{"id":21180,"date":"2021-02-18T08:56:24","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T07:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riu.com\/blog\/?p=21180"},"modified":"2021-02-18T14:59:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T13:59:01","slug":"projects-opening-refurbishing-hotels-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riu.com\/blog\/en\/projects-opening-refurbishing-hotels-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Luis Riu: \u2018The year 2021 is not looking easy, but we have some major projects that are bringing us motivation and hope\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Luis<\/a>

Luis Riu reviews RIU Hotels & Resorts\u2019 plans for 2021.<\/p><\/div>\n

Since we launched this section of the blog, I\u2019ve always dedicated the first post of the year<\/strong>\u00a0to looking back on the year that has just ended and giving a preview of what we can look forward to this year. I never imagined that the content of this post in 2021<\/strong>\u00a0would be what it is. The crisis caused by COVID-19<\/u><\/a>\u00a0has been going on for many months, but it is so profound that there is still a certain surreal feeling around it. On the other hand, the virus has made us get used to many things; for example, it is strange for me to look at images like the one in this post, taken before the pandemic, where my staff and I appear without a face mask.<\/p>\n

Today we have 50 hotels open in 14 countries<\/strong>. The others are either closed for the season, or waiting for the situation to improve, especially in their customers\u2019 countries of origin. But at RIU our middle name is action, so we actually ended 2020 by opening the hotel Riu Dubai, and we are kick-starting 2021 by opening the Riu Palace Santa Maria<\/u><\/a>\u00a0on Sal Island in Cape Verde. These are two major changes for the company and they offer motivation and hope to all of us who are part of RIU.<\/p>\n

2020 has been a hard year for the tourism industry, also for RIU<\/h2>\n

It is no secret that 2020 is the hardest year I have ever known in the tourist industry. In figures, for RIU, it resulted in a 60% drop in gross sales, which totalled 826 million euros in 2020. For years we kept beating our records for the number of guests who had stayed at our hotels, touching the 5 million mark in 2019. This year, we welcomed 2.3 million guests<\/strong>. Meanwhile, the number of hotels has increased to 100<\/strong>, as have the numbers of rooms and beds, which are over 49,000 and 98,500 respectively.<\/p>\n

As vaccination gradually progresses in many countries around us, we are still operating in around 50 hotels and applying safety protocols<\/u><\/a>\u00a0that have produced excellent results. In addition, we are committed to ensuring we can continue with the major projects that were already planned<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Luis<\/a>

Luis Riu alongside his team during a visit before the opening of the new RIU hotel in Dubai.<\/p><\/div>\n

This is the case with the hotel Riu Dubai<\/strong>, which was planned as the chain\u2019s star project in 2020<\/u><\/a>\u00a0for many reasons: the first in the Middle East; the first in Dubai, which is a major tourist destination in the Emirates and a strategic hub in the region where we are gradually increasing our presence; as well as being hotel number 100<\/strong>. And indeed it was the star of the company on 10 December, the day of its official opening. That helped us close the year by achieving all those milestones, and also with a positive effect on the RIU team who are so used to challenges, travel and action.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Riu Palace Santa Maria, a ray of hope to face 2021<\/h2>\n

We are now hitting a new milestone, by opening the hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria<\/strong>. It is situated on the island of Sal in Cape Verde<\/u><\/a>, it has 1,001 rooms and its launch is an important event because the archipelago stopped receiving international tourists when the pandemic was declared, and has been closed all this time.<\/p>\n

The hope is that this opening will lead a return to action, bring back our staff and drive economic reactivation<\/strong>, opening up a real chance of business, at least in the short term.<\/p>\n

\"Riu

Riu Palace Santa Maria<\/p><\/div>\n

A step further to promote tourism in Cape Verde<\/h3>\n

The new hotel is splendid, sitting on the edge of the island\u2019s paradise beach. It is next to Riu Cape Verde<\/u><\/a>\u00a0and Riu Funana<\/u><\/a>, and their communal areas feature a Splash Water Park, a RiuLand with slides, and huge spaces for the three hotels\u2019 guests to enjoy together.<\/p>\n

Cape Verde<\/strong>\u00a0is a very important destination for RIU thanks to its contribution to our income statement, but also because of the special affection we have for its people and for those projects that started from zero and that we have watched grow with parental pride.<\/p>\n

Other projects the RIU chain has planned for 2021<\/h2>\n

In addition to this opening, assuming we can continue with our plans for the rest of the year, we will open another two hotels:<\/p>\n

\"Luis

Luis Riu and his team in front of the refurbishing works for the future Riu Plaza Manhattan Times Square, which will open in 2021 in New York.<\/p><\/div>\n