Howard Johnson, the newest five-star hotel on the capital city market, in the first half of this year generated turnover worth approximately six million euros.
The five-star hotel over the above-mentioned period registered a 9 percent growth rate of revenues, according to general manager Peter Craig Martin.
"The increase was triggered by the accommodation business and particularly by the activities related to event organisation, restaurants and bars, as, compared with the first half of last year the hotel also operates a new ballroom, Iridium Grand Ballroom and a patisserie, Centro Pastry Shop," says Martin.
According to him, the average occupancy rate of the hotel reached 62 percent in the first six months of 2006.
"Both the occupancy rate and revenues went up on almost all the customer segments, excepting the leisure segment, which posted a slight decline," Howard Johnson representative also said.
Peter Craig Martin has not run Howard Johnson for too long, having taken over the general manager position from Tinu Sebesanu this March. Sebesanu became the CEO of Trend Hospitality, a hospitality consulting and management firm, which, among other things, is also coordinating the operations of Cendant US group domestically.
Martin had filled the position of general manager with Hanoi Daewoo of Vietnam since November 2004 before coming to Romania. He held similar positions mainly in Asia, with Jakarta Hilton International (Indonesia) or Grand Formosa Kaohsiung (Taiwan). Howard Johnson Grand Plaza was opened in 2004, on the site of the former Dorobanti hotel, and took investments revolving around 30 million euros, carried out over a period of four years.
The hotel has 285 rooms, four restaurants, a coffee shop and conference halls. The owner of the hotel is Grand Plaza company, controlled by businessman Gabriel Popoviciu.
The hotel derived turnover worth 13 million euros last year, up 51 percent year-on-year and doubled its income from the same period, to one million euros. The year 2005 was the first entire operational year for the hotel.
With an average occupancy rate of 75% for its five-star hotels, Bucharest is considered a business rather than touristic destination. The five-star market in the capital city was an over 100 million-euro business in 2005.
Howard Johnson Grand Plaza operates under a franchise contract for Howard Johnson brand, part of Cendant's portfolio. Domestically, the US chain is also present with Ramada brand. Thus, Ramada Majestic is already included in the capital city's tourism circuit, with another three hotels due to be opened, in Baneasa area. A Ramada hotel is also going to be opened in Sibiu. At the same time, the representatives of the US chain in Romania have recently stated they were planning to introduce the Super 8 motel brand onto the market.
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