The Círculo Ecuestre hosted this Thursday, March 30, the colloquium How did I build my dream?, led by Antonio Catalán, president of AC Hotels by Marriott.
After the presentation by the vice president of the Círculo Ecuestre, Enrique Lacalle, the businessman held a dialogue with the editor-in-chief of Expansión in Catalonia, José Orihuel, who was in charge of moderating the event.
The speaker directed his speech by reviewing his professional career linked to the hotel sector. The businessman explained to the club members how he achieved his dream, made through the following factors: "33% luck, 33% intelligence and the rest work."
Development of the hotel sector
Asked by the event's moderator, José Orihuel, Antonio Catalán analyzed the development of the hotel sector in recent years. The hotel president assured in the framework of the Círculo Ecuestre colloquium that "the client today is much more demanding", but that "the target has changed" due to the appearance of new tourist accommodation such as hostels. During his speech, the president of AC Hotels by Marriott explained that "Spanish tourism has plenty of customers and lacks price."
Regarding the tourist and hotel scene in Barcelona, Catalán argued that "in times of demonstrations, tourism was on the rise", but that later "it went down", for which reason he detected "insecurity and cleanliness" as the real problems of the city.
Barcelona throughout the years
Along the same lines, the hotel businessman recalled the boost that the 1992 Olympics gave Barcelona, which, in his opinion, "was like Soria, but with a barretina." Catalan applauded the management carried out by the former mayor Pascual Maragall, of whom he has said that he was "the true commercial director and promoter of Barcelona" and of Joan Gaspart, president of the Turisme de Barcelona consortium.
Regarding current affairs, Antonio Catalán compared the Catalan capital with the Spanish capital saying that "Barcelona has real prices and the weather is in its favor, but Madrid is pressing the accelerator a lot and has a super powerful economic activity". He also gave a negative assessment of the tourist tax that came into effect last year in Barcelona. He pointed out that "it is typical of a third world country", alleging that "we already pay enough taxes".
Ravages of the pandemic and the Russian invasion
José Orihuel did not want to miss the opportunity to ask the speaker about how the rise in energy costs, derived from the Russian invasion in Ukraine, had affected the speaker's company, to which the businessman said that "the increase in the price of energy has meant 16 million euros more in energy cost compared to before the pandemic”. Likewise, he proudly assured that "this year we will repeat the data from 2019, or we will improve them", referring to the annual turnover with which the hotel company plans to close the financial year of 2023. "If all sectors were like tourism, Spain would be the first country in the world," he added, based on the fact that "in some territories we raise 50% of GDP."
Old and new decisions
Asked by the members of the club, the businessman has admitted that he was wrong by not investing in the Dominican Republic "when there were still virgin beaches" and that in NH they left "fantastic hotels and a great company", but that, in his opinion, "already It has no soul."
Regarding the forecasts for the future of the hotel multinational that he presides over, Catalán said that he would like to “get a hand in the Palace hotel in Barcelona and reform it completely”. He also revealed that JW Marriott, one of the company's luxury firms, has projects in Barcelona and Malaga. Although he did not give more details about the operation in the Catalan capital, he explained that the company is testing the hotel field in the Andalusian city.
