6th ITB Hospitality Day discusses the status quo of "flourishing landscapes"
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| The Novotel Stettin is a member of the biggest Polish hotel group Orbis. |
Augsburg (February 4, 2011). Only a few years ago, almost all of Europe was regarded as “flourishing landscapes”, a term that had primarily been used for the new German federal states. The financial and economic crisis brought many investors back down to earth and showed tourism professionals what competition really is. But what is the current perspective of the “hotel markets in Eastern Europe”. A panel discussion at the 6th ITB Hospitality Day will try to find out the current status showing opportunities and challenges. Hotel experts will discuss the situation in Poland, Croatia, Romania and Russia.
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| Moderator Martin Schaffer. |
Poland is the partner country of ITB 2011 and is therefore in the limelight this year. Poland’s hospitality sector belongs to those markets that have been developing quickly and its key cities already have numerous chain hotels. Laurent Picheral, CEO of Orbis, the biggest Polish hotel chain – a local group that has been part of the French Accor Group since August 2008 – can state differences in quality and requirements of the individual cities. But he already praises his staff members: the “first” generation had gathered international experience abroad and returned home now.
Host Martin Schaffer, an experienced consultant for Eastern Europe of Kohl & Partner in Vienna, will surely find out the differences compared to other markets, e.g. Romania. Friedrich W. Niemann will be talking about this country, which many struggle to assess.
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| Orbis CEO Laurent Picheral. |
Until last September, he had been General Manager of the Hilton Budapest for five years (afterwards he was appointed General Manager of the Waldorf Astoria Berlin, which is currently under construction) and thus came to know the market and the people. His prognosis: Romania has enormous potential!
Difficult and quick markets
Croatia was one of the first countries to pick up in terms of tourism after the borders opened. Many new resorts were built and are being constructed, renowned operators show interest.
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What does the hotel structure look like today and how is the price-performance ratio in Croatia? Nobody can answer this question better than Kristian Sustar. As President of the Croatian hotel association and Executive Director of the HUP Zagreb business hotel group, he knows the market and relation.
Russia: Who else is active on this market apart from rich oligarchs? Maybe Thomas Willms, Vice President & Regional Director East & Central Europe, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, will be able to give an answer.
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| Starwood VP Thomas Willms. |
The sheer vastness of the country with its small towns that already have millions of inhabitants attracts both investors and hotel operators from all over the world. How do you keep track of things, and how do you need to feel your way forward in order to be successful?
Not a single hotel market will develop positively without the support of tourism partners in this country. Therefore, Martin Schaffer will ask more about how these two partners are interlinked with each other.
This highly interesting panel discussion will take place on the ITB Thursday, March 10, 2011, at 10.30 am and will last 60 minutes (Hall 7.1b/Auditorium London). Please find the entire programme under this link. / kn
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