meliá focus on corporate travellers in the French capital.
Palma de Mallorca – From the fourth quarter of 2014, Paris will be home to a new Meliá hotel, the result of an agreement signed with the German real estate investment manager, Union Investment. The hotel will be developed by Vinci Immobilier and will be located in a 20-storey building in the unique and privileged area of La Défense, the largest business district in Europe with views of the Arc de Triomphe.
The extraordinary location, design and the guarantees provided by the Meliá brand will ensure a successful long-term investment for the hotel owners, with the lease agreement being signed for a period of 12 years.
The hotel strategy of Union Investment is focused on acquiring properties in leading destinations which are then operated by major international hotel companies. This is a perfect fit with the strategy of Meliá Hotels International, focused on superior quality properties and on growth through management and lease agreements rather than hotel ownership, aiming to become one of the world’s top-ten hotel management companies.
The French capital, where Meliá had previously specialised in boutique hotels of outstanding quality, is a key city for the consolidation of the company’s hotel brands in the European corporate travel segment, in which growth will continue to consolidate over the next ten years. The new Meliá Defense will provide 369 rooms and all the attributes and services expected of Meliá Hotels & Resorts, and is expected to attract large numbers of both business and leisure travellers, thanks to its excellent location and communications (the “Esplanade de La Defense” metro stop is right outside the hotel).
The hotel company shares the enthusiasm for the project shown by Union Investment and its Vice Chairman and CEO, Gabriel Escarrer, says the agreement is an example of the growing symbiosis between property owners and real estate developers together with hotel management companies such as Meliá: “thanks to the value we provide to owners or investors with our brands, sales leadership, loyalty programmes, management systems and business support processes, we can guarantee a solid return on their investment, and position ourselves increasingly as an important partner for them in the medium and long term”.
About Meliá Hotels International
Meliá Hotels International was founded in 1956 in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and is one of the world’s largest resort hotel chains, as well as Spain’s leading hotel chain. It currently provides more than 350 hotels and 87,000 rooms in 35 countries on 4 continents under its brands: Gran Meliá, Meliá, ME, Innside, Tryp by Wyndham, Sol and Paradisus. Its product and service portfolio is complemented by Club Meliá, the only vacation club operated by a Spanish company.
In 2011, the family company founded by Gabriel Escarrer Juliá, that operated under the name „Sol Meliá“ for decades, began a new stage in its development under the brand name that represents its present and its future: Meliá Hotels International.
Picture: Carstino Delmonte
