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Thursday, September 20, 2007
Talk about Bad Luck!
About 40 Romanians thought it would be nice to see Italy and this time of year seemed to fit them perfectly. So they were enjoying themselves in a little place called Lide de Jeselo, somewhere near Venice, when...
...someone stole their bus! With some luggage, papers, and other such things. All this was of course meant to ruin their trip. How did the Italian police react? Well, at first they did nothing! Simply because they expected this whole thing to be a bad joke...
And I thought that only the law stated "innocent until proven guilty"! Nope, the police do so too. First they stick around, waiting for a solution to come up out of the blue and only then they decide to take some sort of action. One has to wonder: if they run across a dead body, do they wait for two days to see if the dead person stands up laughing?
Bucharest - Business Tourists Boost Hotel Chains' Profits
80% to 95% of Bucharest hotels' customers come from the business sector and most tourists coming to Bucharest are foreigners, with estimates in this regard pointing to 75-80% of overall arrivals in 2006.
The conference and banqueting segment, generated by the same business sector, accounts for different shares in Bucharest five-star hotels' turnovers, from 30% to 50%.
Under the circumstances, the most profitable hotels of Romania, besides having the advantage of being the biggest, are also the most luxurious, mainly targeting those who do not pay for accommodation from their own incomes. Luxury hotels, represented by the six five-star hotels (Howard Johnson, Grand Plaza, JW Marriott, Intercontinental, Athenee Palace Hilton, Casa Capsa and Crowne Plaza) have around 1,467 available rooms together of the total 6,400 rooms on the market, reads a report on the Bucharest real estate market put together by CB Richard Ellis Romania (CBRE).
What's next? Other international chains will soon follow. Word is Kempinsky, Hyatt, Four Seasons, Sheraton or Leading Hotels of the World will soon join the party. Suprising? Not really.
The question is: do local hotels stand a chance? Probably, if they invest tons of money to offer the same service levels, if they promote themselves on the international market (online booking services might not be such a bad idea) and if they change their business model and realize returning customers are worth more than one time customers that you manage to trick.
Foreigners or Romanians living abroad always say Romanian hotels belonging to international chains have high prices. Higher than in other capitals around Europe. I always wondered why this policy was accepted. Wouldn't foreigners be reluctant to pay more for the same services? Well, first I thought most customers of 4-5 stars hotels are business tourists. So they couldn't care less about prices. Another fact just caught my attention today. This pricing policy is really working:
Out of the 32 hotels operated by the Marriott group within continental Europe, the JW Marriott hotel in Bucharest is among the top five contributors to the group's turnover, says Kurt Strohmayer, general manager of the hotel.
"Contrary to the general opinion, the most profitable hotels are not those in Western Europe. The hotels that contribute the most to the group's business, with the exception of the American market, are those in Russia, followed by those in Eastern Europe", Strohmayer says.
Last year, the five-star hotel posted 38.5 million-euro turnover and 16-million euro profit. On the local market, JW Marriott leads the ranking of most profitable hotels, according to financial information provided by Societatea Companiilor Hoteliere Grand, the company managing the hotel.
Name: Alina Home: Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania About Me: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts". It's also where I feel free and my preferred means of expression. See my complete profile
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