“I am looking for potential partners to develop new hotels for the time being,” said Frank Reul, area general manager Accor.
There are a number of cities with more than 150,000-200,000 people where international companies have a presence in Romania but he is not looking at any city in particular. Development of new hotels is usually a medium-term project but he is confident that his company will sign partnerships in the region, including Romania, over the next two to three years, Reul added.
The executive is the first manager the Accor group put in charge of all its operations in the region, creating the position of area general manager for Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia especially for this purpose.
Frank Reul has been working for the Accor group since 1989, when he started in Belgium. He has had held several operational positions in the hotel group in Russia, Turkey, UK since 1991, working as area general manager in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia prior to coming to Romania.
French hotel chain Accor operates seven hotels in Romania: four three-star Ibis-es (two in Bucharest and one in Constanta and Sibiu) and three four-star Pullman, Novotel and Mercure hotels in Bucharest, via Polish partner Orbis. Its officials do not provide information about financial results.
Accor only owns the Novotel Hotel in Bucharest, and the rest of the hotels have different owners are operated via a management contract. Accor Hotels Romania, the owner of Novotel, posted more than 33 million lei (EUR7.4 million) revenue and RON4.7 million profit in 2013, according Finance Ministry data. The estimated revenue of the seven hotels might amount to more than RON100 million a year, according to ZF calculations.
Early this year, Poland’s main hotel group, Orbis, signed an agreement with its majority shareholder, Accor, to take over 46 hotels in six European countries, including Romania, as well as a master licensing contract. The licensing contract allows Orbis Group to operate the Accor hotels in 16 countries, including Romania, until 2035 and gives it exclusive rights for at least ten years.
Frank Reul says Accor can develop several hotels under the Novotel, Ibis and Mercure brands in Bucharest, while outside the capital city the most suitable brands are Ibis and Mercure.
In Romania, 85% to 90% of hotels are not operating under international brands, while in more mature countries the percentage is lower, 40% to 50%. Therefore Accor may find existing properties and integrate them into its network and is already in talks with various partners. It can build its own hotels but can also sign partnerships for existing hotels, the executive said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)