The move means NH will now operate 20 hotels in Portugal (13 Minor ones under the Tivoli and Anantara brands and three NH Hotel Group properties, as well as one in the pipeline) and three in Brazil.

The handover of operations of the Minor hotels is part of the two companies’ analysis of “ways to unlock value together”, NH chief executive Ramon Aragones said.

Minor acquired 94.1% of NH towards the end of 2018, a move which has seen the creation of a joint portfolio of more than 500 hotels in 50 countries under eight brands – NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow, Tivoli, Anantara, Avani, Elewana and Oaks. A hotel-by-hotel rebranding analysis is now under way, the company said.

Aragones said NH has also had the best year in its history and was expecting to report a €260 million operating profit for 2018 at its results presentation in February.

He added that NH’s positive year was partly driven by higher exposure to the upper-upscale segment and the reinforced brand positioning of NH Collection, which currently accounts for 22% of the portfolio.

Improvements in guest experience, greater operating and sales efficiency, strong showings in main European cities and a recovery of business in Barcelona were other contributing factors, Aragones said.

NH has 26 hotels in the pipeline and is accelerating plans for its nhow brand, with seven hotels under development in cities including London, Amsterdam and Rome.

“The complementary nature of the two hotel portfolios and the benchmark positioning of their various brands will allow us to compete on a firmer footing and create added value for our customer bases all around the world,” said Aragones.