The lifts at Melia Doha The lifts at Melia Doha

The five star Spanish hotel chain which recently opened its first hotel in Qatar, has reported a 224% increase when compared with H1 2014.

The company signed 14 new projects in emerging markets and has 61 hotels currently in the pipeline - 82% under management and 18% under lease agreements. Nine hotels were opened between January and June, including the signature Doha property and hotels in Milan and Paris.

The company’s half year result statement reported total revenues were improved by 19.2%, with a RevPAR increase of 11.2%.

Gabriel Escarrer, Vice Chairman and CEO at Meliá Hotels International said: “The results from January to June confirm the positive business performance of Meliá Hotels International. Together with our strength in the Caribbean the results reflect the fruits of economic recovery and our successful sales strategy in major European cities, especially in Spain.

“Looking ahead, Meliá is working towards a new Strategic Plan for 2016-2018, which will allow us to continue to lead in a constantly changing industry, both in the resort and new “urban resort” areas, and to continue to make progress in the company’s digitalisation.”

The digitalisation he refers to is the business’s “MeliaDigital” project, which the company report says has made it the Spanish chain’s most important sales channels, with 27% growth in sales from melia.com.

The chain operates a property in Qatar, with a new 235 room hotel – ME Doha – scheduled to open in 2017. Another Dubai property – Melia Downtown Residences – will join the company’s current Dubai property and will open in 2018 with 258 units and two F&B options.

Meliá Hotels International vice chairman and CEO Gabriel Escarrer commented: “We are looking forward to working closely with all of our regional partners. The introduction of our two new hotel brands, Innside and ME by Meliá, to the region represents an important milestone within our corporate development.”

Also in the pipeline is the 125-key Innside JLT Dubai, which is due to open in 2016, and ME by Melia, alongside Meliá Dubai. In total, the company expects to achieve the goal of 25 news contracts in 2015.

Melia Doha is now open and you can explore it all here in our new opening special.

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