The French Accor hotel chain, which manages four hotels on the Romanian market, has set up a company to run the Novotel hotel of the capital city.
The French will operate Novotel through a subsidiary company, Accor Hotels Romania, states Bruno Vinette, Accor representative in Romania. Vinette is also the general manager of Bucharest''s Sofitel hotel.
Novotel is Accor''s first investment on the Romanian hotel market and the only investment by an international hotel chain on the domestic market.
The four-star hotel will be opened this July and required an investment of approximately 33 million euros.
The company, 100% held by Accor Hotels Belgium, has a share capital worth 1.75 million RON (around 550,000 euros).
The managers of the newly created company are Andre Roger Cantiniaux, director for South-Eastern Europe with the Accor chain, and Ileana Preda, the former chief financial officer of Accor Services, one of the main luncheon voucher issuers in Romania.
The Novotel hotel will be located on Calea Victoriei and will have 277 rooms, a 300-seat saloon, eight conference rooms, a fitness centre with an indoor pool and stores.
Novotel is situated in the vicinity of other major players in the capital city''s luxury market, the Hilton, the Continental and Bucharest.
Under a management contract, Accor operates the three 3-star Ibis hotels (two in the capital and one in Constanta), which Romanian hotel company Continental owns, as well as the four-star Sofitel hotel.
Sofitel saw turnover worth 8.5 million euros in 2005. The hotel is owned by the World Trade Center company, and its shareholders include Astra SA, AVAS, Bouygues Batiment International, and Debarth.
The four-star hotel market was the most dynamic segment last year, both in terms of investments and of the high number of international companies that entered the domestic market. Golden Tulip, for instance, has opened four hotels in Bucharest under a franchise system and has plans to rapidly expand outside the capital, as well.
Accor''s other presence in Romania is Carlson Wagonlit Travel, a business travel agency, in partnership with Visit Romania. The company also operates through a unit designed for the customers of the luncheon voucher unit, Academie Accor Services.
Accor portfolio also includes Formule1, Mercure, Etap, Suitehotel brands. andreea.groenendijk@zf.ro
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