New hotel categories and a rebrand for Iberostar in 2018

A regrouping of its hotels into three segments and a rebranded corporate image are among the highlights of a new corporate strategy announced by Iberostar this week.

The changes are part of a new focus for the company, “based on revamped values centred on innovation and excellence, tightly focused on people and society in general,” Iberostar said in a statement.

“We are all part of a large family made up of more than 28,000 employees that offers unbeatable service for the 8 million customers we welcome each year,” said Sabina Fluxà, Iberostar Group’s Vice-Chairman & CEO. “We remain as excited and enthusiastic as when we started, because the quality of our products and the satisfaction of everyone that entrusts their holidays to us form the driving force behind everything we do. We are now taking a major step forward in what is a key development for the business, repositioning it and setting even higher standards.”

A key component of the new brand strategy is the creation of three new hotel segments, which include:

• City hotels: located in the heart of leading tourist cities such as Madrid, New York, Lisbon, Barcelona, Budapest, Miami or Havana. This segment features two categories: Grand and Iberostar.
• Ocean resorts: hotels designed to ensure guests enjoy their holiday to the full in fabulous beachfront locations. This segment is divided into three categories: Grand, Selection and Iberostar.
• Classic and historic hotels: This newly-created segment, known as ‘Iberostar Heritage’, comprises unique hotels boasting outstanding architectural elements with a special historical and cultural significance that add special charm and value. They include hotels in the Grand and Iberostar Heritage categories.

Iberostar will be extending its Grand category, characterised by its standards of luxury and elegance, across all three segments.

As part of the rebrand, the new claim ‘Let it shine’, reflects the company’s new, updated brand identity, while the visual identity has been transformed and now features a more photographic style in which the image forms the focal point, with new fonts and a more contemporary and simple pictographic style.

The Iberostar logo has also evolved, featuring simpler, more streamlined graphical symbols for a more open, legible and modern logo, with a varying colour code in accordance with the new segments that define the Group’s hotel portfolio.

Over the last six years, the Group has invested more than 500 million euros in an ambitious acquisition and renovation plan. As a result, 70 per cent of its portfolio – made up exclusively of 4 and 5-star hotels – has been renovated, with particular efforts being channelled into product and service innovation and technological development. The Group will continue this strategy over the next few years with investments already allocated.

As part of its new corporate strategy, Iberostar is also making a commitment to sustainable development, education and training for individuals and care for the seas and oceans, the latter of which is outlined in the company’s Oceans Project. Three pillars of the project include sustainable fishing, reducing plastic pollution and coral reef conservation and protection.