Caro hotel complex collects 38% lower revenues in H1

Caro hotel complex in Bucharest, controlled by the Lazar family, with 4.5 million euros in turnover last year, posted 1.4 million euros in the first six months of the year, down 38% against the first half of 2008, according to company representatives. "Things were worse than we had expected in the first half. The hotel had a less than 40% average occupancy rate, and demand for accommodation fell," said Octavian Lazar, manager of Caro Hotels. The Bucharest hotel, which includes 216 rooms, is divided into three categories, four-star Caro Golf, three-star Caro Parc and two-star Caro Horoscop, which employ 140 staff. The biggest demand has been recorded for three-star rooms, which had a 53% average occupancy rate. The cost of accommodation was cut by up to 40% for the entire hotel complex since the beginning of the year. "We have 50 three-star rooms, which were the ones most in demand. Demand was much lower for two and four-star rooms," specified Lazar. The occupancy rate of the Caro hotel complex has been on a continuous downward trend, when it had a 57.4% occupancy rate, as opposed to a 62% rate in 2007.