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Luis Riu: “We’re ending 2025 with a record revenue of 4.188 billion and 100 hotels fully certified in sustainability”
19 January, 2026 Share
I ended the year with an article outlining our major projects of 2025, focused on refurbishments and opening new hotels. Today, with revenue figures to hand, I can now make a more general assessment, also highlighting other corporate achievements and introducing major projects for 2026. To summarise: it was a good year for all destinations and markets and we met objectives and budgets, indicating that 2026 will be very similar. So, once again, we’re talking about positive trends and industry strength that’s proving capable of overcoming, for now, all kinds of climate and geopolitical events.
RIU’s revenue increases by nearly 3% in 2025
RIU’s gross revenue in 2025 was €4.188 billion, up 2.9% from 2024. The forecasts we made at the start of the year were to reach an increase of around 5% in turnover, but two things cost us this:
- The strength of the dollar versus the euro, since we invoiced a lot in dollars due to our operational volume in America
- The Hurricane Melissa that hit Jamaica in October and forced us to close the island’s seven hotels, causing a significant impact on turnover as it’s a very important destination for us.
Fortunately, we’ve already resumed operations and brought back our employees there. The tourism industry is the driving force for the country’s recovery.
Working closely with the fourth generation of the Riu family
This was also my first full year as sole CEO and the main change I experienced was the close relationship with the fourth generation. Before, my sister Carmen and I discussed all decisions, but now I talk them through with the younger ones. You might think that more people means more opinions and slower decisions, but that’s not the case. For now, they usually confide in my judgement, taking on all our projects with excitement and seeing big decisions as opportunities for professional growth.
Proudly Committed: Carmen Riu’s initiative continues to grow after her retirement
One of Carmen’s greatest legacies was launching Proudly Committed, the sustainability strategy that introduced a definitive change in the company at the end of 2023. 2025 marked the second year of the strategy and the truth is we hit very considerable milestones:
- We changed our certification system to Ecostars and achieved certification for all our hotels one year sooner than expected.
- In addition, 90% of electricity consumed at RIU, whether in hotels or corporate offices, is renewable. This was achieved through self-generation of photovoltaic energy or through certified energy contracts.
- We’re also still very determined in the fight against child sexual exploitation in tourism, being recognised by THE CODE (ECPAT) as Top Members in Mexico and Spain.
RIU hotels in 23 countries: over 50,000 rooms in key destinations
We ended the year with a portfolio of 100 hotels in 23 countries. We’ve once again reached the round number of 100! This time, with almost 90% of the programme in ownership and the rest pretty much in co-ownership, it’s harder for us to drop below the threshold of 100 hotels again. But you never know, as hotel portfolios are somewhat volatile. We added 54,412 rooms and hosted a total of 6.8 million guests, attended by 38,955 employees. Global average occupancy was 88%, which is near technical capacity, and the average rate increased by just over 2%.
Six major RIU hotel renovations planned for 2026
For this next year, we’ve planned five large refurbishments at:
- Riu Tikida Palmeraie in Marrakech
- Riu Palace Nautilus in Torremolinos
- Riu Palace Peninsula in Cancun
- Riu Palace Mexico in Playa del Carmen
- Riu Touareg in Boavista (Cape Verbe)
These projects, the details of which we’ll be disclosing in the next few weeks, are so ambitious and profound that the reopening will compare to the opening of brand-new hotels. The refurbishment of Riu Palace Costa Rica is also planned. The aim is to start work this summer to reopen the hotel in 2027.
New RIU hotels in Zanzibar, Thailand, London, New York, Dubai and Mexico
We’ll be constructing brand new hotels with Riu Palace Swahili in Zanzibar and Riu Palace Phuket, our first hotel in Thailand. I already disclosed details about the first hotel quite recently. I believe it will be the missing piece in what we have to offer at that destination and will be very much welcomed by our guests. The opening date is set for 30 January and there’s a lot of expectation in the Spanish market about our new programme there.
Riu Palace Phuket: the first hotel in Thailand
Riu Palace Phuket has more question marks over it, as is always the case with new destinations. For the Operations and Commercial team, it’s a bigger challenge to open a hotel with a lot of firsts. Thailand is a great international holiday destination with undeniable prestige and popularity. Even so, it’s still very exciting. We’ll open the doors in summer when it’s the off season there, which may give us a slightly smoother start.
The hotel will be beautiful, built right along the beach, in the Riu Palace category and with an Elite section, our premium product, which will have the best rooms and services in the complex. It’ll be unique in its field, as the all-inclusive programme isn’t common in the country. But for us, it’s the seal of our service and we believe it’ll be well received. The local food is delicious and affordable. The all-inclusive offer simply means that our guests will have a wider array of possibilities. We’re certain they’ll explore all the destination’s places of interest and also enjoy our service.
Riu Plaza London The Westminster: the second hotel in the British capital
And finally, the project we started 2026 with: Riu Plaza London The Westminster. It’s very exciting to finally have a second hotel in the city, marking another milestone that’s not easy due to being a competitive market. This opportunity arose by going above and beyond with all the characteristics we believe are essential for our Riu Plaza hotels: large capacity with 464 rooms, a key tourist area in the city’s historical centre and the optimal quality of its facilities. When it’s not an RIU construction, it’s very important to us that the building allows us to offer the service our guests expect, and we exceeded expectations with this refurbished hotel of great taste and quality in 2023.
Construction progresses on the Riu Plaza Broadway and Riu Palace Quintana Roo
We’ve got more projects underway, such as a third hotel in New York, Riu Plaza Broadway, the construction of which is going extremely well. We’ve already finished the foundation stage and are now working on the 9th floor of this skyscraper that will house 673 rooms on 55 floors. Although we’ll still have to wait until 2027 to see it open. The same goes for Riu Palace Quintana Roo, an elegant and modern hotel that we’re building in Costa Mujeres, a Mexican-Caribbean destination that has kept growing to become a relaxing alternative near Cancun since 2017 when we opened Riu Dunamar. The best of both destinations not too far away.
A second hotel planned in the United Arab Emirates: the Riu Palace Dubai
Lastly, in the new hotels section, I should mention Riu Palace Dubai Island that’s being planned along with the Riu Dubai that we opened in 2020. The destination has high demand, with a very high occupancy rate, thanks to its popularity and good connections from the main European markets, such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.
Sustainability and major projects: RIU’s focus for 2026
In 2026, we’ll continue to carefully plan for all events that could destabilise our activity. This industry is the economic driver for our country and many regions globally. Lack of management in the past has damaged its reputation. Let’s hope 2026 is the year when illegal supply is truly prosecuted and eliminated. It would end the fair share of problems we face in tourist destinations.
Meanwhile, as we’ve always done, we’ll continue working responsibly, rigorously, and more sustainably, supporting training for our employees and the creation of new opportunities through the expansion of our portfolio and development of major projects.
Thank you to everyone who is part of the RIU Hotels family for an excellent 2025 and a promising 2026 full of challenges.
Fdo. Luis Riu
