05 NH Hoteles and its employees

The value of people Our employees are one of the key players when it comes to corporate responsibility. One of our priorities is, therefore, to increase their levels of motivation and satisfaction, as it is through them that we manage to improve the quality of our service and enhance the way we manage our relationships with all other public stakeholders. In the words of our President himself: “Listening (to people) is a must for all managers and directors because if, by doing so, we manage to improve aspects within the Company, this will have an immediate knock-on effect on the outside world”. These were his exact words on collecting his award for Executive who has most supported and influenced people management, at the V Expansión & Empleo Awards for Innovation in Human Resources. Between the end of 2006 and the begining of 2007, the Jolly and Framon chains became further integrated into the Group, leading to an increase in our workforce. Yet we have not only grown as a  team  due  to  these  new  acquisitions,  but  have  also  increased  our  employment  by  26%  in comparison to 2006. The following chart details new hires by Business Unit: *Data obtained from FTEs (Full Time Equivalents) for all kinds of contract (permanent, temporary, extras, temporary employment agencies…) With a total of 17,707 employees, we have a young workforce, with the average employee age being between 25 and 40. Nevertheless, the growth we have experienced this year has led to the incorporation of groups that are typically less favoured, such as those aged over 40, women, or NH HOTELES AND ITS EMPLOYEES NH Hoteles employee Total Employees per BU 2006 2007 Difference 06/07 Spain, Portugal, HQ, Sotogrande 5,694 5,935 4% Germany 2,676 2,969 11% The Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Africa 2,679 2,815 5% Mexico 1,761 1,804 2% Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania 589 651 11% Mercosur 556 583 5% Italy 121 2,950 2.338% TOTAL 14,076 17,707 26% Creation of Jobs in 2007 by Business Unit*

Permanent 2005 2006 2007 Increase TOTAL 3,352 3,662 3,712 1.37% Young people (aged 25 or under) 285 335 323 -3.58% Women 1,812 2,025 2,087 3.06% Aged 40 or over 1,259 1,383 1,535 10.99% Spanish 3,213 3,463 3,429 -0.98% Immigrants 139 199 283 42.21% 47.53% 7,083 21.75% 3,241 30.72% 4,578 47.53% Employees between 25-40 30.72% Employees aged over 40 21.75% Employees aged under 25 * Data obtained from FTEs subject to permanent and temporary contracts of employment. Data from all Business Units, with the exception of country-specific data for: Portugal, South Africa, Luxembourg, France, Cuba, Romania and the USA. When we create jobs at NH Hoteles, we make every attempt to do so via long-term contracts of employment, as our aim is to build lasting relationships with our employees. In Spain and Portugal, figures on permanent employment have been steadily climbing every year, particularly in relation to certain groups, such as those aged over 40. Internal Communication The  relationship  with  our  employees  is  one  of  ongoing  dialogue,  strengthening  two-way communication, so that workers both receive and provide messages and there is an attitude of listening and information fluidity. Our Code of Conduct seeks to integrate, bringing our Company’s inspiring principles to all employees in their daily tasks, promoting communication we believe essential in our conduct. In light of this, internal communication is a priority in the relationship with our employees. During 2007, we targeted our endeavours at improving the IntraNhet and other internal channels of communication. Five new sections have been added to the IntraNhet, and the information has been structured in a uniform manner. We also bolstered the presence of corporate values and a special  focus  has  been  given  to  the  Idea  NH  competition,  in  which  employees  take  part  by contributing their ideas. those aged under 25. At NH, we are firmly committed to observing both international and national law in each of the countries where we operate. Without wishing to state the obvious, we do not employ child labour or practise forced employment.

One of the best performing internal communication features in 2007 was the Employee’s Mailbox. Last year saw greater use of this ever-more efficient tool by employees. The mailbox enables employees  to  send  their  queries  and  suggestions  and  receive  a  response  within  72  hours. Responses are given either by e-mail, fax or by telephone. Thanks to the improvement of this communication channel, not only has employee satisfaction increased, but also interdepartmental relationships have improved. 331 messages were received in 2007, comprising congratulations, questions,   complaints   and   suggestions.   These   issues   were   processed   by   the   Internal Communication department and forwarded to the departments involved. Another popular action is the Idea NH Program, which received 500 ideas from employees in 2007. It  was  employed  as  a  complement  to  Quality  Focus,  for  ongoing  improvement  of  quality, integrating dialogue with employees as well as with customers. There were prizes for 8 ideas that will be put into practice in all hotels. These ideas were disseminated and promoted through the IntraNHet.  Part  of  the  Idea  NH  Scheme  involved  the  so-called  Idea  NH  Responsible,  which received 343 participations and proposals with a variety of solutions to save resources, recycling, waste management and collaboration with NGOs. During 2006, the “Anecdote Competition” was put in place to record employees’ experiences in the performance of their work. With the help of well-known writers and humorists, in 2007 we designed a book with all these anecdotes to share them with our customers. The book is available at different hotels in Spain through a voluntary donation that will be passed on to Intermón Oxfam to subsidise a food project in Burundi. As well as the improvements mentioned, we also speeded up publication and dissemination of several internal, thematic and departmental newsletters, which have increased our employees’ awareness of the Company. Some examples of these newsletters are as follows: •  Working Abroad. Targeted at sharing the experiences of workers that have been sent to other countries. •  Corporate responsibility newsletter. The first issue was published in December 2007 and the Chairman of the Company introduces all employees to the Company’s commitment and to the key actions undertaken throughout the year in this particular field. Employee portal

Employees of NH Hoteles

•  Project Department Newsletter. This contains information on this department's activity. •  Environmental and Engineering Department Newsletter. Specific e-newsletter outlining the very latest in this department. •  Purchasing Department Newsletter. Fortnightly news on agreements with suppliers. •  HappeNhings. This quarterly publication is issued by the Human Resources department and features the most outstanding events over the period (news, projects, interviews with members of each Business Unit, etc.) Each Company employee also received a copy of the Corporate Responsibility Report. The person in charge of Internal Communication of each hotel has been a key figure in improving this aspect, as they continually look at employees’ needs and the information flow. The number of managers increased in 2007, up to a total of 375 Internal Communication Managers that includes those at Hub Services (23) and Business Units (6). At NH Hoteles we consider the Satisfaction Surveys of our employees as a key tool to enable them to communicate their level of involvement, motivation, as well as make suggestions for improvements. We are committed to carrying out these surveys every two years. To this end, the Employees of NH Hoteles

2007 one updates the 2005 one. The results of this new edition make us proud of the advances achieved,  given  that  both  participation  percentages  as  well  as  the  level  of  satisfaction  have increased with regard to the 2005 survey. 336 work centres from all Business Units took part, with a total of 13,088 surveys representing participation of 73.2% compared to participation of 71.1% of the 2005 survey. The satisfaction index in 2007 was 2.10, with 3 being the top score possible. Moreover, 3 of every 4 employees are satisfied and motivated and would recommend NH Hoteles as a place to work. The most valued areas are Service Quality, Job Satisfaction and Internal Communication. However  the  satisfaction  survey  also  allows  us  to  detect  areas  for  improvement  where  it  is necessary to establish Action Plans to be implemented at each hotel, Business Unit or corporate level throughout 2008 with the supervision of the Human Resources department. NH University At NH Hoteles we remain convinced that the professional development of individuals will enable us to continue to offer the very best service to our customers. NH University was launched in 1996 in response to a need for ongoing improvement of the services and with the aim of developing the corporate culture of NH Hoteles as a fundamental part of brand integration. NH University supports and collaborates in attaining corporate targets by transforming the mission and values of the hotel chain through specific actions; collaborating in the set-up and development of new systems, processes and work tools; speeding up and facilitating ongoing evolution of the Company and maintaining the “burning flame” of commitment and pride of those that make up the organisation. Within its sphere of ongoing improvement, NH University has continued to foster training and development of all employees during 2007 through its Corporate Training Plan. To this end, total investment in training was €M3.07, 30% growth year-on-year. NH University provided a total of 232,500 ongoing training hours on its 8 campuses in 2007, constantly tailor-made and in line with the Company's strategy. Thanks to the efforts of 173 internal instructors, in 2007 NH University was able to offer 117,764 100% NH Hoteles training hours, which enables us to standardise our corporate culture and move forward in the integration of our new Business Units and the employees that join us in this expansion integration process. This occurred throughout this year with the inclusion of Jolly and Framon, where training was a key component of the merger success.

Efforts focused mainly on the following challenges: Quality Focus: for some time now, what has set NH Hoteles apart from other hotel chains is our “Attention to Detail” and the Quality Focus project is fundamental in achieving improved quality of each detail of our services. Through the awareness management workshops, organised by NH University, we define standards and procedures of proven success and have provided the training necessary to implement these. In 2007 a total of 56,837 training hours in Quality Focus were given to 4,861 key employees. The BeNeLux Business Unit has created an innovative tool to facilitate set-up of the Quality Focus project: the “Encantado” (Pleased to meet you) portal. This ongoing and constantly updated project  includes  information  on  internal  operating  procedures,  specialised  programmes  to promote quality at our hotels, an e-learning training tool in 3 languages and fortnightly updating of the results obtained through internal audits and customer surveys concerning quality.    NH University Spain is supported by the European Social Fund through the Fundación Tripartita para la Formación en el Empleo (FTFE) funding part of the trainee activity of the chain in this country. The distribution of training hours by country was as follows: Internal/External Business Unit Hours Participants External BU Benelux / UK 13,459 1,404 BU Germay 14,053 1,281 BU Headquarters 4,841 205 BU Italy 8,504 3,704 BU MERCOSUR 22,337 1,676 BU Mexico/Cuba 18,129 2,933 BU Sotogrande 2,759 138 BU Spain/Portugal 19,128 1,285 BU Switzerland / Austria / Hungary / Romania 7,997 2,382 Total external 111,207 15,008 Internal BU Benelux / UK 7,178 713 BU Germany 8,052 863 BU Headquarters 1,694 188 BU Italy 44,596 3,146 BU MERCOSUR 3,427 282 BU Mexico/Cuba 16,365 2,191 BU Sotogrande 679 133 BU Spain/Portugal 32,795 1,533 BU Switzerland / Austria / Hungary / Romania 2,978 369 Total Internal 117,764 9,418 E-learning BU Benelux / UK 1,192 1,351 BU Germany 22 61 BU Headquarters 43 18 BU Italy 1,675 242 BU MERCOSUR 25 29 BU Mexico/Cuba 115 58 BU Sotogrande 7 5 BU Spain/Portugal 414 305 BU Switzerland / Austria / Hungary / Romania 36 45 Total E-learning 3,529 2,114 Total 232,500 26,540 Hours / trained employee 8.76

Merger of the Framon and Jolly Hotels chains: NH Hoteles became the leading hotel chain in Italy in 2007 through the acquisition of two local hotel chains. The support of NH University has been fundamental in this expansion and integration procedure, offering classroom and e- learning training in front and back office systems and providing the welcome programme (NH Spirit) to all employees. NH University has been working closely with the management team of NH Italy to launch the NH University campus in Italy, providing 54,775 training hours to 7,092 participants. Internal development and talent management: internal promotion represents key motivation for employees. To this end, in 2007 we launched new editions of our Internal Development Programme (IDP) for future hotel managers at all Business Units, including the first IDP in Italy. From all Company staff members, a total of 75 employees identified as having great potential took part. We also continue to work with our sales potential through the second part of the Top Sales training programme which continued to provide training to 17 collaborators of sales teams from the different Business Units. In Germany, the 11% fourth-quarter growth at Revpar confirms the upward trend of this region and goes some way to rectifying the complicated comparison that this Business Unit accumulated during the first three quarters due to the 2006 World Cup.   Other training initiatives took place in 2007: •  Specific training for hotel managers focusing on F&B management, with participation of 121 individuals and a total of 1,573 training hours. •  Specific training also for Kitchen Chefs, with participation by 95 individuals and a total of 1,413 hours. •  Training for teachers of the Escuela de Hostelería (Hostelry School) of Madrid for the second year running. This training programme focuses mainly on economic-financial management of hotels. •  Campaign on Service Principles with the launch of posters and compilation books at all hotels. •  “Looking after the Environment” with the dispatch of colour posters to all Company hotels to raise employees’ awareness. NH University Training

•  Redesign of the NH Spirit Training Programme for New Members, adapting content and image to the new NH. Creation of two programme variants: operations and hub services •  Preparation of new e-learning programmes: English for hotels, Revenue Management basics, Spanish for hotels, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Windows. •  Operations immersion to enable hub services departments to get a real and close-up view of the day-to-day reality of NH Hoteles. •  Training through games such as Gewinnspiel and the Quiz show. •  Third edition of NH Talenht Scout at the German BU •  Strategic training of new openings. NH Hoteles has an ambitious expansion plan. To ensure successful growth of the chain, NH University will set up several initiatives: Certification  Programme  (Passport).  NH  University  has  designed  training  itineraries  that identify the training required by employees at each stage of their professional career and which will be essential to promote them to other jobs within the Company. This training programme will therefore help each employee to choose their professional preferences. IDP middle managers. Following the success of the middle managers programme in Germany (JUMP), all new department heads of NH Hoteles will be selected from among the persons that have passed this training programme, as an internal development programme. Promoting e-learning. Approximately 15 new e-learning training programmes will be launched in 2008, tailor-made to ensure that all NH Hoteles employees have access to training and can be job certified. All Business Units will be involved in the implementation of the new training programmes. Project One. The target of the integral Programme of Project One is the hotel’s personnel of NH Hoteles, to optimise efficiency through development of specific skills, the standardisation of procedures and establishment of a proper level of controls. NH University will carry out profile- based classroom training on the new processes through analysis of the current procedures, thus ensuring correct implementation of these.   List of training given to hotels and Hub Services pooled by functional areas: 15% 3% 2% 6% 29% 6% 5% 4% 30% 30% Front Office 29% F&B 15% Housekeeping 6% Administration 6% Sales 5% Maintenance 4% Management 3% SSCC 2% Others

Moreover, at NH Hoteles we have broken down the training given by gender, and we have also identified the age ranges of employees who have received more training time: 47% 53% 53% Women 47% Men 19% 67% 14% 67% 25 to 45 years old 19% Under 25 years old 14% Over 45 years old Training Men/Women Training by age ranges Mid-way between external training and attracting talent are our Work Experience programmes which had become the main source of recruitment at NH Hoteles. Approximately 65% of the students that join a programme of these characteristics, end up joining the hotel chain. The Work Experience Programmes are set up at NH Hoteles with the following aims: •  To collaborate with universities, schools or training centres in particular, and with society in general, by facilitating students’ integration into the jobs world, enabling the student on work  experience  to  acquire  overall  training  that  combines  theory  and  practice  within  a corporate sphere. •  To develop a pool of future NH Hoteles employees, by introducing participants to the culture, organisation, procedures, etc. of the chain. •  To identify work experience students that satisfy the requirements to be future employees of NH Hoteles. Special efforts took place in 2007 to standardise the scholarship policy at international level, through publication of a work experience manual with the required local adaptation to satisfy the different legal regulations of each country where we operate. We also publish a Guide for work experience students, with useful information on corporate culture, rights and obligations, etc. Performance Management In  dealings  with  our  employees,  we  cannot  forget  an  aspect  as  important  as  Performance Management, which we have been carrying out since 2003 and which pursues four basic objectives: •  To identify talent: it is one of the key tools to detect those with great potential. •  To foster internal communication: promoting a closer relationship between employees and their direct managers. •  To improve performance: through these evaluations, workers can find out what areas they can improve  and  also  suggest  improvements  in  the  procedures  in  which  they  take  part,  by establishing action plans. •  To drive a single culture: strengthening and transmitting corporate values.

Employees of NH Hoteles

The  Performance  Management  process  took  place  between  July  and  October  2007.  This assessment and professional development tool has become a fundamental milestone in the relationship between managers and their collaborators, not only through the feedback provided at sessions but also fundamentally through the action plans jointly defined to successfully tackle professional challenges of each new year.   This process has become part of the Company's culture and participation grows every year. In 2007 there were 9,333 evaluations, 25% up year-on-year. The Multisource Evaluation for executives was set up in 2007 to complement this performance evaluation.  This  tool  provides  a  broad  overview  of  the  performance  of  the  executive  being assessed, as it includes different management measurements: performance, quality, business and teams, and the results can be compared with previous years and with other colleagues. Total Appraisals - Evolution 2,085 2,821 3,417 3,760 7,493 9,333 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Employee of NH Hoteles

Remuneration policy Our remuneration policy pursues the following principles: • Legality • Non-discrimination • Competitiveness • Performance • Fairness We have set up a variable remuneration management system- Target Management (TM)- used for each manager to track the performance of their personnel. Using this system, the individual, departmental and Business Unit targets are aligned with the global and corporate targets. It also enables the contribution of each employee in achieving these objectives to be measured. The targets defined must satisfy the characteristics of being specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed. Elsewhere, NH Hoteles offers a wide range of corporate perks such as: •  Special offers for employees, Bono Amigo (Gift Voucher) and Tarifa de Empleado (Special Employee Rate). Employees can now enjoy all the Company’s hotels via a special bed and breakfast rate for any NH destination in the world, as well as a 30% discount on NH Hoteles products and services. Our employees can therefore swap shoes with our guests and appreciate the quality of NH Hoteles from their perspective. The company also distributes Bonos Amigo (Gift Vouchers) every year, which employees can hand out to their friends and family, enabling them to enjoy all the Company’s hotels for a highly advantageous rate at any NH destination worldwide. Every time that employees and friends make use of these special rates, NH Hoteles donates €1 and €2 respectively to the Company’s adopted charitable causes. •  Recognition   programmes.   To   reward   employees   that   have   stood   out   through   their extraordinary activities, their high performance or who have shown greater commitment to the Company. These are in the form of points that can be accumulated on the Employees’ Cards. 1,671 employees benefited from this programme in 2007 with a total of 191,880 credits awarded, which can be exchanged for products and services. •  Global Staffing Project. In collaboration with the Spanish Expatriation Forum, this promotes transfer of non-community workers to hotels in Spain for a period of 1 or 2 years. This pilot project started in 2006 and in 2007 there were 15 workers from Mexico, Uruguay and Argentina that joined hotels in Spain, thus broadening their professional career. •  International Transfers and Assignments Programme. This facilitates geographical movement of  all  employees  and  fosters  their  professional  development  by  providing  them  with  the possibility of finding jobs at any of the NH Hoteles centres and enjoying new work experiences. In 2007, a total of 94 employees moved to different Business Units in different countries. There are other exceptional corporate perks offered to our employees, either through the initiative of a Business Unit or through the job performed. For example in The Netherlands all employees have a Pension Scheme. A further example is the Corporate Directors that are entitled to a Life Assurance and Accident Policy.

Labour relations At NH Hoteles we are aware of the importance of communication with employees’ representatives. To this end, in 2007 we continued with the dynamics of social dialogue to foster participation, information and joint action, the fundaments of work on which stable and constructive relations can be built that improve job quality and satisfaction of all our workers.    The evolution of the chain, organisational changes, general policies that affect employees, etc. are standard issues that are dealt with at meetings with the union representatives. This enables all parties to use the same kind of information in order to adapt to changes and propose new ways of tackling these, through evolution towards ongoing improvement. The number of unions and employees that belong to these varies from one Business Unit to another, mostly due to the different legislation and uses of each country. Although it is difficult to offer a breakdown of unions representing the entire NH workforce, we do have the signed collective bargaining agreements and the number of employees covered by these placed on record: 10% 46% CC.OO. 37% U.G.T 10% Non members /other 4% E.L.A. 2% U.S.O. 1% C.I.G. 37% 46% 2% 1% 4% However,  in  the  case  of  Spain  we  have  defined  a  union  map,  with  the  unions  that  have representatives at the work centres and the percentage of these: Number of Collective Business Unit Bargaining Agreements % of Covered Employees Spain 45 100% Benelux / UK / Africa 2 100% Italy 4 100% Germany 19 100% Switzerland / Austria / Hungary / Romania 5 83% MERCOSUR 1 85% Mexico 26 100% TOTAL 102 97% Union Number of members Percentage UGT: Unión General de Trabajadores 71 36.98% CCOO: Comisiones Obreras 89 46.35% USO: Unión Sindical de Obreros 3 1.56% CIG: Confederación Intersindical Gallega 2 1.04% ELA: Sindicato Vasco 7 3.65% Non members / other 20 10.42% TOTAL 192 100.00%

Employee of NH Hoteles

Safety and Hygiene This is a core issue at NH Hoteles, given the care of our employees in the performance of their duties is absolutely vital in our activity. A clear demonstration of the attention we pay to this aspect is point 1.9 of our Code of conduct: 1.9. Laboral Risk Prevention NH Hoteles shall rigorously comply with applicable legislation governing occupational health and safety, and shall ensure this legislation is complied with, by implementing an active risk prevention policy. All employees of NH Hoteles will be responsible for keeping their workplace safe, following the health and safety rules and practices. Each Business Unit has its own Workplace Health and Safety Area which answers to the Human Resources department and is in charge of developing its terms of reference: Safety, Hygiene, Health and Ergonomy. There is the so-called Workplace Health and Safety Committee, made up of  the  Hotel  Manager  and  the  department  heads,  who  supervise  all  these  issues  at  the management meetings and also, in most countries, together with the workers’ representatives. Through our local workplace health and safety policies we try to ensure the wellbeing of all our employees, improve their conditions and standardise a work style. In  Spain,  workers’  representatives  appoint  the  Prevention  officer(s),  the  number  of  which depends on the number of workers at the hotel. If there is a Company Committee at the work centre, this party plus the prevention officers that have been appointed participate jointly on a Workplace Health and Safety Committee. This Committee shares responsibility for actions of importance in the hotel, any risks found and training and planning programmes in the field of prevention. In the case of Italy, there are two persons in charge of Workplace Health and Safety: a legal representative appointed by the Company and another hotel representative, who analyse the Risk Assessment and Prevention Document at hotel level (fire, injuries, explosion factors). Following this analysis, action plans are designed in coordination with the conclusions. The Netherlands is an exception. Here, there is an outsourced Company in charge