{"id":17953,"date":"2020-01-22T13:39:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T12:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riu.com\/blog\/?p=17953"},"modified":"2020-01-22T13:39:45","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T12:39:45","slug":"luis-riu-hotels-projects-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riu.com\/blog\/en\/luis-riu-hotels-projects-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Luis Riu: \u201cDubai will be playing a starring role this 2020 full of new projects\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have started the new year on a strong and enthusiastic footing. We are very pleased with the work we carried out in 2019 and we have lots of ongoing projects for this 2020<\/strong>. In fact, we are not even three weeks into the new year and I have already visited our new Riu Plaza Fisherman’s<\/strong> Wharf hotel, the first hotel we acquired in San Francisco<\/strong> in November; I have also visited the construction works for our second Riu Plaza hotel in New York <\/strong>and our hotel in Dubai<\/strong>, which will be opening in the final quarter of the year. This gives us some indication of the pace that has been set for this year!<\/p>\n

\"Luis<\/a>

Luis Riu looks back at 2019 and introduces the new projects for 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

Summary of 2019 at RIU Hotels & Resorts, by Luis Riu<\/h2>\n

But before I outline everything that’s coming up, I would like to briefly recap 2019<\/strong>, which has been a memorable year for us. The Maldives was a very exhilarating challenge<\/a><\/strong> and seeing the outcome has been really satisfying for all concerned. The Madrid project<\/a><\/strong> is also proving to be a real revolution for the company: firstly because of how complicated the project has been, and secondly because of the major responsibility of dealing with such an emblematic building in the city, and lastly for the major interest it has created. Today we are very happy with the result. I believe that the hotel pays tribute to the building’s history<\/a> and in terms of the number of bookings, we are very pleased indeed.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>

The hotel Riu Plaza Espa\u00f1a has been one of the most successful projects of 2019 for Luis Riu.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Riu Playa Park hotel<\/a> has been very important to Playa de Palma<\/strong> given that, instead of a refurbishment, we chose to pull down and rebuild the hotel from scratch, thereby providing more value to this mature destination and to our clients. And at the end of the summer we opened the Riu Palace Tikida Taghazout, an elegant hotel in a new and charming destination on the Moroccan coast.<\/p>\n

Renovations of international hotels, Luis Riu\u2019s favorite challenge<\/h2>\n

However, 2019 was also marked by major renovation works<\/strong>. We began in Morocco<\/strong>, with the refurbishment of the Riu Tikida Palmeraie, we continued in Tanzania<\/strong> with the renovation of the Riu Palace Zanzibar<\/a> and we stopped off in Spain to refurbish the Riu Garoe in Tenerife and the Riu Palace Palmeras Hotel<\/a>. This deserves a very special mention. It is a hotel that is very special to the chain and to me personally<\/strong>. It was the first RIU hotel outside of Mallorca and signified a huge leap forward for us and an expansion which affected our entire business going forward. The hotel has kept its characteristic semi-circle design, although the refurbishment has converted this establishment into a modern and attractive hotel with a 4-star Palace category.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>

The renovation of the Riu Palace Palmeras hotel, one of the success stories of 2019.<\/p><\/div>\n

A year full of challenges for Luis Riu<\/h2>\n

We have worked extremely hard this year. In all the company’s departments. My sister, Carmen Riu, and I have taken on major challenges<\/a><\/strong> in all our destinations, not only through new projects, but above all in traditional destinations and markets where the pressure has not let up. We closed the year with 99 hotels in 19 countries and gross sales of 2.240 million euros. We have a team of 31,270 employees managing 48,000 rooms where 4.9 million guests stayed. These are dizzying figures which have only been possible thanks to the amazing RIU team of professionals. Take a look at this video that recaps all this effort and gives you the inside scoop on what we have in store for 2020:<\/p>\n