“I have great hopes for this year that has started out well. January brought a 60% occupancy rate and so far in February we’ve had 72%, double compared to February 2013. I believe this will be a good year,” Aron told ZF.
According to him, the market has started deicing as companies have drawn up event budgets and payments have started to be made in due time. Last year, one of the problems the hotel coped with was late payments.
“We have a new strategy, namely approaching a rising number of clients directly, without the help of intermediaries, travel agencies or event agencies. We are working with a lot of companies, 60% of last year’s revenue was brought by events”.
For this year, budgeted revenue stands at 14.5 million lei (EUR3.2 million) against RON13.6 million last year.
Sibiu is a point of attraction for companies operating in the car industry (Continental), textiles (Benetton and Louis Vuitton) and IT&C (Computer Generated Solutions, EBS, iQuest or Pentalog). With a strong German community, the city has an international airport, only 5 km away from the city center, with direct flights to Munich, Stuttgart and Vienna.
“25% of revenue is generated by foreigners, who come to Sibiu on business or expats working here”.
Sibiu is not just a business hub, but also one of the most popular touristic cities in Romania, being appointed as a European cultural capital in 2007.
“We’ve signed contracts with tour operators of Germany, Hungary and Spain, which will bring tourists in Sibiu, due to be accommodated in our hotel,” said Aron.
Nicolae Minea, owner of Hilton Sibiu, invested EUR25 million to affiliate the 115-room hotel to Hilton international brand in 2009.
The Sibiu hotel operates in a franchise system, which allows the owner to choose the management team. By comparison, the 5-star Hilton of Bucharest (controlled by George Copos), the first unit of Romania affiliated to Hilton, operates under a management contract.
Hilton hotel of Sibiu is registered on Palace Dumbrava company and in 2012 posted revenue of RON12.7 million (some EUR2.9 million) against 127 employees, according to Finance Ministry data.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)