Magic Rooms owner reports 8% rise in annual turnover to almost €700m

Magic Rooms owner reports 8% rise in annual turnover to almost €700m

Palma-based company acquired UK-based bed bank last November Continue reading

Logitravel Group, the business group created from the OTA Logitravel.co.uk, saw global turnover rise by 8% last year to €685 million over 2016.

The Palma-based company closed a deal to acquire the UK-based Magic Rooms bed bank last November following a major restructuring.

The brand SmyRooms is now in its second year of operations with offices opened in Manchester, Dubai, Uruguay and Mexico to be followed this year with an opening in Thailand.

The bed bank accounts for 23% of the Group’s business.

Smy Hotels was established with a deal signed for the administration and management of its first hotel, the Camino Real, a 512-room property in Torremolinos owned by HI Partners.

The first bricks-and-mortar Logitravel agency was opened in Madrid in December, seen as a laboratory to test out new ways of serving customers with a view to providing added value to the travel agencies the group works with.

The group acquired an agency, Viajan2, specialising in honeymoon trips with the aim of creating a tour operator specifically for this segment.

The group recently launched an Bookingay, an agency specialised in LGBT tourism, in partnership with leading event organisation firms.

Spain remains the country with the largest market share, with 61% of Logitravel Group turnover.

The company expects Spain to stay at number one for the next few years, concentrating more than half of its business.

Forecasts for 2018 suggest that Italy will be in second place and that Portugal’s share will slightly decrease.

France will continue to grow in the B2C division while emerging markets such as Russia and Mexico will gradually gain prominence, with the group expecting them to account for 1% or 2% of the total in 2018.

Logitravel Group chief executive, Tomeu Bennasar, said: “We’re pleased to see that even in a year with so many internal changes, we managed to improve our turnover and corporate results.

“Of all the initiatives set into motion, the most successful ones will become new business units of the group and may be further developed on an international level.

“At the moment, we have firm foundations to scale businesses geographically and by segments.”