Tinu Sebesanu, CEO of Trend Hospitality, the strategic development partner of the American hotel chain Wyndham, which owns the Howard Johnson and the Ramada brands on the domestic market, says the first signs of development on the leisure segment are apparent in the 10% increase of the occupancy rate at the Howard Johnson Hotel over the three nights of a weekend.
"The hotel's take-up in the first half reached around 68%, a value greatly influenced by the weekend business, when the hotel's take-up reaches an average level of 35%. This summer we've seen growth even over the weekend- to around 45%, which means the leisure side is starting to develop," explained Sebesanu.
The better part of the four and five-star hotel revenues on the Bucharest market are derived from business travel, whilst the number of tourists using hotels remains relatively low.
For instance, around 80% of guests at the Howard Johnson Grand Plaza in the centre of Bucharest are business people.
"More than 50% of Howard Johnson's turnover comes from corporate clients through contracts signed with a number of companies on the market, rather than from individual clients," Sebesanu explains.
The Howard Johnson hotel, which has been awarded a five star ranking, boasts a 285-room capacity and nine conference rooms, although most of its business, around 70%, is derived from the hotel rooms.
The hotel posted an approximately 12% higher business in the first half of the year compared with the same time last year; thus exceeding the results anticipated in its budget for the first half by 8%, according to Sebesanu.
Howard Johnson's business amounted to some 13 million euros last year, and is expected to exceed 14 million euros this year.
"Demand is rising on the domestic market; a trend first noticed by the three-star hotels and has now shifted to the four and five-star hotels. Business people in Romania have started to book rooms at higher rated hotels (in terms of awarded stars), which is an indication of economic growth," said Trend Hospitality's CEO.
In addition, Sebesanu explained that the number of hotels under the Ramada brand would significantly increase over the coming years.
At the moment, the only such hotels operating under the Ramada brand are the Ramada Majestic and the Ramada Nord, both in Bucharest, and Ramada Sibiu, an investment by businessman Ilie Carabulea.
"A new Ramada hotel will open on the site of the former Turist Hotel in October and we expect to boast a total of six Ramada hotels in Bucharest and throughout the rest of the country by the yearend. We now have a total of 14 Ramada projects, in various stages of development, in cities across the country. The cities targeted include Timisoara, Cluj, Iasi and Constanta," added Sebesanu.
Trend Hospitality's target is to be operating 30 Ramada, Days, Days Inn and Super 8 hotels within the next eight years, all of which are brands belonging to the Wyndham chain. At the moment, the three-star Days, Days Inn hotels and the Super 8 motels are not present on the market.
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