Sofitel Hotel, part of World Trade Center Bucharest (WTCB), in the first five months of the year witnessed 15% turnover growth in euros against the corresponding period of last year, said Bruno Vinette, general manager of the hotel.
"In May, we had an occupancy rate of about 85%, the highest on the segment of Bucharest''s four and five-star hotels that are part of an international chain", he stated. According to Vinette, Bucharest hotels usually exchange information, to be aware at all moments of their position on the market.
"The hotel market is doing great, and our target as to annual turnover stands at 7.5 million euros, but everything depends on the summer period, which is more sensitive because foreign businessmen cut their trips to Romania, resuming them at the end of August. Last year, the hotel''s turnover amounted to about 7 million euros," the Sofitel official added.
About two thirds of the hotel''s guests are foreigners, most of them French, Italians, Germans and Japanese. Around one quarter of revenues comes from events and the Food & Beverage segment, whose importance is growing.
Vinette took over Sofitel early this year, succeeding Luc Gesvret. He comes from Moscow where he ran the operations of a Novotel hotel, for three years. A four-star hotel, the Sofitel in Bucharest has 202 rooms and 250 employees. French hotel chain Accor, the world''s biggest hotel chain in the world, operates Sofitel under a management contract.
Beside the Sofitel brand, Accor runs another three Ibis hotels, two in Bucharest and one in Constanta, with a Novotel hotel to be opened near Palatul Telefoanelor of Bucharest, in the wake of investments worth 33m euros by the French company.
This is in fact the first investment by a foreign hotel chain aimed at the Romanian market. "This year, Accor will focus
