Iberostar Expanding, Wants to Work With Canadian Agents

Iberostar is determined to make a bigger mark in Canada. And they want help from Canadian travel agents and tour operators.

The Spanish company came to downtown Toronto Tuesday night to meet with a small group of trade and consumer media, including TravelPulse Canada.

“Canada is a very important market for us,” said Aurelio Vazquez , COO for the Iberostar Group, which has more than 110 four and five-star hotels around the world, mostly in Europe, the Caribbean and Mexico but also in New York, Miami, Africa and South America.

Vazquez said Iberostar works closely with Canadian companies, including Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Transat. But he said not all Canadians and Canadian agents are fully aware of the company’s consistently excellent reviews and its commitment to service, gastronomy and to helping the environment by taking initiatives such as banning plastic entirely from some of their hotel rooms and working to restore barrier reefs.

Oscar Gonzalez, Marketing Manager, Europe, Middle East and Asia, said the company helps agents with loyalty programs and benefits such as the Iberostar Pro feature, which helps connect agents to the company and answers their questions. The program has been introduced in the U.S. and should be coming soon to Canada, he said. The Iberostar Agents program, meanwhile, is a loyalty program that allows agents to cash in points for stays at Iberostar properties.

Vazquez said the company specializes in three types of hotel; oceanfront, city and heritage properties. They also offer a high-end product called The Grand Collection, with higher staff to guest ratios, extra special gastronomic touches and other benefits.

Iberostar has invested 500 million Euros in refurbishing and renewing its hotels in Europe the past few years. They’ll be investing another 700 million Euros in their Caribbean hotels and resorts over the next few years, Vazquez said.

As well, new Iberostar properties are coming to Aruba, Cancun, Havana, Barcelona, Los Cabos and Lima, Peru, officials said. On a 25C day in Toronto, Vazquez joked that the time may have arrived to fly the Iberostar flag on the shores of Lake Ontario, as well.

Vazquez said Iberostar pillars include building in the best locations in the world, making sure their food offerings are as good or better than any other hotel group, world-class service and people.

“Our most important goal is providing guests with their most happy moments,” he said.

Gonzalez told assembled journalists that Iberostar gets 90 per cent satisfaction rates on service and 91 per cent on hotel/resort locations. Eighty per cent of their properties won Trip Advisor awards in 2017, he said.

Luis Jiménez, Commercial Director & Marketing, said Cuba is a major destination for Canadians and a huge market for Iberostar as well.

“We had 11 hotels three years ago, now we have 21, with 7,100 rooms,” he said. The new property in Havana, with 321 rooms, is slated to open in October. A new hotel in Holguin with 658 rooms is scheduled to open in November.

Jimenez said Iberostar is the only private company that has been given permission to operate an importing company of its own, one that will standardize offerings at Cuba hotels and give hotel guests consistent, top-notch food and other goods.

Canadian visits to Cuba were up eight per cent in the first five months of this year compared to 2017, he said.