Gabriel Garcia Llabres Marketing and Sales Manager for Sol Meliá Cuba

Sol Meliá´s big break in Cuba turned fifteen years last Thursday and since then, the Spanish company has been growing on a steady basis, putting more and more lodgings under its management watch on the island nation that, as a matter of fact, has panned out to be its business hub in the Caribbean.

And likelihood is Sol Meliá is here to stay. In an exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital, Mr. Garcia talked extensively on these and other issues.

CND: Sol Meliá was the first foreign company to run and market hotels in Cuba. Can you tell us how the company´s growth has fared in this country?

GG: Sol Meliá´s presence in Cuba began on May 10, 1990 with the grand opening of the Sol Palmeras Hotel in Varadero. That establishment was the fruit of the first joint venture in this country and the harbinger in terms of foreign-owned and foreign-run hotels in Cuba. Throughout these fifteen years, Sol Meliá has climbed from 608 rooms to 8,479 accommodations, comprising 21 percent of the island nation´s stock of 41,296 rooms reserved for foreign tourists, and 45 percent of all hotel accommodations operated by the seventeen international chains stationed in Cuba.

CND: How many rooms and beds are you currently running in Cuba?

GG: As we speak, we have 8,479 rooms and 16,878 beds, a stock we manage through Gaviota, Cubanacan and Gran Caribe, three Cuban travel companies. We only offer four-star and five-star hotel rooms under Sol Meliá´s five trademarks: Meliá Hotels and Resorts, Tryp Hotels, Sol Hotels and Paradisus Resorts. Nearly 80 percent of our hotels are all-inclusive establishments, a segment with a huge demand in today´s market.

CND: In what Cuban travel circuits is Sol Meliá present?

GG: the 21 hotels and resorts we run in Cuba are located in the country´s premier travel destinations. In Havana, for instance, we operate the Meliá Cohiba, Meliá Havana and Tryp Havana Libre, that total 1,431 rooms. This urban offer is rounded out with the 302-room Meliá Santiago, in Santiago de Cuba. IN the case of Varadero, we manage half a dozen resorts there that combine for 3,118 rooms, plus 764 rooms distributed in a couple of resorts in Holguin´s Playa Esmeralda. To top it all off, we´ve got nine offshore resorts that add up 2,864 accommodations in Santa Maria, Guillermo, Coco and Largo keys.

CND: In general terms, what results has Sol Meliá scored in the marketing and management of these lodgings?

GG: In 2004, the company logged little more than 4 million check-ins and raked in $256 million worth of revenue, up 19 percent from 2003. In the first quarter of this year, our gains have soared by 15 percent and the number of stays has tallied up roughly 1.3 million.

CND: What percentage of Cuba´s tourist inflow are you bringing in right now?

GG: In the first quarter of 2005, we welcomed 227,796 tourists of the 721,818 sunbathers that arrived in the country. That figure accounts for 31.6 percent of all arrivals.

CND: What policy has Sol Meliá followed to keep up quality in its Cuban hotels?

GG: From the moment we landed in Cuba, Sol Meliá has been strongly committed to quality, so that´s a pattern we keep a close eye on every step of the way. That´s been the key to our success and the good numbers we´ve put on the board for the past fifteen years. In 2004, all of our hotels in Cuba snared more tourists and raised their quality standards in terms of prices and services. Those results are getting even better this year.

CND: What new plans and projects do you have in store for 2005 and years to come? Will Sol Meliá keep on growing in Cuba?

GG: For early next year, we´ll have the first stage of the Meliá Las Dunas Hotel in Santa Maria Key ready to go. That means that out of the hotel´s 925 rooms, we´ll be putting 450 in the market when that first stage is phased in. For the 2007-2008 winter, we´ll open the 380-room Paradisus Cayo Largo, the third of its kind, I mean, under that trademark, that we operate in Cuba. We´re also working pretty strongly to label our hotels in segments and boosting up family travel, incentives, golf, business travel, newlyweds and honeymooners, and the like. This effort will allow us to make a better use of the market and have access to tourists with far bigger purchasing power.

CND: In what other Caribbean countries is Sol Meliá present? What is Cuba´s contribution to this region?

GG: We operate 34 establishments in the Caribbean, and 21 of them are in Cuba. Our lodging capability in the region peaks 13,600 rooms, and 8,479 of them are in Cuba, that is, 62 percent. In the Dominican Republic, we have three hotels and a new one to be opened this year: the Paradisus Palma Real, the second run by this trademark there. We also have a trio of resorts in Costa Rica and one apiece in Panama and Puerto Rico. Even though we have ten properties in Mexico, only half of them are in the Caribbean Basin. Therefore, there can´t be any doubt that Cuba takes the presence cake in the Caribbean.

CND: What´s your assessment of the Excellencies Group´s work in the region?

GG: There´s no doubt in mind you honor your name. The Caribbean is a world region that´s getting an increasingly tighter grip of the international market thanks to an image of safety. However, the region needs far more promotion and the Excellencies Group is playing a major role in that respect. There are more and more international chains building hotels in the region every year, especially Spanish companies. Now consider this; Sol Meliá´s hotels chalked up 29 percent more profits last year than in 2003, and that percentage boosted the company´s sales worldwide.