20/07/2003 00:00
TW
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by Lois Jones
THE principal hotel chains in the Balearics will be touching on full capacity during this second fortnight of July and for the whole of the month of August. Individual hotels in the various tourist areas of Majorca however, will have fluctuating levels of capacity, oscillating between 80 per cent minimum and full, according to figures from the Hoteliers' Federation in Majorca. The RIU chain has announced that its 16 hotels incorporating 8'000 beds has 100 per cent occupancy during the whole of July and the trend will continue in August. RIU has attributed its excellent figures to its associate, the World of TUI, and its client loyalty scheme in which 800'000 have participated out of a total worldwide annual guest total of 2'000'000. Son Meliá, with 27 hotels in the Archipelago incorporating 8'636 rooms, has confirmed that all is going very well in the areas of Magalluf and Palmanova where it is touching on capacity; while ratings are rather “poor” in the city of Palma itself and Calas de Mallorca. Its four hotels on Minorca have shown very acceptable occupancy levels but the three on Ibiza still have “some free places”. The outlook for August is close to 100 per cent occupancy for all the holiday hotels of the chain headed up by Gabriel Escarrer, but it is not so good for establishments in town areas. Iberostar have 18 hotels incorporating 5'168 rooms in Majorca, and are registering an average of 90 per cent occupancy in July. They hope to maintain or increase this percentage during the coming month. The chain, chaired by Miquel Fluxá, has reported that the most favourable occupancy level trends this season are witnessed in the north of Majorca, as is the case of Alcudia or Muro. He explained that such good results have been achieved through special offers and by the support of his tour operators and associates, Thomas Cook. The largest hotel chain in the Balearics, Hotetur, boasts 31 hotels with 18'153 beds on the Islands. It is keeping occupancy levels up at 95 per cent during July and August. Barceló Hotels, with 11 establishments and 6'018 beds in the Balearics, will reach 100 per cent occupancy during the last week of July until the end of August at which point the average will drop down to closer to 90 per cent.