Goschy: Buyers want to get hotels put up for sale almost for free

Businessman Josef Goschy of Timisoara, one of the biggest hotel owners in Romania, who put out for sale 651 rooms in hotels in Suceava, Cluj, Targu-Mures and the seaside, maintains he has been in talks with potential buyers, but that he has sold nothing so far because they "want to buy the properties almost for free".

"I will one day sell one of the properties I put up for sale this year. I am not wiling to sell the hotels at prices below the ones I've set. Were I a buyer, I'd probably do the same as the potential buyers I've been in talks with. I believe, though, that things will change on the market in spring," Goschy said.

The businessman controls 3,500 rooms in 25 accommodation facilities through Unita Turism.

The group last year generated 14m-euro turnover. Goschy wants to raise 25m euros from the sale of the 6 properties put out for sale, which cumulate 651 rooms, and he may use the money to modernise the other units or develop other projects.

Unita Turism in the first 10 months of the year had revenues worth 9m euros, 20% less than a year ago.

"Almost 2m euros represent the profit generated by my hotels. We tried to slash expenses by the same percentage revenues dropped by, of 20%," stated Goschy.

By yearend, the businessman expects turnover worth above 10m euros, revised downwardly from the initial 12m-euro projection.

The hotels part of Unita Turism employ almost 1,000 people. Goschy has operated no layoffs, despite the falling turnover this year.

Almost half the 3,500 rooms Goschy controls are rooms in seaside hotels. Through the three hotels of Mamaia (Comandor, Amiral and Orfeu), three in Olimp (Amfiteatru, Belvedere, Panoramic) and two in Cap Aurora (Onix and Safir), Goschy is one of the most important seaside hotel owners.

Short of cash, several entrepreneurs have put up for sale more than 20 hotels on the Romanian market this year, when occupancy rates and tariffs dropped by over 20% from a year ago, the steepest decline of recent years.