The five-star hotels Athenee Palace Hilton and Crowne Plaza (both in Bucharest) account for around 80% of revenues generated by the two hotel groups Ana Hotels and Athenee Phenix Group, which are controlled by George Copos.

The two hotels in Bucharest derived cumulated turnover worth 80.7 million RON (24m euros) within the first nine months of the year, while the overall group's revenues amounted to 103.4 million RON (around 30m euros) during the same period.

"Bucharest's hotels have an average occupancy rate of above 73% and an average rate per room of 125 euros. It's only normal that revenues generated by these hotels should be higher than the ones posted by hotels owned in Poiana Brasov and Eforie Nord, which are three and four-star hotels and therefore have lower rates," said Simona Constantinescu, a member of Ana Hotels board.

Ana Hotels group includes Crowne Plaza hotel, and Sportul, Bradul and Poiana hotel in Poiana Brasov, as well as Astoria, Europa and Ana Aslan Health & Spa seaside health centre. The other hotel Copos owns in Bucharest, Hilton, belongs to Athenee Phenix Group, in which Ana Hotels owns the majority stake.

Both hotel groups (which boast 940 rooms in total) derived operating income worth 21.4m RON (6.3m euros) in the first three quarters of this year and turnover worth around 31m euros. Operating income was slightly lower in the case of Ana Hotels, but increased by 4% in the case of Athenee Phenix Group.

"Turnover growth was driven by the rising occupancy rate for the group's hotels and by increased activities on the food segment, which were primarily generated by a higher number of events," said Constantinescu.

According to company representatives, Crowne Plaza's turnover is expected to hit 39m RON (almost 11.5m euros) this year, while turnover stood at 28.2m RON (8.2m euros), after nine months. According t