OD Ocean Drive hotel in Ibiza
OD Port Portals in Mallorca
Drive in Ibiza , the island that originated electronic music , often hosts high-profile DJs .
The renovation of abandoned buildings is another pillar of OD Group ' s philosophy , opening up a greater number of properties in a range of locations and adding to the story of the hotel . The 15-room Ibiza Can Jeune originally was an island manor house . An abandoned cinema , closed for 20 years , will be renovated for OD ' s Madrid hotel .
JUMPING THE OCEAN Plans call for the 165-room OD Miami to be the largest of the hotels , but there is work ahead to tell its story : It will be housed in Commonwealth Building , originally built in 1926 with 17 stories . It was destroyed in a hurricane several years later . Only seven levels were rebuilt , Rahola says . OD Group plans to rebuild all 17 levels . " For a Spanish company , the biggest effort would be Miami . It ' s an expensive market to get in , and a very competitive one ," says Ivar Yuste , partner at PHG Hotels & Resorts , a hotel consultancy in Madrid .
Cosmopolitan character , another foundation of Rahola ' s strategy , reflects the hotels ' clientele , only 20 % of whom come from within Spain . The hotels ' restaurants meld Asian , Latin American and European influences .
By launching OD Group during the recession , Rahola took advantage of " a distressed situation in terms of assets ," he says . " In this situation you ' ve got the possibility to choose assets that make sense for your idea and to create a portfolio ." The Ocean Drive building started life in 1969 as a one-star hotel . OD Group acquired it and renovated it to fit its boutique concept . On the other hand , lining up investors , never easy , becomes even more challenging in a financial crisis . " You have to convince investors and other people ( to invest ) while they were having a hard situation ," Rahola says . One key is developing properties that make sense .
" The main challenge when you expand simultaneously into several markets is to make sure you gain critical mass fast enough in those markets . In each of these new destinations you need to set up a commercial structure which is only sustainable if you have multiple properties ," Yuste says . " They need to feed their pipeline and deploy new properties ."
OD Group ' s financial structure is one of the more sophisticated when compared to many hotel companies within Spain , Yuste says . " In Spain , leisure companies typically grow with their own equity ," he says . Rahola is " more creative financially ."
The company still owns its portfolio of hotels , but in order to expand it launched its own private-equity fund , which allowed the company to develop five projects , including Miami . Investors are family offices and international funds .
Within the OD Group holding company , Rahola holds the majority of shares in OD Hotels . He is developing his own private equity fund to fund future growth , including in the hotels France and the U . S . As the acquisition market in Spain has heated up , it ' s boosted prices of potential properties . That ' s one reason , along with a desire to diversify , that OD is looking outside the country , Rahola says .
Among the challenges confronting OD Group , the riskiest is feeling comfortable , Rahola says . The feeling that " I have nothing to learn or to prove , that scares me ," he says . " I want to be learning all the time and always looking for new goals ."
I WANT TO BE
LEARNING ALL THE TIME AND ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW
GOALS .
“
”
— MARC RAHOLA
April 2018 hotelsmag . com 45