Minor Hotels consolidates its presence in the Americas with new openings and a strategy focused on the end consumer

What does it mean to you to be present at an event like this today?
Being at the HBX Market Hub is very important. It gives us the opportunity to gain visibility, meet with many of our partners in both Latin America and the United States, and interact with them very efficiently. Additionally, as sponsors of the event, we can strengthen our relationship with the local HBX team and all the partners who attend.

You have a very extensive international network. When a professional comes to visit, which properties are they most interested in inquiring about, or do you just exhibit them?
Right now, we're mostly being asked about Minor Hotels. We were previously known as NH Hotel Group, but we rebranded last year to Minor Hotels Europe and Americas. That's the name of the holding company that consolidates everything within Minor Hotels. Thanks to this change, we now have eight brands, from Anantara, which represents ultra-luxury, to others like Tivoli, and brands with a strong presence in Latin America, such as NH Hotels & Resorts and NH Collection Hotels & Resorts.

The year is approaching its halfway point. How are you feeling about demand overall? Can you share a more personal rather than corporate perspective?
It depends on the region, especially in the Americas. In the south of the continent, the macroeconomic impact is still being felt strongly. In Europe, on the other hand, we see solid demand: in the first quarter, we managed to grow RevPAR (revenue per available room) by almost 9%, which is very positive. However, some weakness is already beginning to be noticed among the B2C consumer, the leisure customer, due to the price increases of recent years. After "revenge travel" (traveling to compensate for the confinement caused by the pandemic), a certain resistance is being perceived, both in terms of price and the ability to travel.
In the United States, we're observing caution, with consumers analyzing the global and local economic situation. In Latin America, especially in the Southern Cone, rising costs are making some destinations too expensive. For example, for a Brazilian, traveling to Argentina is currently expensive. However, we're making up for it with other markets, such as Europe and Spain, which remain accessible. Chile is also doing very well, in part because of the Argentines crossing the border.
We're very excited about the opening of NHOW Lima, our new 240-room hotel in San Isidro, Peru. It's part of our more lifestyle brand, Now, and will excel in both its hotel offering and its culinary offering.

In terms of promotion, what ideas or initiatives do you have coming up?
We have a very active promotional agenda. In July, we'll be in the United States at GBTA, where we'll be promoting our brands to the corporate segment, especially with both traditional and new-generation Travel Management Companies. We'll have our own booth to continue sharing all the latest from Minor Hotels.
Since the beginning of the year, we've been undergoing a transformation: moving from a very institutional brand to one focused on consumers. Just two months ago, we launched MinorHotels.com, our new portal where guests can find and book any of our 566 hotels in more than 50 countries.
We've also relaunched our loyalty program: it's now called Minor Discovery, unifying six previous programs under a single umbrella, within the Global Hotel Alliance, but with our own identity. And in a matter of days, we'll launch Minor Pro, a platform for professionals, which is the evolution of NH Pro, but expanded to all of the group's hotels, not just those in Europe and the Americas.

You can't imagine how much these kinds of decisions entail at an operational level, can you?
It's absolutely crazy. We've been working on all of this for over two years. And we're sure we'll have more important news to share very soon, both at the brand level and the loyalty program, including new openings and products in strategic markets.