Howard Johnson: Even short-term projections are difficult to make

Five-star hotel Howard Johnson in Bucharest, managed by Sonia Năstase, 37, ended the first half of the year with an around 4 million-euro turnover, similar to that recorded in the first half of last year.
“The level of revenues was ensured via a pricing policy adapted to each client segment, doubled by better use of market opportunities on all revenue segments, not just those that traditionally generate high revenues (revenues from business traffic are the most significant ones for Bucharest hotels),” said Sonia Năstase, general manager of the five-star hotel, controlled by Gabriel Popoviciu.
In the first six months of this year, the five-star, 285-room hotel had an average 51% occupancy rate, up 6% on the similar period of last year.
“Given the recent fiscal and economic moves that are not, in real terms, supportive of a sustained investment pace, it’s hard to estimate the trend of figures on the hotel services market, even over shorter periods such as the second half of 2010”, said Sonia Năstase.