Networking: Polish guests talking to their international colleagues.
Warsaw. Poland is currently in an enviable position: Demand from tourists in Poland is rising, more and more hotel chains are looking for concrete locations, and more foreign investors are turning their attention to the country. The Polish themselves are open, thirsty for knowledge and are attempting to avoid the mistakes made by other countries with regard to hotel development. For this reason, there are lots of discussions, also with partners and neighbouring countries. The second "Spotlight Hotel Investment Poland" conference in mid-June in the Westin Warsaw revealed just what the Polish are worrying about.
Poland has various attractive destinations to offer and could attract more travellers if train and flight connections were better. Both are making gradual improvements, but for some tourism companies, progress is too slow. The Norwegian Rune Askevold, Managing Director of Puro Hotels, a Polish collection of four stylish boutique hotels in Warsaw, Cracow, Poznan and Gdansk, sees a promising market in his native country. For this reason, he demands more low cost flights to and from Scandinavia. This could also help Warsaw where weekend business isn't yet strong enough. Gonazalo Duarte Silva, General Manager Starwood Hotels and Resorts Poland, took this as an opportunity to appeal to city marketing. A greater level of awareness would also attract more MICE, he said. And this business would help all larger destinations.
The Polish hotel market must - as could be heard on various panels - secure demand generators and also ensure a healthy mix of guests. Occupancy in Polish hotels is rising, but earnings for hotel operators are falling. Gilles Clavie, President and CEO of Orbis, attributed this to the changing guest mix. International guests are also paying less meanwhile...
Gilles Clavie, CEO von Orbis: Also international guests reduce their expenses.
Pro budget, cautious on luxury
The core statement of most hotel developers continues to apply, also for Poland: Location and concept have to be right. Whether that's always so clear? Panellists, in particular those from Poland, currently still see room for niche models, inter alia for hotels next to shopping malls or as part of other mixed-use projects, also for medical tourism. They have seen such models in other countries - though hadn't questioned them too much, was the feeling when reading between the lines. "The biggest risk is the new openings," Lukasz Ploszynki, Board Member of the Polish hotel group Focushotels said succinctly.
In considering which hotel segments could be most beneficial for the Polish market, panellists were critical of 5-star luxury compared to budget. Sebastian Wolff, Director Technical Services at the consultancy Hotels Asset Management favoured budget hotels, as did Andrzej Michalik, Managing Director of PRC Architects. Due to their lower costs and rising popularity among tourists, they would mean a higher return, it was argued. Motel One, for instance, is waiting impatiently for construction to begin on its first hotel in Warsaw, near the Old Town, and is already looking for other premium locations.
Hilton's Director for Development in Eastern Europe, Magadalena Sekutowska, was also sceptical of the luxury sector. She explained that her group would continue to mull over luxury projects for time being, and wait to see how the Raffles Warsaw perform first. Business Development Director Marcin Wozniak from the mini-collection IBB Hotels sounded less cautious: In Budapest, there is after all also a Four Seasons and a Kempinski! IHG is satisfied for the time being with the InterContinental Warsaw, though is also thinking about Holiday Inn/Express and Indigo. Orbis/Accor thinks similarly and would like to see an upscale Pullman Hotel or a MGallery boutique hotel in Warsaw within three years at the earliest.
Rune Askevold, CEO of Polish Puro Hotels, requests better airline connections into strong markets.
Investors from Ukraine and Russia arrive
The discussions between the Polish and the non-Polish show how difficult decision-making can be. After all, there are good and bad examples for each segment and each concept. Nevertheless, Poland obviously remains a very attractive country for investors and operators. Construction costs in Poland are cheaper today than a year ago, Stephane Obadia commented, Development Director for the French investor and operator Algonquin. At the same time, demand from tourists is rising in most destinations. This once again attracts interest from investors from across the global, Dr Rudolf Grossmayer also confirmed, Asset Manager Hotel Investments at UBM Realitaetenentwicklung in Austria.
These prospective buyers also include investors which have up to now focused on London, Paris and Germany where yields have meanwhile come under pressure. At the same time, investors from Ukraine and Russia are also returning - which is also having an effect on Poland. Also positive, Obadia says, it that many investors are meanwhile also open to management contracts. "We are happy with our lease contracts in Poland," Martin Schaller announced, head of Division Asset Management Hotel at Union Investment Real Estate. By the end of 2015, the real estate investment house will have invested EUR 150 million in Poland - and it can imagine investing a further EUR 100 million.
Obadia added here: In his opinion too many developers are only looking at value appreciation in respect of the hotel real estate in Poland and are not looking at average daily rate - which also explains the latter's contraction.
Positive about Poland: Moderator Andreas Scriven of Christie+Co talking with Ascan KókaiInvesco, Rudolf Grossmayer of UBM and Wojciech Szybkowski of CMS Cameron McKenna.
Differences in brand assessment: Whilst Rudolf Grossmayer, UBM, believed that only international brands promise long-term stability, Askan Kókai from Invesco Real Estate believed that a global brand wasn't necessary for Poland but that a reliable European brand could do better.
Investment hunger
vs. bank caution
In general, project developers and investors are hungry, very hungry for more hotels in Poland. Hubert Manturzyk, Senior Manager at Aareal Bank Poland, allowed developers a time-window of another six to twelve months for projects which were new, easy and cheap to finance. "Capital costs will rise soon!" he warned.
In view of this hunger, the reaction of the Polish banks Pekao and Alio appeared even more crass: Both describe their behaviour as "more selective than a year ago" because meanwhile real estate finance has increased. And both are conservative and risk-averse - as was clear at the conference last year.
Both banks identified the biggest and most positive change over the last twelve month as the increase in requests from investors for finance in zloty and not in euros. The bankers also have positive statements on the stable revenues flows from budget hotels which also reveal good performance in smaller cities. / map
