The first Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Romania is to be opened by end-2017 in Bucharest. The 201-room hotel will be located within an historic listed building in the city centre. Hilton Garden Inn Bucharest Old Town will be administered by hotel management company Apex Alliance Hotel Management.

The hotel market in Romania could become more diverse throughout the next year as a result of new brands entering the market by means of leasing or partnership contracts with real estate developers as an alternative to the management or franchise contracts. Such a business model will lead to the relaunch of the hotel market and will offer, at the same time, the possibility for real estate developers to diversify their portfolio, according to Colliers International. 

Israeli-held Elbit Imaging announced that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent with an international investment fund to sell its entire shareholding in a company owning the Radisson Complex in Bucharest, based on a property value of approximately €177.5 million.

Polish hotel group Orbis, the CEE partner of French group AccorHotels, has signed a management contract with local company Constructii Erbasu S.A. for an ibis Styles hotel in the northern part Bucharest.

The volume of hotel transactions achieved in the first half of 2017 was more than €700 million with 34 transactions recorded in core CEE markets. In comparison, 2016 achieved just over €630 million with 20 transactions in the same period, which means an 11% yearly increase. To compare, the western markets experienced just 0.3%. Cushman & Wakefield predicts the year 2017 to outperform the strong results of 2016.

Real estate investment flows into the Central & Eastern European region rose 17% year-on-year in the first half of 2017 to €5.4 billion, putting 2016’s cycle high of €12.2 billion well in 2017’s range, according to Colliers International’s latest report.

CPI Property Group has introduced a project for the expansion of the Clarion Congress Hotel in České Budějovice, with extensions to hotel rooms and a brand a new multi-purpose hall. Investor confidence in the locality is strong, this year in České Budějovice, nearby the hotel, the Group will be completing the extensive reconstruction and brand new addition of the IGY shopping centre. The Group also owns and operates the Géčko shopping centre in České Budějovice.

In February, Warimpex announced the sale of a portfolio of eight hotels to the Thai investor U City. On 31 May, the transaction was successfully closed. Warimpex has taken advantage of this positive momentum on the CEE hotel investment market with this portfolio deal and is set to strengthen its capital structure and to position itself for new development projects.

Eight months after earthworks began and the foundation stone was laid, all the floors of the first airport hotel in Hungary with direct terminal access have been constructed, and the highest point of the structure has been reached. During the traditional topping-out ceremony, the managers of developer Wing Zrt. and Budapest Airport announced that the hotel is due to receive the first guests at the end of this year, as planned.

NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange-listed Elbit Imaging has put two of its Bucharest hotels on the market. The company is hoping to finalise the sale of the five-star Radisson Blu and the four-star Park Inn by the end of the year.