Melia Hotels has signed to bring a hotel on the island of Sardinia into its Affiliated by Melia brand, as it looks to strategically grow its presence in the Italian market.
The Hotel Corte Rosada will open in summer 2025 on the sandy beachfront of Alghero, just 15 minutes from the island’s Riviera del Corallo airport. The 152 room property is surrounded by lush pine forests with trails to be enjoyed, as well as great views of the sea and of dramatic cliffs.
A growing presence in Sardinia
This will be Melia’s second hotel on the island of Sardinia. It will join with Bellevue Sardinia, which opened in 2024 and similarly features within the Affiliated by Melia portfolio.
Further openings in Italy aim to take Melia to a short term target of having 15 hotels open and operating in the country by 2027. Later this year, the group will open Melia Venezia Lido, a 60 room hotel in the famous destination of Venice, where an existing property is being refurbished. Also coming to the market later in 2025 is a new hotel in Milan, as well as the refurbishment of Melia Milano.
Looking further ahead, in 2026 Melia will launch Innside Cala Rossa, a 115 room new build hotel in the town of Terrasini on the island of Sicily. Not far from Palermo, the hotel will feature a pool and beach club. This will be followed by several other projects, still to be revealed.
In the first quarter of 2025, Melia’s Italian hotels performed strongly, delivering double digit growth in revpar. Its existing hotel in Milan, the Gran Melia Palazzo Cordusio, was a leader in luxury demand in the city, while hotels in Rome enjoyed strong demand due to the death of the Pope and subsequent election of his replacement.
The Italian hotel market enjoyed investment of more than EUR2.1 billion in 2024, a figure that was 30% above the average of the previous decade. Of that figure, consultants Global Asset Solutions reckon 45% was spent on hotels in the luxury segment of the market, and agents are predicting a similar level of transactions for 2025.
Italy’s growing visitor market
The country saw record tourism levels, with 64.5 million visitors during 2024, putting it in third place in Europe. The country is able to offer a breadth of visitor experiences, from city centre hotels to exclusive resorts, from winter sport destinations to summer beach choices.
For hotel investors, the city markets of Rome, Venice and Milan rank top in popularity, while recently Lake Como has been something of a hotspot for international investors, and also for major brand groups. The country offers a variety of historic landmark properties, a good number of which today make a great basis for an interesting and characterful hotel development.
