The Bucharest five-star hotel market is already filled with a sufficient number of hotels that are part of international luxury chains and the current economic environment makes some hotel owners be sceptical with regard to the arrival of new players, believes Phillippe Drivon, general manager of Novotel four-star hotel of Bucharest.
Nevertheless, the Bucharest hotel market still boasts an occupancy rate of 60-70%, which is a higher average rate than in the rest of Europe.
"The market's ability to absorb more four or five-star hotels over the following years largely depends on Romania's economic development. Instead, I believe it is much more important for hotel owners to focus on bringing some budget hotels," he says.
Whereas the tariff for a Novotel room stands at 270 euros, taxes not included, customers pay approximately 100 euros per night for a room in a budget hotel.
Novotel representative says there is the possibility of opening some Etap and Ibis hotels on the domestic market, with big cities such as Timisoara, Cluj or Brasov being considered for this purpose. At present, there are three Ibis hotels in Romania, two in Bucharest and one in Constanta.
Novotel is the first investment Accor has made on its own on the Romanian market and the 397th Novotel hotel worldwide. According to Drivon, Accor plans to bring between five and ten new hotels on the Romanian market over the following years.
Accor, present in Romania since 1994, operates the four-star Sofitel hotel of Bucharest under a management contract, while on the three-star segment it is present with Ibis hotels.
Novotel opening took investments revolving around 35 million euros. The hotel is operated by Accor Hotels Romania, 100% owned by Accor Hotels Belgium.
The company's managers are Andr? Roger Cantiniaux, a manager for Southeastern Europe with Accor chain, and Ileana Preda, a former financial officer with Accor Services, one of the main luncheon voucher issuers in Romania.
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