Etap into the market
Back in May the French operator Groupe Envergure opened a complex of budget hotels near Plac Zawiszy in Warsaw, including the one star Premiere Classe, which, the group admitted back then, was introduced to the market here only after some hesitation.
Similar caution had until recently been expressed by Group Envergure's competitor Accor/Orbis. Now, however, Orbis' newly-appointed President and Chief Executive Jean-Phillipe Savoye is openly stating his intentions of bringing Accor's one star Etap brand to Poland in the not too distant future.
"We now believe that the market is ready for this product, which wasn't so clear last year," says Savoye. "We'll probably go ahead and build brand new hotels of this type but we're also looking at the possibility of refurbishing existing hotels which are currently under the Orbis brand name."
These latter hotels are deemed past their sell-by date by Orbis because either the locations are inappropriate or "the buildings are too complicated to turn into modern three star hotels. It would be simpler to develop them into one star hotels," adds Savoye.
The plan is to open Etap hotels in towns with populations of between 100,000 and 200,000 and try and compete with the existing Bed and Breakfast and even camping offers there. "We won't be trying to compete with any two and three star hotels," says Savoye, "but will be trying to attract a completely different type of clientele."
Marek Dabrowski, hotel analyst and managing director of Hotel Atrium, believes, however, that Orbis/Accor might have its work cut out winning over precisely that kind of guest. "There is very extensive non-branded product here in Poland which caters for the budget-orientated client," he says. "There are a lot of private guest houses and pensions which are very price driven, so they [Accor/Orbis] need to be careful unless they have very good locations and network. If you're competing on price with the independent establishments it's very risky."
Similar caution had until recently been expressed by Group Envergure's competitor Accor/Orbis. Now, however, Orbis' newly-appointed President and Chief Executive Jean-Phillipe Savoye is openly stating his intentions of bringing Accor's one star Etap brand to Poland in the not too distant future.
"We now believe that the market is ready for this product, which wasn't so clear last year," says Savoye. "We'll probably go ahead and build brand new hotels of this type but we're also looking at the possibility of refurbishing existing hotels which are currently under the Orbis brand name."
These latter hotels are deemed past their sell-by date by Orbis because either the locations are inappropriate or "the buildings are too complicated to turn into modern three star hotels. It would be simpler to develop them into one star hotels," adds Savoye.
The plan is to open Etap hotels in towns with populations of between 100,000 and 200,000 and try and compete with the existing Bed and Breakfast and even camping offers there. "We won't be trying to compete with any two and three star hotels," says Savoye, "but will be trying to attract a completely different type of clientele."
Marek Dabrowski, hotel analyst and managing director of Hotel Atrium, believes, however, that Orbis/Accor might have its work cut out winning over precisely that kind of guest. "There is very extensive non-branded product here in Poland which caters for the budget-orientated client," he says. "There are a lot of private guest houses and pensions which are very price driven, so they [Accor/Orbis] need to be careful unless they have very good locations and network. If you're competing on price with the independent establishments it's very risky."
