Almost 400 people watched games during the championship on the terrace of the luxury hotel every night, spending 50 to 60 lei (EUR11 to EUR13) on average. In other words, JW Marriott collected EUR4,500 to EUR5,400 every game night, according to ZF estimates.
The game nights will show in the food&beverage revenue, which account for half of the hotel’s total revenue, said Igael Porecky, chief executive of the JW Marriott Hotel.
The JW Marriott in Bucharest operates 402 rooms and 12 event rooms, as well as the Cucina and Champions restaurants, the Vienna Lounge coffee shop, two bars and the outdoor terrace, which also attracts people who are not guests of the hotel during the summer.
The restaurants and event rooms generate almost half of the annual revenue of the hotel, that is a little more than EUR10 million, according to ZF’s calculations.
The food&beverage and accommodation segments generate about 50% of the revenue each. Normally, accommodation generates almost 70% of the revenue of a hotel but in JW Marriott’s the contribution of the two segments is equal because of the high number of conference rooms, Porecky says.
However, the event and conference segment witnessed 10% to 15% decline in volume in the first half on the year-ago period, the hotel official said, adding that companies were allocating lower budgets for events at the moment. The most affected was February, a month of heavy snowfall, which prevented customers from getting to the hotel.
JW Marriott started renovating all its conference rooms and public spaces in 2010. First were the Grand Ballroom and the public areas on the second floor, Vienna Lounge included and the process continued with the opening of the JW Steakhouse restaurant. The renovation of the Grand Ballroom and of ten small event rooms cost EUR730,000.
The hotel will also remodel the lobby so as to create a smokers’ area, as the lack thereof caused it to lose some customers. It will then move on to the rooms, one floor at a time, starting 2014.
Occupancy in the first half remained at last year’s level, that is more than 50%, the CEO of the hotel said, without being able to say exactly how much it was for confidentiality reasons.
The Marriott Hotel, which is part of the Marriott International chain, is controlled by Societatea Companiilor Hoteliere Grand, whose majority shareholder is Austria’s Bau Holding Strabag. The latest data available show SCHG expected RON104 million in revenue last year.
Various luxury brands have set up shop in the hotel such as Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Alfred Dunhill and Ermanno Scervino. Escada has recently opened a shop, too, via its franchisee, Romanian fashion designer Romanita Iovan. Other five star hotels in Bucharest are Radisson Blu, Athenee Palace Hilton, Crowne Plaza, Grand Hotel Continental, Howard Johnson, Epoque Hotel and several boutique hotels. (EUR1=RON4.4505)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)