Sonia Nastase, Howard Johnson: Things cannot be any worse than last year

Sonia Nastase, the only woman who runs a five-star hotel in Romania, says after four months at the helm of Howard Johnson that “things cannot go worse than they did last year”, when the company’s business fell by 40%, to 8 million euros. Nastase, 37, has run the five-star Bucharest hotel held by businessman Gabriel Popoviciu since last October, and believes signs of recovery on the hotel market will show in the second half of this year, which will see slight turnover rises. “Nobody is expecting miracles this year, considering that no big economic changes have occurred. The hotel ended last year with a 40% decline to 8 million euros, after we pursued a cost-cutting policy,” said Sonia Nastase. She replaced British-born Peter Craig Martin last year.

Sonia Nastase is the first Romanian at the helm of a five-star Bucharest hotel, with all general managers of five-star hotels Intercontinental, Hilton, JW Marriott, Radisson and Crowne Plaza being expats.