On Tuesday April 29th. the third edition of the Best Practices in Innovation in the Hotel Sector, an event organised by Magma Turismo and  ESADE Centre for Tourism Management, discussed hotel investments in the Spanish market: Are low-cost and boutique hotels profitable? Why is this and how long will it last? The event's topic was addressed to investment fund executives, banks, savings banks, developers, builders and hotel managers.

The Spanish hotel industry is currently experiencing difficulties in increasing occupancy rates without threatening profits. Innovation is the key to success in achieving the differentiation strategies hotels need to pursue if they are to gain or maintain competitive advantages.

The Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero [Hotel Technology Institute] and ESADE's Centre for Tourism Management (CEDIT) held a workshop in Barcelona covering the latest research on innovation in the Spanish hotel industry and which presented examples of best practices.

Two reports were presented during the morning: The Cornell University on innovation in the U.S. hotel industry and findings from the first stage of the ESADE-ITH project "Best Practices in Innovation in the Spanish Hotel Industry". The project aims to analyse the current state of innovation in the sector.

After the presentations, various hotel industry experts took part in a round table on the issues raised during the workshop.

This workshop was held in Madrid on the 22nd of September 2005. It was jointly organised by three entities: The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), Tea-Cegos Consultur, and ESADE.

A study, "SICTED Analysis and Implementation in Spanish Municipalities" carried out by Tea-Cegos Consultur, was presented and a round table held on the best examples of SICTED implementation (SICTED is an integral quality management system for tourist destinations). Alfons Sauquet, Vice-Dean of Research and Knowledge at ESADE; Josep Mariné, President of the FEMP Tourism Commission; and Joaquín Rubio, Director of Tea-Cegos Consultur Madrid, inaugurated the workshop.

A study produced by Mar Vila and Josep-Francesc Valls, faculty members of ESADE, showed that Spanish municipalities are particularly interested in improving management infrastructure for fostering tourism in their localities. Data from the study and comparison with previous studies indicates these management entities can be classified into different types: Tourism Departments (found in over half of the cases); Municipal Trusts (12.59 %); Consortia (5.59 %).