“The increase is mainly triggered by the rising demand for accommodation in Bucharest. The positive trend solves some quite urgent needs of the industry, but it’s not enough to lead to higher daily average rates. This is what everybody would like,” explains Sorin Ionescu, founder and manager of hotel consultancy Fivestar Hospitality.
He says that in 2009 the average daily rate in Bucharest plummeted on local hotel owners’ lack of experience. Amid the crisis onset, market demand contracted and hotel owners cut prices hoping to attract more tourists, instead of raising them to boost income per room, believes the consultant.
In 2014, the average daily rate revolved around EUR60 in Bucharest, similar with that of Prague, while in Sofia and Warsaw it revolved around EUR50.
In 2013, in Bucharest there were around 360 companies operating in the field of “hotels and other similar accommodation units”, according to Trade Registry data. Bucharest’s biggest hotels include Radisson Blu, Athenee Palace Hilton, JW Marriot or Intercontinental, while the number of hotel rooms revolves around 11,000.
Among capital cities of southeastern Europe, Prague boasts the biggest hotel occupancy rate, at over 70%, according to STR Global data.
“These countries have leisure tourism both during the week and at weekends and this matter a lot. We shall have leisure tourism with a significant weight in 2-5 years, too. Hotel owners are already feeling an increase on this segment and this is a positive,” says Sorin Ionescu.
Bucharest holds the most important tourist accommodation infrastructure in Romania. As a matter of fact, Bucharest is the city that attracts almost half of the total number of foreign tourists in Romania, being the country’s main business destination.
In 2014, around 1.9 million foreign tourists came to Romania, mostly on business, though. They spent EUR1.14 billion, with the bulk of the sum going to accommodation, according to National Statistics Institute (INS) data.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)