Cheap all-inclusive holidays have, for decades, been a feature of Benidorm, but at least one leading hotel group has recognised the potential the resort has to attract people seeking more luxurious accommodation, gourmet dining and much more besides.

Earlier this year we revealed that Accor, a global hotel brand that’s part of French company Mecure, had transformed the old Benilux Park Hotel into the Mecure Benidorm. The hotel became the first non-Spanish branded hotel on the Costa Blanca.

Mercure Benidorm is the most innovative hotel in Benidorm. Its Malaspina restaurant offers “groundbreaking gastronomy” and the hotel is located on Poniente beach 15 minutes from Playa de Levante or 10 minutes from Balcón del Mediterráneo.

Its attractions also include exclusive penthouses and duplexes.

Before the opening, it was reported that international tourists might not be buying as many packaged and all-inclusive Spanish vacations. Instead, visitors to Spain are looking to stay in branded hotels.

Cristina Ramos-Fernandez, Chief Operating Officer of franchised hotels in Southern Europe for Accor, said that destinations such as Benidorm and Torremolinos—farther south on Spain’s Costa del Sol—now are attracting guests who book their hotels and flights separately and do not want to book package vacations and all-inclusive.

Globally in Southern Europe’s hospitality market, there is a trend to change the mass-tourists destinations market offer to attract more individual customers and break away from the exclusive distribution of tour operators.

Ramos-Fernandez said hotel brands are looking at opportunities in other mass-market destinations in Spain. She added markets such as Benidorm and Magaluf—a Mallorca hotspot known for attracting young adult travelers who like to party—are reinventing themselves with more mature hotel offerings.

Several owners of hotel assets have invested in modernisation and renovation to reposition their hotels as good-quality 4- and 5-star hotels, differentiating themselves from the market’s existing offers and satisfying ‘premium’ international guests. In this scenario, international brands such as Mercure, considered attractive for international premium customers, have taken this advantage to adapt to given brand standards.

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