Players on the market contradict the CBRE report, saying there is no question of even projects, let alone operational hotels on this segment within two years, adding that the report is not based on market reality. “I know of no project begun at the moment, and the process takes at least two years to finalization, so I cannot see how these hotels can appear by 2011, especially since these projects are only in the phase of discussion,” according to a declaration for Business Standard by Tinu Sebesanu, CEO of the Trend Hospitality consultancy company.
“New investments will be four and five-star hotels with less than 200 rooms,” said CBRE experts. They added that the 8 new hotel units expected to appear on the Bucharest market make up less than half of the projects announced in the last quarter of 2007.
The CBRE report further indicated that the depreciation of the leu to the European currency (of some 10 percent in 2008 alone) could encourage leisure type tourism to Bucharest, which has so far been a business destination.
