Bucharest's five-star hotels have seen their revenues from event organisation slip by 15% since the beginning the year, as client companies' budgets were lower and demand for conferences or workshops has dwindled.
Major hotel owners' turnovers have been hurt not only on the accommodation segment, where they operated with an occupancy rate of around 50%, but also on the segment of event organisation, which last year brought luxury hotels almost 50m euros, according to ZF estimates.
Turnover derived by Bucharest's five largest five-star hotels (Marriott, Radisson Sas, Hilton, Crowne Plaza and Howard Johnson) last year topped 100m euros, and, according to the latest report, half of hotel owners' turnover is derived from events.
"Food & beverage revenues dropped by 12-15% from last year," stated Dina Litzica, public relations and marketing manager with JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel, which gets half of its revenues from event organisation and half from customer accommodation.
The biggest hotel on the market in terms of turnover, operating 402 rooms, logged losses of 17.1m euros amid 38m-euro turnover, according to Finance Ministry data. The five-star hotel has 12 halls for events, cumulating 1,700 seats for conference-type events.
Intercontinental five-star hotel also saw its revenues fall on the restaurant and event organisation segment. "(...) we had 10% lower food & beverage revenues. As a percentage of total revenues, the segment accounts for 35%," stated Dana Chiriac, marketing and PR manager of Intercontinental.
Adrian Adam, sales and marketing manager of Radisson Sas Hotel, which operates 424 rooms, says the event and food & beverage segment generate almost 45% of the five-star hotel's revenues and cannot specify how many seats have been occupied in conference halls since the start of the year.
"For us, it's difficult to
