Romanian hotel owners contract international franchises

Over the last few years, Cluj-Napoca has become an increasingly attractive destination for big international hotel chains; whilst until now, the majority of investments have been conducted by local entrepreneurs. This year, several important brands, such as Continental and Ramada, have announced their intention to develop projects on the Cluj market. One of the first international chains to come to Cluj was Golden Tulip Hospitality Group, which has offices in Holland and Switzerland. The Dutch group closed a 5-year franchise contract through Golden Tulip Inn Hotels with the Tulip Inn Sunny Hill hotel in Cluj-Napoca, whose owners are Eugen and Rodica Tusa, two local businesspeople. The city of Cluj-Napoca is also on the expansion map of the Continental chain, which owns 13 hotels on the local market and announced investments worth 50 million euros over the next three years to build seven two-star hotels. The new hotels will operate under the Ibis brand, which belongs to the French group Accor, and, apart from Cluj, Continental intends to invest in Timisoara, Targu-Mures, Sibiu, Bucharest, Brasov and Iasi.