The Spanish hotel group has climbed in the new international ranking issued by the American magazine, "Hotels"

RIU Hotels & Resorts is the 26th largest hotel chain in the world, according to new 2005 world ranking by the American magazine, "Hotels".

The publication ranks RIU, with a total of 110 establishments and 34,000 rooms, among the world's 30 top chains in its July 2005 edition.

Two other Spanish hotel chains are ranked among the world's 30 leading chains: Sol Meliá and NH, ranked 13th and 25th respectively.

For yet another year, the InterContinental Hotels group, with a total of 3540 hotels and 543,202 rooms, occupied first place in the ranking.

The classification system used by "Hotels" takes all types of chains into consideration (city, resort or mixed), regardless of establishment administration (self-owned, leased, managed or franchised).

In the past two years, RIU has shown particularly strong growth in the Caribbean area with the construction and acquisition of 5-star establishments in Mexico, Jamaica and the Bahamas.  In Europe, the chain has increased its presence in the eastern Mediterranean and Andalusia.

Since it was founded in 1953 as a small family business, RIU has devoted itself exclusively to holiday sun and sand tourism.  Today the chain is one of the foremost hotel groups in the Caribbean and one of the American origin market's favourite brands.