Bucharest actually ranks third after Prague and Budapest by number of luxury hotels but still ahead of Warsaw and Sofia, according to the data supplied by market research company STR Global.
The number of luxury hotels is not the same as the number of five-star hotels in a city, as only some hotels meet a series of requirements valid worldwide to be considered luxury hotels, STR Global officials say.
“There is an international ranking system for luxury hotels, which has been in use for decades,” says Sorin Ionescu, founder and manager of hotel consultancy Fivestar Hospitality.
The hotels STR Global includes in the luxury category are JW Marriott, Intercontinental, Cismigiu, Epoque, Pullman, Radisson Blu and Athenee Palace Hilton. Sheraton was not included because it is due to open soon, once the rebranding of Howard Johnson has been completed.
“Romania only has one true luxury brand, JW Marriott, which positioned itself lower on the Romanian market because this market is not developed enough to accommodate a hotel with average annual rates of EUR300 to EUR500 per night. The others are upper scale brands.”
In comparison, Prague and Budapest attracted more international luxury names, helped by the strong leisure tourism business they have developed. The other cities, Warsaw, Sofia and Bucharest, have started getting tourists looking for a different city break destination in the last few years. Prague welcomed 8 million foreign tourists last year, while the entire Romania recorded 2 million, according to ZF data.
“Bucharest does not have a strong touristic brand, so it hasn’t had the strength to draw in more luxury hotel brands.”
Such brands include Mandarin Oriental, Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons. None of them has taken any steps on the local market, but Sorin Ionescu is confident another luxury hotel brand will arrive in Romania in five to ten years.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)