Hotel News

Occupancy Goes Down

In the fourth quarter of 2008 prices and the occupancy rate of Moscow hotels have gone down by 14%, for the first time in the last 6 years. Many hotels had 52% occupancy, and reduction in RevPar (Revenue per Available Room) of 13%. However, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, for the first ten months of 2008 the hotels prices for the Moscow hotels was still growing by 25%, with the average rate being $390 per night, which is the highest in Europe.

Russian Market: Still Attractive

In 2008 there were 48 hotels in Russia operating under foreign brands, with a total of 12,9 thousand rooms. Two large hotel chains came to Russia last year - Hilton and Sokos. In 2008 all the foreign players represented on the Russian market announced their expansion to the key regional cities. Over the last two years foreign brand hotels were opened in Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg, Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Perm and Chelyabinsk.

However, the world's financial downturn has made its impact on the market. Experts say the general growth of the Russian hotel market may drop by 10-15% in the first half of 2009. Those hotel building projects that were still on paper or just at the initial stage, have been frozen, but most of those which are already under construction, will be completed. Among new hotels still planned to be opened in the Russian capital in 2009 are a 5* Intercontinental Moscow Tverskaya, a new Radisson and two more Marriotts. Finnish Sokotel is going to invest about 600-700 million euro in developing its Sokos chain in Russia. Rezidor will open a new Park Inn and confirms that the project will not be closed because of the present economic situation. The first Four Seasons is still planning to open on the previous location of the Hotel Moskva but in 2010 not 2009.