The top 20 hotel companies own units included in international chains like Radisson Blu, JW Marriott, Intercontinental and Hilton. The three largest Romanian hotel owners are Bucuresti Turism (Radisson Blu), with RON116.3 million in revenue, Ana Hotels of businessman George Copos, which operates several hotels such as five-star Athenee Palace Hilton Bucuresti and four-star Crowne Plaza Hotel Bucuresti and Societatea Companiilor Hoteliere Grand, which manages JW Marriott in Bucharest.
The Romanian hotel market is less developed than those of the neighboring countries such as Czech Republic and Hungary, which attracted investors because of the high number of tourists they get every year.
“The underdevelopment of the hotel market in Romania can be blamed on the lack of infrastructure and promotion of the local market abroad to a large extent,” says Diana Popescu, chief executive officer of the five-star Epoque boutique hotel in Bucharest, which budgeted EUR2 million revenue for this year.
Another problem of the local market is that Romanians do not have a culture of serving others, so the country does not have well trained personnel in that department, believes Stefan Liute, strategy director of branding agency Storience.
“Romanian and foreign tourists alike feel this problem, as do major investors who are in no rush to come.”
Out of the top twenty hotel owners, about half have at least one hotel in Bucharest, which is the market that has attracted most investors.
Bucharest is a different market altogether when compared with the rest of the country, says Epoque’s Diana Popescu, and has attracted investors partly because of the business travel.
“However, it still has room for development, as occupancy rate reaches 70% to 75% and is on the rise. For instance, the four and five-star business segment is well represented but we are almost all alone on the boutique hotel segment, so there’s room for growth.”
The most important Romanian entrepreneur in the hotel industry is George Copos, followed by Radu Enache (Continental Hotels), Negoita family (Rin Grand Hotel), Adamescu family (Intercontinental), Josef Goschy (more than 20 hotels, most of which on the Black Sea coast) and Gabriel Popoviciu along with Radu Dimofte (Howard Johnson, Ramada Plaza and Ramada Parc).
While Bucharest remains attractive for hotel investors, the rest of the country is suffering, which is why several dozen hotels are up for sale.
Hotel company THR Marea Neagra owned by SIF Transilvania (SIF3.RO) has ten hotels on the Romanian seaside up for sale, but Linica Stan, the general manager of the company, said a month ago the progress was slow, there was little interest on the market and banks had a rigid lending policy.
THR Marea Neagra has 23 operational hotels in the seaside resorts and also restaurants and aqua parks that contribute to its revenue. Only two of its hotels are rated four stars. Its assets, which can sleep almost 8,000, are more than 40 years old, having been built mostly in 1968-1972.
Josef Goschy, the owner of Unita Turism hotel chain, too, has put up for sale a number of hotels on the seaside and in other cities of Romania. His more than 20 hotels in this country generated RON43 million revenue in 2013.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)