Barceló Hotel Group: the introduction of a Spanish company to the USA, LATAM, East Asia, Africa and Europe through horizontal and vertical growth strategies and innovation

Abstract

The Barceló Group is currently the first Spanish tourist group specialised in hospitality, travel distribution, and tourism intermediary services on five continents. It is a family-owned firm of Balearic capital and is a vertically integrated tourism group that has operated on every level of the tourism value chain since 2012. Its business model is made up of a hotel division, the Barceló Hotel Group, and a travel division, Ávoris. The main goal of this chapter is to show the most relevant aspects of corporate entrepreneurship and innovative actions of the Barceló Group, focusing on both horizontal and vertical growth actions developed. It integrated vertically forward by acquiring its own retail travel agency and its own tour operator. The travel division, Ávoris, is a vertically integrated travel company gathering more than 700 travel agencies on five continents, several tour operators and receptive operators, and even an airline. The current success of the hotel division is the result of a horizontal growth strategy due to its intense internationalisation strategy, which has been carried out since 1985, and its innovation activity over the years.