Hotel Cádiz Bahía hosted the Global MICE Forum Iberian Edition event

In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Javier Oliván, General Director of Hotel Cádiz Bahía, part of the Andalusian hotel group, Q Hotels.

What is the Q Hotels chain made up of and what can you tell us about this particular hotel, which is only a year old?

Correct, the hotel opened on December 2 of last year and I joined on the 15th of that month. At that time, the work was not finished. We opened with two or three floors still in the process of completion. And the opening was a challenge because in a short time we already had a fairly important event with a convention of more than two hundred people, which made it an express opening. 

And the company, the Q group, is a real estate, construction group. It is based in Seville, but it started in the world of hotels in Tarifa, and that was the first hotel that was created. A small hotel with about 15-20 rooms that has expanded and grown until it is a hotel with about 100 rooms. Then we have several properties, such as a 5-star hotel, the TUI Hotel, which is also in the Tarifa and Zahara area, where we are building an annex dedicated to events. And in addition, we have three Apart Hotels, two in Seville and one in the Tarifa area.

So it has a great offer of properties…

Yes, we have several properties. They are all important and have their value. Yes, it is true that there has been a radical change in the company's philosophy, because before it was dedicated to pure vacation hotels in beach areas, designed above all for leisure and recreation issues, which are even temporary because they end up closing. in October to reopen in March.

How does the Hotel Cádiz Bahía operate?

It is open 365 days a year and the hotel's objective is completely focused on tourism. For that we have a wonderful auditorium with a capacity of 178 seats, a hall of 540 and almost 600 square meters of hall on the ground floor. Then four other smaller rooms with capacity for about 40 people, ideal for small meetings, subcommittee rooms, etc. 

At the restaurant level we have a breakfast room of course, a cafeteria, and a pool bar that operates in season. And a viewpoint restaurant on the ninth floor with splendid views, which is closed right now, but the intention is to keep it open like the hotel every day of the year.

Why the decision in Cádiz? 

The building where the hotel is located is very emblematic in Cádiz. It was the former free-time residence, where state workers and officials mainly came on vacation.

And there came a time when it was closed because it was thought that the structure had a hominosis disease. It was closed for 15 years, and by the end, it was getting sick from being closed and not maintained for so long. The Junta de Andalucía, which was the owner, put it up for auction and our president of the company, who is a visionary, saw a very important opportunity to expand the group to other areas. 

How is the occupancy in this hotel?

There are times of low occupancy, such as the months of November, December and even January. In February with the carnival in Cádiz it increases, but there are months that are complicated because there is no tourism. In those moments we have to create content for it. I believe that the property, with very good judgment, decided to preserve the building and work on the structure of what already existed and we have respected the physiognomy of the space, which is why it is still a hotel that has a history behind it. We have a storytelling that is very important for when you go out to sell your building, which has been part of the city since the first years of the 20th century. 

They have respected the property, but simultaneously they have created a business angle that is MICE

As we came from a company that came from a very vacation-oriented world, for me it was very important to change the vision because the way of working changes a lot with respect to a vacationer and a business person. In the end everything is service, but it is not the same type of service that each person requires. We are a city, conference hotel, and we are also incredibly lucky to have a beautiful beach right next to the hotel. Therefore, throughout the year we can manage to remain active, but when the summer months arrive when all business and MICE activity decreases, we compensate with vacation tourism that also provides us with very important stability throughout the year.

The losses have practically surpassed them with the type of business…

In this first year we have managed to ensure that there are no marked peaks in terms of occupancy. Our objective and challenge is that in November and December we will work to raise those plains that we have right now. Always thinking about working and growing even more.