The five-star Howard Johnson Grand Plaza hotel in Bucharest posted turnover worth 13 million euros in 2006, a slight increase on the previous year.
The hotel recorded turnover worth 12.5 million euros in 2005, up 51% against 2004 and doubled profit to 1 million euros compared with the previous year. However, 2005 was the first time the hotel was open throughout the entire year.
"Turnover increased due to a rise in bookings, which accounted for 60% of the hotel's turnover. Furthermore, event planning activities have increased, as have sales recorded by our food&beverage segment, which have also contributed to the surge in turnover," said Dana Dumitru-Chiriac, PR manager of the hotel.
The Howard Johnson Hotel has 285 rooms and nine conference halls, with the latest one, the Iridium Grand Ballroom, opening last year.
"The hotel has two luxury restaurants, one that serves Teppanyaki Japanese cuisine as well as sushi from the sushi bar, while the other restaurant specialises in contemporary cuisine. In 2006 we also launched a pastry shop that is open both to the hotel's customers as well as to the public," Chiriac also said. Hotel representatives intend to boost turnover by 6% in 2007, aiming to consolidate the business locally.
"For 2007, we are banking on rising demand on each of our hotel's segments," stated Chiriac.
The hotel's occupancy rate amounted to some 70% in 2006 with the business segment accounting for 90% of the hotel's guests.
The five-star hotel market in Bucharest is facing dwindling demand from the tourist industry and this is the reason why Howard Johnson is placing so much emphasis on increasing the number of clients from the business segment over the forthcoming period.
Hotel officials believe that the significant amount of bookings generated by the business segment cause the hotel's occupancy rate to fluctuate depending on the time of the year or week, holiday season or weekend.
The Howard Johnson Grand Plaza was opened in 2004 on the former site of the Dorobanti hotel and entailed investment of some 30 million euros.
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