Melia Hotels International : Meliá Hotels International debates Brexit in London

Last month, the Spanish newspaper 'El Pais' organized a breakfast meeting in London with the main Spanish companies present in the British capital, including Meliá, represented by Gioele de Camarlinghi, Regional Director for the United Kingdom. In addition, the Sabadell Bank, Mapfre, the Instituto de Empresa and Instituto Cervantes, met with city officials including Peter Estlin, Sheriff of the City of London and Andrew Parmley, Lord Mayor of London.

Forecasts have been altered following the results of the recent General Election, in which Prime Minister Theresa May did not get the majority she hoped for to strengthen her negotiating position, and everything now indicates that the UK will aim to negotiate a softer Brexit. This would reinforce the panel's main conclusions, which emphasized the importance of the City of London continuing to be the leading financial district in Europe, ruling out the probability and desirability of the City losing its status. As the Chairman of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain pointed out, 'to have a financial centre like London on the continent is good for everyone, and its fall would not necessarily benefit other European countries, as its resources, capital and talent would most probably be dispersed throughout the world.'

The Spanish companies and London institutions agreed to reject maximalist approaches and to call for time and serenity for the negotiations, the implementation of measures, and the evaluation of their impact.

The Regional Director for Meliá, the only company in the travel and hospitality sector in the debate, explained that the UK is a very important market both for outbound travel and as a preferred destination for leisure travellers and group business. Camarlinghi also said that the company plans to open new hotels in the country, but emphasized the importance of the free movement of people, as the availability of qualified staff will be critical for the travel industry in the country and in London in particular. 'If it is not easy for London to remain a magnet for talent,' he explained, 'we will need to train far more British people to work in hotels.'

The session on talent and qualified labour was a recurring theme in the working breakfast, coinciding with the results of a major survey on Brexit carried out by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce among its member companies, highlighting the following results:

• Instability caused by Brexit is the first concern of Spanish companies.
• Labour rights, immigration and visas are the main concern for a quarter of the companies surveyed.
• 64% of companies in the UK do not have a contingency plan for the post-Brexit period
• 38% of companies say they are worried about their future in the country, and 34% say they will stay whatever happens.
• 51% think that their goods and services supply chain from the UK will be affected by Brexit, and that profitability will potentially be affected by higher customs costs.
• The majority believe that the export of talent from the UK may be affected.

As the company has stated in its most recent reports, Brexit has not had an impact to date on the number of UK visitors to the company's hotels, with numbers actually increasing in 2017. There is, however, a greater number of bookings for the shoulder season rather than high season, and a tendency to shorten the hotel stay, consistent with the devaluation of around 10% to date in the value of the pound.