The Continental hotel chain is to begin a 4.5 million-euro refurbishment and extension programme at its Continental Victoria Hotel on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest, announced company chairman Radu Enache. The hotel will be upgraded from four star to five star status. The investment was prompted by the start of construction of the Novotel Hotel, owned by French hotel chain Accor, which will be located across the street from Continental. “It’s all about the Novotel being across the street. We expected Accor to begin works so we decided to do our refurbishment at the same time, since we had been planning it anyway, and business would also have been rather slow for the hotel due to the construction site nearby,” Radu Enache explained. The refurbishment will entail a complete reorganisation of the hotel interior, allowing the number of rooms to increase from the current 52 to 70. Modifications to the exterior of the hotel will be limited since the building is listed as a historical monument. ZF