ANA Hotels, a company owned by businessman George Copos, announced an investment of €25 million in the Athenee Palace Hilton hotel in Bucharest.

Nordis Group, a real estate developer specialized in the construction of luxury real estate, announces the launch of a new exclusive complex, consisting of a hotel and residential apartments, located in Brașov.

Optim Project Management has completed its work on the new 6,715 sqm ibis Timișoara City Center for Hotel Development SA, a company owned by brothers Emil and Marius Cristescu.

Hungarian integrated architecture and building services provider DVM group started the construction works of Drechsler Palace in January 2021 at 25 Andrássy Avenue, Budapest. The monument building, previously home to the Pension Fund of the Hungarian State Railways and the Hungarian State Ballet Institute, is owned by QPR Properties who is transforming the building into the first W Hotel in Hungary, W Budapest.

The topic of sustainability has become one of the most important megatrends of our time. Sustainable construction is also becoming increasingly important in the hotel real estate market, leading to an increase in demand for corresponding certificates in Austria, according to Christie & Co.

Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk (Tricity) and Wrocław are among the top ten markets for hotel operators in Central and Eastern Europe and in Southern and Eastern Europe, making Poland the regional leader. Hotel operators are also targeting other regional cities across Poland, says global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The latest annual report by specialist business property advisor Christie & Co reflects on the themes, activity and challenges of the previous year and forecasts what 2021 might bring across the hotel investment sector in various European countries.

Though significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts, the hotel market sees activity and interest from hotel operators. In the CEE & SEE regions, they are showing interest in Prague, Budapest and Warsaw, with a number of smaller regional cities – mostly Polish – also making the top 30. Operators are confident about market recovery, predicting that smaller cities will bounce back in 2022, followed by capitals in 2024.

The latest STR figures show that the Prague hotel market has borne the brunt of the coronavirus crisis in Europe. It recorded the steepest decline in average revenue per room in 2020, down 84.6% on the previous year on the back of an average 16.6% annual room occupancy rate. Even so, confidence in the Prague hotel market and its long-term potential is hardly waning, as underscored by the unflagging interest not only among investors, who are always on the lookout for good opportunities to buy but also among hotel operators, who have identified Prague as the main target of their activities. Results reported for last summer, when rules were eased for a while, signalled that the market would be able to recover relatively quickly once the restrictions are lifted. Complete recovery, however, is not expected until 2024.

A survey prepared by Cushman & Wakefield in partnership with FIHR, targeting Romanian hoteliers, was launched in November 2020 to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the Romanian hotel industry and their perspectives on the outlook of this sector. This survey is the second instalment after a previous questionnaire that was launched in April 2020. The intention is to gain the appropriate attention and appeal to authorities for more meaningful and targeted support towards our hospitality sector. Cushman & Wakefield and FIHR remain committed to ensuring that the industry receives appropriate support by collecting and analysing available data and appealing to authorities.