Riu Hotels Resorts
Riu family started up hotel chain from a small holiday firm in Mallorca, Spain in 1953 and this gradually turned out into a huge business which is currently under the ownership of TUI Group.
They are best in hospitality service serving over 4 million clients with their 27,813 employees.
How and by whom it was started?
In the beginning, it was just a small holiday firm which got expanded by the Riu family since 1953 when its first hotel was opened up as Riu San Francisco in Mallorca. This first hotel was acquired by Juan Riu Masmitja and his wife Maria Bertran Espigule with their son Luis Riu Bertran having just 80 beds. The chain is continued since then and is now under the control of the family’s third generation.
The real boom in the tourist was in the 60s and from then the Juan managed to start a partnership with German tour operator Dr. Tigges (TUI) hence further strengthening the expansion in order to build new hotels. Following the view, they managed to open up their first hotel outside the Balearic Islands in 1985 and the first international hotel in the 1990s.
Among their products, they have Riu Hotel, Riu ClubHotel, Riu Place and Riu Plaza out of which the latter one was launched in 2011 as their new line.
They originated in Spain and now they have spread across the world in Germany, Tunisia, Portugal, Ireland, Mexico, Jamaica, United States, Panama, Bulgaria, Turkey, Morocco, United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Aruba, and the Dominican Republic.
Achievement
According to Hotel’s magazine, the chain was listed on the 30th position among the world’s largest hotel chain as they are serving with 105 hotels in 19 countries hosting in a total of 4 million guests. They are also listed as one of the Caribbean’s most popular and the third largest in Spain.
What’s new to come?
They are currently working on opening up two large projects which are underway in the Asian continent: Dubai, where they are planning to open the first 24-hour all-inclusive resort with their partner Nakheel and the purchase of two islets in the Maldives where they are looking up for 174-room Riu Palace hotel and a 248-room Riu Classic hotel in 2018.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIU_Hotels
https://www.riu.com/en/home.jsp