Spanish hotel chain Sol Melia makes plans for Romanian market, eyes acquisitions

Spanish hotel chain Sol Melia, the third largest hotel chain in Europe, wants to enter the Romanian market in the following years with four and five-star units on the Romanian seaside and in Bucharest. The brands it intends to bring are the four-star Sol for the seaside and the four and five-stars Tryp and Melia Hotels & Resorts. “Romania has potential for investments in tourism. We want to enter the Romanian market and we are targeting mainly the seaside and Bucharest. We are evaluating projects on the seaside, but no discussion has been finalized yet. We are following two directions: taking over existing hotel which require renovation or opening new properties,” said Jose Manuel Navarro, the company's general manager for Bulgaria. Sol Melia has been previously in talks with a hotel owner in Mamaia seaside resort, but it didn't go through with the acquisition due to the hotel's high operational costs. The group is looking for hotel properties with a bug number of rooms. “The renovation process requires large investments from hotel owners. The crisis is delaying the takeover process for Sol Melia because the funds for renovation are also hard to find. We will be present in Romania once an opportunity comes across,” said Navarro. Sol Melia operates five hotels in Bulgaria, at the Golden Sands, Obzor and Nessebar resorts, a total of 2,000 rooms. In picture, Sol Melia Hotel in Dusseldorf.