Accor to develop Novotel hotel
Accor Polska, the Polish unit of the French hotel developer and operator, in December plans to start construction of a Novotel hotel at the intersection of ulicas Andersa and Muranowska in north-central Warsaw.
The development of the hotel, located east of the Intraco office building, is part of Accor's expansion plan in Poland that calls for development of at least 50 hotels in 10 years, said Jean-Philippe Savoye, president of Accor Polska.
Accor's Novotel Hotel will be built on a 28,000 square-meter lot that Accor acquired from local automotive trader Polmot. The four-star hotel planned for completion in 18 months will have 15,000 square meters of space and 266 rooms.
Currrently there are about 3,000 rooms in a half-dozen, upscale Warsaw hotels. That figure is forecast to increase by at least 37% in the next two years, fueled mainly by hotel projects now in the pipeline. These include Accor's Novotel, a 250-room Hyatt Hotel, a 360-room Hilton Hotel, and a 250-room Qubus Hotel in addition to expansion of existing hotels and other greenfield projects on the drawing board, according to WBJ surveys.
Accor decided to develop the Andersa site because it's within walking distance of the Old Town and city center, as well as its proximity to the planned metro line and future neighbor Intraco office building, Savoye said. "We think it's an excellent location," he said.
Accor operates several hotel brands worldwide including Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis and Etap. In Poland, Accor will initially focus on three brands - Mercure, Novotel and Ibis. "We're starting with three brands," Savoy said.
However, Accor did not rule out developing its budget Etap hotel here. If it follows the budget traveler in Poland, Accor could develop 80 hotel operations nationwide over the next decade, the company said.
Currently, hotels under the Accor brand in Poland include the Novotel on ulica Zwirki i Wigury in Warsaw, which is owned by Orbis and operated under the Accor franchise.
Accor's entrance in Poland with its own equity occurred in February this year with the $35 million acquisition of Warsaw's Mercure Hotel on Aleja Jana Pawla II.
So far, the Mercure acquisition is proving successful. "It's a real bargain," Savoye said.
In a bid to pump up Mercure's lagging business and increase occupancy, Accor has invested about $1.1 million to upgrade the hotel's ground floor and plans to invest another $1.1 million to upgrade rooms and conference facilities, the company said. The occupancy rate is presently running 68-69%, up from 62% last year, and Accor is looking to hit 70% occupancy next year, Savoye said. "In the hotel business, the minimum is 65%, when you are close to 70%, it's very good," he said.
Occupancy is running close to 100% on weekdays, Savoye said, but falling to about 45% from Friday to Sunday. "It's always difficult to book a room from Monday to Thursday," he said.
Mercure's guest profile is 75% foreign, of which the French account for 27% of guests followed by the British with 15%, Savoye said. But Accor is planning to build its domestic client base, he said.
Accor is positioning the Mercure and the planned Novotel in the lower end of the upscale market with rates running $180 a night. These hotels will compete with the Holiday Inn and Sobieski, rather than the new top-class hotels coming to the market, Savoye said.
Next year Accor plans to open two, three-star Ibis hotels on Aleja Solidarnosci in Warsaw and on the prime pedestrian mall on ulica Piotrkowska in Lodz. Also next year, the developer will start construction of six Ibis hotels in Warsaw, Krakow, Szczecin, Czestochowa, Zabrze and Poznan. Development costs for Ibis generally run $10 million, Accor said. Construction on Novotels are also planned next year in Szczecin and Krakow, the company said.
Drip and grind
German coffee maker Tchibo is rolling out its retail plan and in December will open cafes carrying the company banner in Katowice and Gdansk, the company said.
Tchibo, which opened its first cafe earlier this year in the Klif shopping mall in Warsaw, plans a nationwide network of coffee shops, said Philip Price, managing director of Tchibo Warszawa, the head office for operations in Poland.
"I would be disappointed if in five years we don't have about 100 units," Price said.
Tchibo said that performance of its Klif outlet, visited by 600 customers daily, encouraged the coffee maker to pursue more branded outlets, which typically cost zl. 500,000 to develop, Price said. "People realize that these drinks are very tasty and you can't drink them at home," he said. "It's crucial to see how this concept works in other cities."
Tchibo is looking to place its cafes either in rented outlets in modern shopping centers or in downtown retail locations, Price said. The blueprint for Tchibo cafes calls for a 50-90 square-meter retail space featuring a bar and tables and a menu of coffee, drinks and cakes. The Katowice cafe is at the low end, a 50 square-meter site on ulica 3-ego Maja, a prime shopping street in downtown Katowice. Tchibo's Gdansk outlet is at the upper end, a 90 square-meter space in the mixed-use development across the street from the main Gdansk railway station developed by German firm AGIB and where the Holiday Inn is located.
Despite the increasing supply of retail space, rents are hovering in the $40-$60 per square-meter level in Warsaw and slightly lower in other cities, Price said. "I haven't seen any sign of rents coming down," he said.
Eyeing new locations for cafes in downtown locations, Tchibo is also looking for existing retails that would like to work with Tchibo on a franchise basis, Price said. He added that most wanted locations are on ulica Nowy Swiat in Warsaw and ulica Florianska in Krakow.
In brief: U.S.-based Pioneer Group closed its $60 million Polish Real Estate Fund last week, Pioneer said in a statement. The fund, to be managed by Warsaw-based Pioneer Real Estate Advisors, would invest in and develop medium-sized commercial real estate projects in Poland, Pioneer said.
Fund investors include Canadian Cadim, a real-estate financing firm, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Pioneer, The Foundation for Polish Science, Ton Agro, a firm managing state-owned agricultural land in Poland as well as Vienna Leas International, Pioneer said.
