Agents can log their bookings of all the group’s brands on the new Palladium Connect website in order to earn free nights at the group’s hotels, or cash incentives through a Palladium Visa debit card. The platform will also inform agents of product news and special offers.

Sergio Zertuche, chief sales and marketing officer, said that a similar platform used in the US and Latin America has already amassed almost 30,000 registered travel professionals.

“Now we are launching this for our most strategic source markets in Europe, to have a direct communication channel with travel agents so we can teach them about our brands and products but also to reward them for their loyalty,” he said.

Hotel brands within the Palladium collection are: TRS Hotels (formerly The Royal Suites); Grand Palladium Hotels & Resorts; Palladium Hotels; Palladium Boutique Hotels; Fiesta Hotels & Resorts; Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel; Ayre Hoteles; Only You Hotels; and Hard Rock Hotels in Ibiza and Tenerife.

The Spanish hotel group is also to launch a separate training platform, Palladium Academy, which will host webinars and training modules about the group’s products and destinations.

Two new hotels launching close to Cancun next year are set to open up a new region for tourism. Grand Palladium Costa Mujeres Resort & Spa will open with 673 rooms alongside TRS Coral Hotel with 473 rooms, on the coast a 35-minute drive south from Cancun airport.

Zertuche said agents can expect excellent trade rates throughout 2018 at the two new properties.

He also thanked the UK trade for its support of Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife, with the UK accounting for 70% of its business since launching in December 2016. He said hosting more than 300 UK agents on fam trips and conferences had been integral to its success.

Palladium Hotel Group will start its season in Ibiza several weeks earlier in 2018 in response to demand. Grand Palladium Palace Ibiza and Palladium Hotel Palmyra will both open in the last week of March and Palladium Grand Don Carlos will open on April 5.

Zertuche called upon the Spanish government to support tour operators in beginning their own Ibiza programmes earlier.

“We’ve proved that there is demand during April but now the government must support the tour operators in starting to fly here in April. Right now the scheduled airlines are taking the business. If the tour ops started their season earlier we could open seven or eight hotels in Ibiza in April.”