The Continental hotels will welcome three new members in 2004, under an estimated investment of 17-18 million dollars in 2003 alone. Following negotiations with the Accor chain, Continental will start building another Ibis hotel in Bucharest next year, Radu Enache, president of Continental, told Ziarul Financiar.
"We are down to two possible locations for the next Ibis, the project is ready so that we can be granted the urban planning certificate, but we still have to choose one of the two spots," Enache said, without naming the respective locations.
Ibis will thus become the first international chain to have two hotels in the same Romanian city. According to market analysts, the decision was prompted by the excellent results posted by the first Ibis hotel, opened last summer. Enache told Ziarul Financiar that 2002 turnover was estimated at 5-6 million dollars, while the hotel averaged a 75% occupancy rate this year.
Besides the Bucharest-based Ibis, Continental will build another hotel, this time in Constanta, under a $10m investment. Moreover, the company has taken a 49-year lease on the Bulevard hotel in Sibiu. "We will renovate the hotel in eight months tops and reopen it under the name of Continental Bulevard," Enache said. The Continental chain already holds a three-star hotel in Sibiu. "If we add the 135 rooms of the Bulevard, we will come to hold 310 rooms in Sibiu," he added.
The Constanta-based hotel was initially supposed to open under the Novotel brand, also belonging to the Accor chain. However, Enache stated the French group would no longer be a part of this project.
After the three hotels are opened, the Continental chain will grow by 435 rooms.
Continental will post turnover worth 14 million dollars in 2002, up 33% since last year. The company estimates $16m turnover for 2003.
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