Deluxe Mallorca Magazin Herbst 2016 Herbst 2016 | Page 58

TRAVELLER’S WORLD

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ATTRACTIVE REFURBISHMENTS AIMED AT YOUNG FREQUENT FLYERS
KEEN ON DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY HAVE HELPED HOTELIERS ON
THE ISLAND MAINTAIN THEIR INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS. THE BARCELÓ
HOTEL GROUP HAS NOW CHOSEN TO MOVE INTO CHINA.

The group’s hoTels are now
designaTed as follows:
royal hideaway formentor, Mallorca
royal hideaway la Bobadilla, granada
royal hideaway playacar, Mexico
Barceló emperatriz, spain
Barceló Bávaro, dominican republic
Barceló Maya, Mexico
occidental Castellana norte, spain
occidental punta Cana, dominican republic
allegro aran Blue, italy
allegro playacar, Mexico

58 DELUXE

The last five years have seen a boom in the
hotel sector in Mallorca. All along the white
sandy beaches three-star hotels are being
converted one by one and reopened at the
beginning of the following season as four or
five-star establishments, with new names and
contemporary interior design.
Anyone who has taken a close interest in
these reopenings will find that among the
other local hotel groups with international
concerns, they repeatedly come across the
name of Grupo Barceló, a family company
based in Palma de Mallorca that has been
involved in the tourist trade since 1931, and
until now has operated more than one
hundred hotels in nineteen countries.
And all that is about to change. Following
radical cuts it undertook last year, the company searched the stock market for partners in
the real estate business and, following a
relaunch, is now just the operator of most of
its stock, while retaining ownership of some
forty hotels.
In carrying out its restructuring, the company decided to split its portfolio and divide it
into four different brands. At the top of the
market is its luxury brand Royal Hideaway
Luxury Hotels & Resorts, which currently has
five hotels in Spain and Mexico with authenticity as its main selling point. Its flagship is
the venerable Barceló Formentor, where
Charlie Chaplin and Grace Kelly spent holidays. It is to be renamed the Royal Hideaway
Formentor. Set in lush Mediterranean woodland with views of the unspoilt bay, here you
can experience the Island as it once was. The
country and its people are the objective of the
journey, and bland uniformity is not desired.
Royal Hideaways are characterised by their
spectacular locations, exceptional design, cul-

tural events and outstanding cuisine. They all
enjoy the standards you find in The Leading
Hotels of the World.
Its second brand, Barceló Hotels & Resorts,
is aimed at families, adults-only and business
and city-break travellers, who, in more than
fifty locations throughout the world, will soon
be able to communicate with the concierge
via a Smartphone App. Here, high-quality service and friendliness are their top priority.
Their individual design and regionallyinspired cuisine, together with elements of
surprise should appeal to young globetrotters.
In Mallorca the Albatros Barceló Hotel in
Illetas operates under this brand.
The acquisition in 2015 of the Occidental
hotel chain, with its Occidental and Allegro
brands offering good value for money and up
to now to be found principally in Mexico,
South America and the Caribbean, complements the group’s portfolio.
Barceló Hotel Group’s latest coup is a
franchise agreement with Plateno, China’s
second largest hotel group. This means that
from the second half of this year Barceló
Hotels & Resorts will also be represented in
China. Over the next ten years they hope to
open at least one hundred hotels in cities and
holiday resorts in Asia under the Barceló
name. The Spanish company will also be able
to take advantage of Plateno’s 80 millionmember loyalty programme. “This agreement
will enable us to bring European know-how to
China and to establish the Barceló name
there,” says EMEA CEO Raúl González.
This summer the Barceló Hotel Group
celebrates its 85th anniversary. The presentation of their vision for the coming decades
shows that it has prepared well for it. Per
molts anys.
CM