Sergio Zertuche Valdes, Palladium’s chief sales and marketing officer, told TTG@WTM that while he expected the season to get under way in early April, he stressed the group would be ready to react if the demand was there earlier.
Asked if this could see Palladium welcome guests in March, Valdes said: "If you know the tour operators will start at a certain point, we will respond with at least one hotel.
"We want to keep being good partners to our tour operators, travel agents and destinations if they see there is an opportunity and the demand is there to start the season early.
"The tour operators will start as soon as possible in 2022. We are happy to follow their strategy and open our hotels then if they are putting the flights on. We will align with them to extend the season as far as possible."
Valdes said his confidence flowed from the way in which Palladium was able to make the most of the UK government’s decision to scrap the traffic lights regime from 4 October, with the group reporting a higher rate of occupancy in October than in September.
"We didn’t want to close until the beginning of November," said Valdes. "And with a few hotels, we will try to go through to November 2022. We are trying to convince other stakeholders to have content in the month of October, to extend as much as we can.
"Everyone is in the same position, everyone suffered in certain ways during 2021, and everyone wants to rebuild, recover and come back stronger. A successful 2022 will help us do that."
Palladium recently announced plans for a new five-star, all-inclusive, adults-only TRS property in Ibiza, which Valdes claimed would be built around a "unique" new all-inclusive concept that will allow guests to access other group product on the island.
Valdes revealed that while this "premium" concept was still taking shape, it would allow guests to access different experiences outside their hotel within the Palladium group leveraging its portfolio and other brands. "It’s a killer feature," he said. "It’s something unique."
TRS Ibiza will be Palladium’s first TRS property in Europe after the revitalised Royal Suites brand was debuted in the Caribbean three years ago. It will be located on the beach close to San Antonio alongside Cala Gracio and Cala Gracioneta, offering butler service among other luxury perks.
Valdes said that while occupancy took a hit when Spain was confined to the UK’s amber list, Palladium saw strong demand from other markets including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands – and also France.
"We were quite surprised by that [France]," said Valdes. "But the UK is our most important market, and we are more than ready to welcome them again as we used to."
Palladium is currently engaging the UK travel trade as to introduce the new TRS property, and has representation on the ground in several other markets – including Spain, Germany, India and the Netherlands – to market the property to the trade.
