Meliá announces its "triple transformation" by 2023

Meliá Hotels International held its General Shareholders' Meeting today, chaired by Gabriel Escarrer Juliá. Both the non-Executive Chairman and founder of the Company, as well as the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, reviewed with their shareholders the positive results of 2018, a notable year in Net Profit and Ebitda, the balance of the Strategic Plan developed between 2015 and 2018, as well as the perspectives for 2019 and the keys to the future strategy of the Group.

Balance 2015-2018
The CEO of Meliá described the main advances made in each of the six axes that formed the backbone of the Group's strategy over the past three years:

> Holiday hotel and leisure urban leadership, where it highlighted the more than 9,500 rooms incorporated into the portfolio, 80% in holiday and urban hotels "Bleisure" (business + Leisure), as well as the 1,100 million euros invested between 2011 and 2018 in reforming and repositioning hotels.

> Strengthening of corporate governance, highlighting the progress made in the composition of the Board (54.5% of independents) in internal policies and regulations, and the AENOR certification of its criminal compliance system, being the first company in the sector to obtain it. The incorporation of a new Councilor leaves the proportion of women in the Council at 27%. The Company having expressed its commitment to raise this figure to 36% in the next two years.

> Evolution towards a responsible and sustainable company, an area in which Escarrer highlighted the commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, and the inclusion of the company, with Silver Class, in the Sustainability Yearbook 2019, prepared by the Sustainable Investment Agency RobecoSAM, which positions Meliá in third place among the most sustainable hotels in the world. In a special way, Escarrer recalled how the group's environmental strategy (which obtained the highest rating in the assessment made by RobecoSAM for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index) achieved the total elimination of single-use plastics in 68% of the portfolio, and a saving of 18.4% in CO2 emissions per stay. 54% of the electrical energy they consume comes from renewable sources.

> People and talent management, where the company achieved important advances in talent management, training in digital skills and equality and diversity, with 33% of women in managerial positions, which amount up to 50% if the future quarry is considered Hotel managers

> In the field of Digital Transformation, after investing 130 million in the three-year period, Meliá already reports an important digital leap, backed by a 68% increase in online sales in the period, or 1,400% in the case of the sale by mobile devices.

> Regarding the creation of shareholder value, the Vice President of Meliá highlights the leadership maintained by the Company in the growth of RevPAR (average revenue per room) in the industry for 34 consecutive quarters until the end of 2018, with an increase of 16% between 2015 and 2018. Also, the revaluation of the group's assets by 20%, up to 4,401 million, and the increase of 250% of the Earnings per Share in the same period.

The triple transformation
Meliá maintains the objectives of boosting its holiday leadership and bleisure, completing its digital transformation, and consolidating itself as a leader in the employment of the sector, and in its responsible commitment. During his speech, Escarrer framed these objectives in what he called the "triple transformation" of the Group towards 2023:

> Cultural transformation, where Meliá's commitment to talent through an employer brand policy, support for the training and employability of young people and, of course, digital training and training, will be decisive in the competitiveness of the company, in an environment of generational tsunami and revolution of labor relations.

> Digital transformation, so that, once in the forefront of sales and online marketing, the Company can integrate the triple objective of using technology and data to personalize and improve customer experience and satisfaction, productivity and profitability of the company, and the work experience of its employees, by automating the functions that bring a lower value, and concentrate their work on the best service and personalization of the experience.

> The transformation into a responsible and sustainable company is part of Meliá's current public commitments, to involve all areas in the commitment to the 2030 Agenda, putting a special focus on assessing the environmental strategy, promoting employability and generating employment, and the management of diversity and inclusion. In short, promote a sustainable business model.

Forecasts for 2019
Escarrer stressed that the Spanish tourism sector has entered "a somewhat more moderate growth cycle" that qualifies as "the new normal phase in the growth" of the sector, after the artificial inflation of the demand experienced in Spain during the last 4 or 5 years. Escarrer, who is currently President of the Exceltur alliance, highlighted the opportunities in this context for those companies that, like Meliá, have diversified and repositioned their product, as well as betting on their digital development, and recalled the need to promote competitive transformation of the tourism industry in Spain.
At a global level, the Executive highlighted the existence of some sources of uncertainty and challenges both in America and Europe, and relied on recent openings and improvements in management, as a lever for results in areas such as Punta Cana, Cuba and Mexico.
After thanking the shareholders for their trust and support, Gabriel Escarrer also announced the decision to keep the pay-out ratio constant at 30%, which implies the payment of a Dividend per Share of € 0.1830 (+ 8.86% ).
The General Shareholders' Meeting was held with the necessary quorum and all the agreements established in the Agenda were approved during its term.