The Group evaluates the possible existence of a loss of value each year that would oblige it to reduce the carrying amounts of its tangible and intangible assets. A loss is deemed to exist when the recoverable value is less than the carrying amount.
The recoverable value of the assets is the greater of their fair value less the costs of transfer or disposal by another means and their value in use.
Moreover, and regardless of the existence of any indication of impairment, the Group, at least once a year, checks potential impairment that may affect goodwill.
The recoverable value should be calculated for an individual assets, unless the asset does not generate cash entries which are, by and large, independent of those relating to other assets or groups of assets. If this is the case, the recoverable value is calculated for the Cash-Generating Unit (CGU) it belongs to. As a general rule, the Group has defined each of the hotels it operates as cash-generating units, according to the real management of their operations.
If there are signs of impairment in a CGU that goodwill could not be allotted to goodwill, the Group checks, in the first place, the impairment to the CGU, without including goodwill and recognises, as appropriate, the impairment loss at the level of the CGU. Subsequently, the Group checks the impairment in the group of CGUs to which goodwill was allotted and recognises, as appropriate, the impairment loss at the level of the groups of CGUs.
In the case of Hoteles Royal, S.A., where the whole business of Grupo Royal was acquired and whose purchase was effective in 2015, the cash-generating unit corresponds to the Group as a whole (Colombian, Chilean and Ecuadorian market).
In 2020, with the acquisition of the Boscolo Hotels Group, goodwill was generated which was allotted to a single cash generating unit that relates to the entire Group.
The operating result for each CGU is obtained at the end of the year without taking non-recurring results (if any) or financial results into account. Once the operating result is obtained for each CGU, the impairment test is performed for those in which there are indications of impairment. Among others, the Group considers that a CGU has indications of impairment if it meets the following conditions: it has negative operating results and its business is stable (it has been open for 3 years).
Losses due to impairment of the CGU initially, if appropriate, reduce the value of the goodwill allotted to it, and subsequently to the CGU’s other assets, pro rata depending on the book value of each one of the assets, with the limit for each one of them of the greater of their fair value less the costs of disposal and its value in use.
On each closing date the Group assesses whether there are any indications that impairment losses recognised in previous years no longer exist, or may have decreased. Impairment losses relating to goodwill are not reversible. Impairment losses on the remaining assets are only reversed if a change has occurred in the calculations used to determine the asset’s recoverable value. Reversal of the impairment loss is recorded as a credited to profit and loss.
As an exception, given the current economic situation as a result of the pandemic caused by Covid-19, analyses have continued to be carried out to determine if there is any impairment to the CGUs as a whole in the 2021 financial year, in the same way as in the 2020 financial year.
In this financial year, the Group carried out a valuation of the greater part of the hotel assets in ownership. They were valued by a global firm specialising in valuation and consultancy services. The valuation of the assets at 31 December 2021 covered 70 assets. In order to calculate the value of the assets, the most used valuation criteria was discounted cash flow, due to the fact that the hotel investments are valued depending on their potential future income.
The value in use is calculated from the estimated future cash flows, discounted at a discount rate after tax that reflects the current market valuation with respect to the value of money and the specific risks associated with the asset, covering a five-year period and a perpetual value, except in the case of leased hotels that correspond to the term of the lease, a perpetual value therefore not being considered in the latter.