“Travel has halved, our guests are mostly Romanians. Revenue is down to less than half along with a significant reduction in the range of services provided. We’re seeing the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) segment down to almost zero and the food & beverage sector seriously affected,” entrepreneur Radu Enache, the owner of the hotel chain, told ZF.
In all, Continental Hotels operates 12 hotels under Continental, Hello Hotels and Ibis Hotels in Bucharest, Arad, Sibiu, Constanta and other cities. The chain includes the five-star Grand Hotel Continental in Bucharest, as well as lower rated hotels.
“The tourism industry is so badly affected that not even an intervention from the authorities (…) will be able to reinvigorate us in less than four or five years. If we’re still standing.”
Continental Hotels plans to develop new hotels in Iasi, Brasov and Timisoara, which will require more than EUR35 million investments, as planned before the Covid 19 pandemic.
It ended last year with RON40 million revenue, down from the RON142 million of 2019 and RON33 million loss, compared with a net profit of RON12.2 million, Finance Ministry data show.
Continental Hotels is one of the largest hotel companies in Romania, along with ANA Hotels, Radisson Blu, Societatea Companiilor Hoteliere Grand (JW Marriott Hotel in Bucharest) and Societatea de Tratament Balnear and Recuperarea Capacitatii de Munca.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)