MESSAGES FROM THE CHAIRMAN AND CEO 6
2014 was the first year in the transformation of the Company
at all levels. Regarding our five-year Strategic Plan, whose
goal is to help us become the urban and business hotel
of reference at an international level, we have rigorously
fulfilled the commitments we had set ourselves for the first
year, achieving significant improvements in the evolution of
our hotel activity and in how the market and the consumers
perceive us.
Each and every one of the initiatives focused on increasing
our revenue, improving our margins, growing, and optimizing
our management and organization capabilities.
Thus, during this period, we built a value proposition
materialized in a new brand architecture under the NH Hotel
Group umbrella that includes NH Collection, NH Hotels, nhow
and Hesperia Resorts. Each of these brands has its own
operational promise and its own tangible and differentiated
experience.
Experience and hotel refurbishment was and will continue to
be a priority in this first stage of the plan. On the one hand,
we have incorporated new elements that will make the NH
experience new and differential: exclusive mattresses, state-
of-the-art LED television sets, professional hairdryers, top-
quality showers, and new amenities. They are our “Brilliant
Basics”. We want consumers to covet them and make them
feel better than home. On the other hand, we have made
progress in the repositioning of our assets through the total
or partial refurbishment of many buildings worldwide.
Consumers and customers are responding very positively,
rewarding us with better ratings in their assessments, both
internally through our satisfaction surveys and externally on
travel websites that base their recommendations on users’
feedback. As a result, the positioning of our presence in
search engines is improving significantly.
In addition to reviewing and promoting our commercial,
marketing and communication plans, in 2014wemade an effort
to design solutions with a competitive advantage. Proposals
that match the lifestyle, work and modern communication
methods of consumers, with a view to always exceed their
expectations. An example of this was the launch of “High Tech
Made Easy” in the meetings and events segment, which not
only includes an extraordinary Wi-Fi connection, revamped
meeting rooms and new generation interactive collaboration
systems, but also live 3-D technology for high-performing
and high-impact meetings and events. These are pioneering
experiences in the sector that put us at the forefront of
innovation within the hotel industry.
Thanks to many of these measures targeted at stimulating
sales and the efforts made in order to contain expenses, in
2014 we surpassed market expectations with revenue and
EBITDA increases, and had considerably better net results,
compared with the previous year. Trends also improved
significantly throughout the year, with price increases over
occupancy during the second half, a positive evolution that
was reflected in all markets.
Concerning Asset Management, we identified where we
wanted to be and how, exiting establishments that failed to
meet our expectations. Additionally the sale of Sotogrande
allowed us to maintain other strategic assets for the Company.
Regarding the Expansion Plan, and in addition to new
agreements, at the beginning of 2015 we completed the
acquisition of the Latin American chain Hoteles Royal which
has allowed us to launch NH Hotel Group in Colombia,
become leaders in Bogotá, and increase our presence in Chile
and Ecuador. At the same time, our joint venture in China
progressed as planned and we expect to develop a hotel
portfolio in that country.
Finally, we made remarkable progress in the optimization of
our management and organization capabilities, in particular
our technological systems. This will allow us to be more
efficient and effective.
All the initiatives we are implementing for the new NH are
starting to become a reality and they show enormous potential
for the future. We believe in our vision and are certain that
we are on the right track. So that one day, whenever anyone
contemplates a trip to a city for an overnight stay or meeting,
for business or pleasure, they will always ask themselves: “Is
there an NH hotel at my destination?”
I would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of
our employees for their effort in order to make all of this
possible, as well as our shareholders for their trust and
enthusiasm, and for sharing our ambition of turning NH Hotel
Group into a preferred destination amongst consumers. Your
support encourages us to continue working towards the
accomplishment of our goal.
Thank you,
Federico J. González Tejera
CEO of NH Hotel Group
CEO
OF NH HOTEL GROUP
