“We’ve managed to build a new category of clients, the five-star clients, who came from all over Europe and from countries like China,” Daniel Ben-Yehuda says.
About 70% of the guests staying at the Sheraton Hotel come to the city for business purposes, and the rest for leisure. Food&beverage segment, which also includes events, generates about one third of the revenue of the hotel, its general manager said.
Prior to his Sheraton appointment, Daniel Ben-Yehuda had been running the Ramada hotel complex (Ramada Plaza and Parc), where he still serves as general manager.
The conversion of the building near Piata Romania in Bucharest started in the fall of 2014, when Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (the owner of the Sheraton brand) signed a franchising agreement with Grand Plaza Hotel (the operator of the hotel formerly branded as Howard Johnson). The renovation of the hotel took EUR7 million.
The Sheraton Hotel is profitable and the entire hotel market in Bucharest is seeing growth. Things are going back to normal and the average room rate is up 20% to 30%, Daniel Ben-Yehuda said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)