The company employs female executives on every continent.

This photographic tribute to talented women demonstrates the impor tance of this leading company’s female employees, who occupy 43% of positions that repor t directly to the CEO.

Gabriel Escarrer, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Meliá Hotels International, recently wrote on his blog that ‘equality is not just a trend, nor is it just a legal obligation; it is an essential issue for competitiveness in business’.

To practice what they preach, MStyle put together a photo session for the hotel group’s major female executives around the world. It reaffirms their importance within the corporation, their pride at being part of the management team and their drive to continue growing and adding talent.

Meliá Hotels International also brought the campaign to social media for International Women’s Day on 8 March, paying homage to these talented women.

According to Pilar García, Vice President of Global Human Resources, at Meliá, ‘talent has no gender; being a diverse and egalitarian company multiplies our ability to attract and retain the best talent, which is an essential key for competitiveness in today ’s market’.

María Umbert, Senior Director of Corporate Communication, also notes that, ‘43% of positions that report directly to the CEO are held by women’. According to her, this is a clear declaration of the intentions of the company’s top executives.

A MORE DIVERSE FUTURE

Although women currently occupy only 20% of hotel director positions, the future looks bright: 45% of the Meliá group’s talent pool—composed of individuals who are preparing to become directors—are female. As Susanna Mander, Global Head of Brand Marketing, reminds us, ‘in a sector as demanding as hospitality, in which some of us travel incessantly, it’s very important to make progress in terms of recognising and reconciling work and family life’.

Equality is also among the socially responsible commitments that Meliá Hotels International assumes in its ethics code and guarantees through its policies. It’s a fundamental indicator when it comes to weighing the company ’s reputation. Lourdes Ripoll, Deputy Manager to the CEO and Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, says that, ‘ as the world’s third most sustainable hotel, according to RobecoSAM’s ranking for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Meliá has made a very serious effort to eliminate all types of discrimination, and to close any gaps that may still exist between men and women. Fortunately, we can report that in 2018 the wage gap between women and men was almost imperceptible, and even reversed among executives in corporate areas’.

For Catalina Ramis, Vice President of Finance & Management Control, ‘the fact that key positions in the Group’s financial area are held by women is a milestone, and it belies the belief that finance is a predominantly masculine area’. Pilar Dols, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Executive Team member, insists that it’s important to keep increasing the presence of women in top management bodies: ‘in areas like Finance, Administration

and Systems, which fall under my responsibility, we have a generation of talented women in key positions, and it’s the duty of the upper management to support them in reaching their full potential’.

CHALLENGES

For all of these women, equality is a necessity. They value Meliá’s initiatives—such as joining the ClosinGap group along with 10 other large companies in Spain—as evidence that the company is addressing and attempting to mitigate the major gaps that remain between men and women in our society.

WE HAVE A GENERATION OF TALENTED WOMEN IN KEY POSITIONS.

Pilar Dols, Chief Financial Officer

On the other side of the world, the challenges are even greater. Asia Pacific is a region with great cultural diversity, but socioeconomic differences pose a huge challenge— including those related to gender. ‘Our sector is very intensive when it comes to female employment, and because of this we have a special opportunity to sensitise and raise awareness of equality among our interest groups’, says Chris Yan, Director of MICE & Leisure Sales in Greater China. She notes that ‘we are proud of Meliá’s female empowerment efforts in Asia, where the proportion of women in senior and middle management positions has grown by 10% in just one year ’.

UNITED AND COMMITTED

The team of female executives at Meliá Hotels International in the United States, which has its corporate headquarters in Miami, chose Wynwood—the city’s alternative art district—as the special setting for this photo session. They took part in this project for two reasons: first, to celebrate the creativity and talent of women at the senior management level, and their ability to spearhead the changes that the modern world demands. Cécile Rivals, Senior Director of Regional Human Resources in the Americas, expressed her pride in working at a company with ‘a deep conviction that great teams are built on diversity in all its forms’.

In addition, this group of united and committed women wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to pay tribute to all the women who are fighting cancer, after the recent loss of a colleague. They also wanted to send a bold message of hope to those who are battling the disease every day, including another colleague who has their unconditional support.

To do so, they wore turbans and bows as an expression of solidarity, and thanked the company for supporting its employees in their most difficult times.

TALENT HAS NO GENDER; BEING A DIVERSE AND EGALITARIAN COMPANY MULTIPLIES OUR ABILITY TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN THE BEST TALENT.

Pilar García, Vice President of Global Human Resources

Paula Alvarellos, America IT Director ; Cécile Rivals, America HR Senior Director ; Sara Ranghi, Assistant Regional VP America; Ivonne Aguilera, America General Counsel; Vanessa Estaras, America Customer Experience Director ; Diane Bango, America Revenue Management Senior Director.

Elaine Bao, Head of Digital Sales & Marketing Nor th Asia; Andrea Barbi, Head of Digital Sales and Marketing South East Asia; Magdalena Martorell, Hotel General Manager (Meliá Shanghai Parkside); Noelia Magnusson, Director of Revenue Management Asia Pacific Sharon Lee, Head of Leisure Sales South East Asia; Chris Yan, Head of MICE & Leisure Sales China; Melani Blanco, Legal Director Asia Pacifi .

Alba Bustamante, Head of Global Marketing; María Umbert, Corporate Communication Senior Director ; Isabel González, Hotel General Manager (Meliá Palma Marina); Susanna Mander, Head of Global Marketing; Patricia A. Gar cía, Head of Global Brand Experience.

Elena Pardo, Spain Senior Advisor Hospitality & Regulatory Law Depar tment; Sonia Olivas, Spain B2B Sales Development Director ; Sara Matarrubia, Spain Marketing Director ; Begoña Comino, Global Leisure Director ; Belén Díaz, Hotel General Manager (ME Madrid); Nadia Abdel-Lah, Hotel General Manager (Madrid Plaza España Hotel).

Laura Bejarano, Spain Revenue Management Director ; Francisca Mérida, Spain Business Development Senior Director ; Marta Rodríguez, Spain Administration Director ; Fátima Alcántara, Spain Customer Experience Director ; Patricia Jaen, Spain HR Director.

Carla Ferreira, B2B Sales Development & Leisure Director ; Catalina Ramis, Vice President of Finance and Management Control; Rita Barber, Balearic Islands Business Development Director ; Karina Zaplana, Sales & Marketing Director (Palma Congress Center); Galina Sosa, Hotel General Manager (Sol Katmandu Park & Resor t).

Elena de la Torre, Global Contact Centre Director ; Joana María Venys, Spain IT Director ; Natalia Seoane, Hotel General Manager (Gran Meliá de Mar); Pilar Dols, Chief Financial Office ; Coloma Crespí, Business Development Technologies Director.

María Romero, Global Loyalty Director ; Cristina Rodríguez, Business Development Planning Director ; Laura de Vega, EMEA F&B Director ; Lourdes Ripoll, Deputy Manager to CEO and Vice President of Corporate Responsibility; Stephanie Airiau, EMEA Digital Sales & Marketing Director.

Eva Cobos, Head of Human Resources Balearic & Canary Islands; Pilar García, Vice President of Global Human Resources; Ana Mir, Organization Director ; Luisa Espinar, Employee Experience Director ; María Jesús Gómez, Hotel Talent Management Director.