Globalization and new technology have led to the creation of new and imaginative solutions in the tourism industry, especially in the field of hotel operation. These are new management methods that have just arrived in the industry where hotels have had to adapt to many changes. GAT Group has more than ten years’ experience in hotel operation, dealing with all type of city and holiday hotels and resorts. We talk to Alfredo Caparrós, GAT Group Commercial Manager in the Golf section, about their working experience and their growth prediction.
The GAT group works in tourism assets management. However, what are your management models?
GAT is an independent hotel management company. It has renowned experience in maximizing asset values. We have more than ten years’ experience in hotel operation, dealing with all type of city and holiday hotels and resorts.
GAT Group was set up in 2008 as a multi-brand hotel company. It is an independent and not vertically integrated company due to short and long term market trends.
In the short term, many hotel assets are in the hands of over indebted estate promoters. Thus, we anticipate that the Bank will have to take over these hotel assets temporarily but they will not be able to assume the ownership of the business. Thus, GAT works as an independent operator in the short term (interim) and in the middle term (repositioning and enhancing commercial value).
In the middle term, we anticipated that the Spanish market would converge with the more advanced hotel market models in two ways. First, separating dissimilar companies such as estate agencies, business operation and brand creation and management and thus, put them in the hands of specialized companies in each of these sections. Secondly, we also anticipated that the market would face a fast process of concentration as this is an excessively fragmentized industry where institutional investors not related to the hotel industry would play a key role.
GAT has more than one thousand rooms distributed around the most relevant destinations on the Spanish coast; however, it is also present in city hotels. Tell us what your hotel portfolio is exactly and what your specific intentions are in terms of product and positioning.
Today we have holiday hotels on the coast and at the same time, we manage hotels in Madrid such as the Holiday Inn Bernabeu and Gran Hotel de Durango in Bilbao. Our proposal is different from others in terms of adding product value and we achieve this with design, product updating as well as soundness and efficient operation.
Right now, this added value is mainly being developed as holiday resorts for sport and adventure tourists in the middle and middle-high tourism segment on the Spanish and Portuguese coast. In the last year we have nearly added 500 stars in two of the best resorts on the coast within our segment which we are going to renovate radically: La Sella Golf Resort and Islantilla Golf Resort and we are planning to add the Intercontinental Mar Menor Golf & Spa Resort and Guadalmina Golf & Spa.
Tell us about your responsibilities in the GAT Group.
I started working with the Gat Group when we started the Interim Management at Intercontinental Mar Menor Hotel in Los Alcázares and The Residences Mar Menor. This complex has a 5* Boutique Hotel, a golf course on the Resort and 5 more golf courses. They have all been designed by Jack Nicklaus. 150 touristic apartments opened under our management, 4 more restaurants on the complex in addition to the already existing ones and many other improvements were carried out in order to position this complex on the market as a leading product.
This was supposed to be a short term management action. However, we have continued to improve our management every year and we have positioned this product in a way that we have achieved high occupation levels unexpectedly. We continue our work and we also continue increasing the figures as well as improving customer satisfaction and product quality.
Since then, I have been working as a Commercial Manager in the Golf Section. I have been working closely with the Commercial Manager of GAT, Ignacio López, and with the hotel and resort teams that we have hired. I think we have managed to create a team that works wonderfully.
Four years ago the Guadalmina Golf & Spa Hotel became part of our portfolio. This is an iconic hotel on the Costa del Sol where we have exceeded the expectations in terms of occupation and quality.
As I mentioned before, during last year we incorporated two new golf hotels, La Sella Golf Resort in Denia (Alicante) and Islantilla Golf Resort Hotel in Islantilla (Huelva). These two complexes are well positioned on the golf segment. Both of them have 27-hole golf courses which we have managed and updated.
What are GAT Group projects for 2019?
Our most urgent objective is making a good name in the segment that we are committed to and in the short term, in hotels in holiday resorts for adventure and sports tourists in the middle and middle-high segment in Spain. According to our business plan, in 2021 we should have 100 million euros turnover in this segment.
Additionally, we are launching a new product line to fulfill a new accommodation demand. This is now an unregulated product and sometimes even illegal. We have important investors that have trusted GAT and without whom our projects would not be possible.
In geographical terms, after consolidating our presence in multi-brand hotel management. And as an independent market leader in Spain, we will move towards the Eastern Mediterranean and if we have the opportunity Latin America should not be ruled out, especially the Caribbean and Central America.