Head of Best Western thinks rate cuts are not a solution for hotel operators

Malin Malineanu, development coordinator of Best Western Romania, one of the largest hotel chains on the Romanian market, with 12 hotels affiliated so far, says one could witness a major rate reduction on the Romanian market, with declines of 20-30% being already recorded. “The easiest thing one can do is cut prices. Unfortunately this is not a solution, especially since it doesn’t bring a traffic increase. On the overall market, there are already massive rate cuts. In the upper third of the available hotel offer (upwards of three stars), there have been declines of as much as 20-30%. After a price decline, a recovery will be very hard to achieve,” said Malineanu. So far, hotel operators on the market have not released information regarding any rate cuts, but specified they were operating promotions for corporate clients, which usually account for the bulk of the revenues.