Poznań: trade fair center in need of a boost
However, unlike in Wrocław (featured in the last issue of Lokale), where the four star market dominates, most of these hotel rooms fall into the three star category, in which there is a total of 1,500 rooms. In fact, there are only 400 four star rooms in Poznań, while two star hotels make up the rest of the town's available hospitality.
Although corporate migration from Poznań to Warsaw has resulted in high vacancy rates in the local office market, average occupancy levels in the hotel sector range from 45 to 60 percent. At one time the figure could reach as high as 100 percent when the city's many fairs were being held, but these days finding a room is only ever a problem during the Budma construction and Polagra agricultural events. The city's long tradition of organizing fairs still attracts new hotel investors to the city, however, and there have been recent announcements that construction will begin on a small number of new hotels in the not-too-distant future. At the crossing of ul. Grunwaldzka and ul. Rosevelta in the center of the city, for example, a new four star hotel called Wechta, which will also consist of some office space, is due to be constructed on the site of the former Bałtyk cinema, opposite the Mercure Hotel. In addition, another three or four star hotel is planned opposite the Poznań Financial Centre. Just outside the city, near the A2 motorway, a new competitor in the form of a Campanile hotel is set to appear in August, but its location means that it is unlikely to attract corporate business away from the more centrally-located hotels.
Though competition could well intensify in the near future, hoteliers still expect to attract an increasing number of foreign guests over the next five years, as a result of the higher incidence of business process offshoring, which some predict will bring a new wave of foreign companies to cities such as Poznań, which is itself regarded as the country's third most attractive investment site.
In general in Poland, hoteliers predict that the market should grow at a stable rate of between five and seven percent a year, provided that GDP growth can be sustained at a level of five percent. New investors can be expected in the four star segment in Poznań, given that the number of rooms there is almost half as many as in cities such as Wrocław. There has also been a marked increase in the number of business tourists over the last two years, which should accelerate now that Poland is a member of the EU. Higher incomes in the years to come will also introduce more guests to the country's hotels as a whole, but this will only become visible in about eight to ten years from now. For the time being, hoteliers in Poznań, at least, are hoping that the city's proximity to a more open border with Germany will create an EU-driven economy, which will in turn attract more investors and therefore more guests.
Although corporate migration from Poznań to Warsaw has resulted in high vacancy rates in the local office market, average occupancy levels in the hotel sector range from 45 to 60 percent. At one time the figure could reach as high as 100 percent when the city's many fairs were being held, but these days finding a room is only ever a problem during the Budma construction and Polagra agricultural events. The city's long tradition of organizing fairs still attracts new hotel investors to the city, however, and there have been recent announcements that construction will begin on a small number of new hotels in the not-too-distant future. At the crossing of ul. Grunwaldzka and ul. Rosevelta in the center of the city, for example, a new four star hotel called Wechta, which will also consist of some office space, is due to be constructed on the site of the former Bałtyk cinema, opposite the Mercure Hotel. In addition, another three or four star hotel is planned opposite the Poznań Financial Centre. Just outside the city, near the A2 motorway, a new competitor in the form of a Campanile hotel is set to appear in August, but its location means that it is unlikely to attract corporate business away from the more centrally-located hotels.
Though competition could well intensify in the near future, hoteliers still expect to attract an increasing number of foreign guests over the next five years, as a result of the higher incidence of business process offshoring, which some predict will bring a new wave of foreign companies to cities such as Poznań, which is itself regarded as the country's third most attractive investment site.
In general in Poland, hoteliers predict that the market should grow at a stable rate of between five and seven percent a year, provided that GDP growth can be sustained at a level of five percent. New investors can be expected in the four star segment in Poznań, given that the number of rooms there is almost half as many as in cities such as Wrocław. There has also been a marked increase in the number of business tourists over the last two years, which should accelerate now that Poland is a member of the EU. Higher incomes in the years to come will also introduce more guests to the country's hotels as a whole, but this will only become visible in about eight to ten years from now. For the time being, hoteliers in Poznań, at least, are hoping that the city's proximity to a more open border with Germany will create an EU-driven economy, which will in turn attract more investors and therefore more guests.
