The right hotels are needed

2nd "Spotlight Hotel Investment Poland" conference in June in Warsaw


	Tourism is booming in Poland. Now the country needs more midscale hotels. / photo: map

Warsaw (March 27, 2015). The momentum of the successful premier last year continues: therefore, a second edition of the small, but efficient investment conference "Spotlight Hotel Investment Poland" will take place on June 16, 2015. The event is organised by the Polish publishing house Poland Today and receives content-related support from Christie + Co Warsaw. hospitalityInside.com will participate as transnational media partner once again.

The conference will dominate the tuesday and will take place at Westin Warsaw this time. An evening reception at Sofitel Victoria Warsaw will top the whole day off. The organisers are currently working on the programme; details will follow soon.

The event addresses investors, developers, financiers, operators and sellers of real estate. Participation costs 160 euros; early birds registering until the end of April only pay 140 euros. Registration for the event will start next week on the website of Poland Today.

For some time now, insiders have known that Poland is a highly interesting market. The cities remain tourism magnets and demand reacts respectively. Hotel developers are already looking intensively for niches.


Adam Konieczny, Christie + Co: More transactions expected.

Small changes

According to Adam Konieczny, Country Head Poland for Christie + Co, there is enough subject matter for discussion. He describes the current hotel situation in Poland as follows:

"2014 was a good year for the Polish tourism and hotel industry. Occupancy rates have actually been on the rise for several years now. Domestic tourists continue to account for the bulk of all hotel stays in the country, but this is now changing fast in the metropolises. In Warsaw, for example, foreigners already account for 42 per cent of all hotel guests. In the city centre of the Polish capital they even make up 54 per cent.

Last Year, Krakow for instance attracted approx. 9.9 million people, including 2.6 million tourists from abroad. The tourists spent a total of around 4.5 billion Zloty in Krakow. Now the city is slowly changing to become a major business travel destination. Warsaw remains the second most important tourist destination in Poland but, its position, compared to that of Krakow, has recently weakened a bit. What would certainly help to further enhance the tourism and hotel industry in the city is the development of a large-scale conference facility, able to accommodate several thousand people.

Supply still lacking – budget hotels needed

The supply of hotel rooms in Poland has been growing in recent years by annually 5.6 per cent on average – but, still the country has not been able to absorb the growth of demand which was at 8 per cent on average! What Poland now needs are, most notably, new budget hotels. Meanwhile, many of the new hotel projects that are currently being developed in the country are upper-standard schemes. This is, to a large extent, a mentality issue – investors want to have prestigious assets in their portfolios. But we don't see any room for new five-star hotel developments in Warsaw. Room rates to achieve are too low.

The country is highly demanded by international chains meanwhile. Among the fastest expanding brands are those of Accor/Orbis (currently 64 hotels in Poland), Louvre Hotels (16) and Hilton (10). More chains and brands are expected to step in. So competition will increase as the Polish hotel investment market is fairly small. Nevertheless, this year we should see more investment transactions in the country." / kn

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