The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) and Postbank (Bulgaria) will jointly provide €58.3 million (€32 million and €26.3 million, respectively) to help finance the construction of a Marriott hotel in Sofia, the first hotel of the international chain in Bulgaria. The 12-year loan will be extended to I Tower Development JSC, a special-purpose company set-up in Bulgaria. BSTDB acted as arranger of the deal. The operation aims at meeting the growing demand for high-quality business and tourist accommodation and conference facilities in the Bulgarian capital.

Corinthia Hotels is set to expand its five-star hotel portfolio with the opening of a new luxury property in Bucharest, Romania. Located in the heart of the capital, the former Grand Hotel du Boulevard will open its doors again in December 2019, to coincide with Romania’s National Day.

The Czech hospitality market has been achieving above-average performance rates thanks to a steadily growing number of tourists. This has had a positive effect on hospitality properties whose yields ranging between 6% and 7% are noticeably higher than the yields in other commercial sectors, specifically retail, office and industrial. They are also attractive with rents guaranteed for a long time. As a result, converting office space into hospitality facilities is becoming a frequent choice among both domestic and international investors. Czech operators can compete with foreign ones quite capably and tend to be the preferred choice for hotel owners. Just about 14% of the local market operators are international brands.

The hotel capacity in Bucharest is seen rising by at least 10% in the next three years, considering the hotel projects planned or under construction, with new hotels to be developed in most big cities in Romania too, as the local market saw the seventh consecutive year of growth in 2017, C&W Echinox reports.

Park Inn by Radisson announced the opening of a 168-room property in Katowice, Poland. This brings the group's Polish portfolio to 15 hotels and over 3,100 rooms in operation or under development.

In 2017 approx. 90% of the total investment volumes in the commercial real estate were recorded in retail and HTL on the Croatian market. Most of the investment and development activity came from the investors already present on the market. Newcomers were mostly focused on distressed/value-add or brownfield opportunities in the HTL sector. Retail and HTL will remain the most active sectors in terms of investment and development volumes in 2018, Colliers projects.

Apleona GVA coordinated the refurbishment works at Radisson Blu Wroclaw on behalf of owener Union Investment. The refurbishment works lasted two months. The 12,000 sqm hotel offers accommodation in 162 rooms.

Apleona GVA has secured a contract for technical support and advisory services during the pre-opening phase of the Holiday Inn Warsaw City Centre Hotel and the transition to the new owner. The 256-room property is ready to host its guests. It was officially acquired by Union Investment Real Estate GmbH on January 31st for its UniImmo: Deutschland fund.

The Rezidor Hotel Group announced the signing of the Radisson Blu Hotel Timisoara. This takes the group's portfolio in Romania to four hotels. Radisson Blu and Mulberry Development will create an international upper upscale hotel in Timisoara, the main social, economic and cultural hub in Western Romania - and the European Capital of Culture for 2021.

The 145-room ibis Styles Budapest Airport Hotel, the first airport hotel in Hungary with a direct terminal connection, constructed in a development project by Wing, opened for business at the beginning of January. The 6,600 sqm hotel is located approximately 200 m from Terminal 2, and is connected to it by a covered walkway.