The FINANCIAL — Istanbul, Turkey December 2011: Istanbul looks poised to enjoy a period of exponential growth in terms of revenue per available room and daily rate, accordingly to Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of Bench Events, co-organiser of the Central Asia and Turkey Hotel Investment Conference. From Strategic Solutions .
Reports reveal year-to-date performance up to September 2011 of ADR growth of 34 per cent and RevPAR of 29 per cent. Meanwhile, other reports suggest Istanbul is the third-fastest growing tourist destination in terms of visitor numbers, surpassing New York and Amsterdam with most visitors travelling from Saudi Arabia, Iran and UAE closely followed by the United States and Europe.
Worsley said that industry figures show Turkey as the hot spot of the region and sitting high on many ‘Top Destinations 2012’ guides.
Quoting figures by STR Global, Worsley said that the hotel infrastructure in Turkey has undergone development, with an addition of 1,868 hotel rooms since 2011.
“After a period of economic lull, Turkey is experiencing steady positive GDP growth. At the same time, the Turkish Lira’s flexibility against the Euro and US Dollar is very reassuring to the overall hospitality industry.” concluded Worsley.
The Central Asia & Turkey Hotel Investment Conference will run from February 6 -8, 2012 at Ceylan InterContinental , Istanbul and is organised by Bench Events. The conference features a cast of speakers with knowledge and expertise in regional and international hotel development, finance, hotel branding and operations, plus sessions giving perspectives from industry analysts.
Speakers include Cevdet Akcay, Chief Economist, Yapi Kredi Bank; Denis Hennequin, President & CEO, Accor SA; Eric Danziger, President & Chief Executive Officer, Wyndham Hotel Group; Angela Brav, Chief Executive Officer – Europe, IHG; Kurt Ritter, President & CEO, The Rezidor Hotel Group; Atilla Ozturk, CEO & Board Member, ASTAY; Serdar Bilgili, Chairman, Bilgili Holding; Simon Vincent, President – Europe, Hilton Worldwide; Roeland Vos, President EAME, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; and Lado Sakvarelidze, Chief Financial Officer, Redix.
The event also offers various networking opportunities, as well as an exhibition.
via The FINANCIAL – Turkey’s RevPAR one of the strongest in Europe.
Expedia, who entered the Turkish market 10 years ago and opened its office in Istanbul in 2010, got together with its Hotel Partners.
Marilena Zagana, Diego LofeudoExpedia Turkey celebrated its partner hotels’ efforts and successes during the Expedia 2011 Annual Partner Summit. The summit, that was organised at the Point Hotel Barbaros on July 4th, was held by Sr. Director of Market Management for Eastern Med, Africa, Middle East and Indian Ocean for Expedia, Diego Lofeudo and Turkey Market Management Director Marilena Zagana.
Mr. Lofeudo reported at the night, “2012 looks quite optimistic and Expedia will continue to grow it’s hotel portfolio in Turkey as well as develop new emerging markets with the aim to grow the demand and the number of tourist arrivals into Turkey. He also added; “Excellent year on year growth was reported from regional markets such as Bodrum, Marmaris, Ankara, Cappadocia and continuous growth in Istanbul.”
Turkey Market Management Director Marilena Zagana said, “Internet based travel is growing fast and there is a great opportunity for Turkish tourism. When we look at the Turkey reservations, the average Expedia Package customer books over 50 days in advance and stay over 4 nights. Therefore it is important that hoteliers think ahead and revise their rates and availability for the next 6 months and not just for the next 30 days.
While the interest in Turkey grows, Expedia is expanding its local network and team in Turkey. Expedia is serving in Turkish via turkiye.hotels.com since 2008 and continues to bring the world to the Turkish hotels. Hotel partners enjoy the consultancy the local team gives for reaching targeted markets throughout in the most effective way and diversifying their business without a huge increase in their marketing expenses -ftn
As an introduction to Istanbul, the Pera Palace is in a class of its own. Oliver Bennett enjoys the luxury of Agatha Christie’s favourite hotel, and the mystery of the town that surrounds it
Istanbul Agatha Christie The ghost of Agatha Christie hangs over Istanbul. Photos by Untipografico and Faded Giant
Istanbul Agatha Christie
The ghost of Agatha Christie hangs over Istanbul. Photos by Untipografico and Faded Giant
Opening the electric curtains in my room to reveal the sun rising over the Bosphorus, Istanbul’s great waterway, I pondered on this technological innovation. What a great murder weapon electric curtains would make. Prompted by the refurbishment of Pera Palace Hotel, Agatha Christie’s Turkish home from home, I had come to Istanbul to breathe in the essence of mystery, and to stir the inner detective.
It was here that the Queen of Crime wrote Murder on the Orient Express – in room 411 – and where she stayed frequently between 1926 and 1932 with her husband, archeologist Sir Max Mallowan. Now, after a £22 million refurbishment, the Pera Palace is a direct link into the golden age of travel: a great-aunt given a multimillion-pound wash and brush-up.
The 1892-vintage splendour of the Pera Palace, once host to Orient Express passengers as they glamorously schlepped in from Paris, is writ large and utterly tasteful. This is not an ‘international’ hotel where local flavour ends at the door. Outside sits a maroon Plymouth car, used for transfers. Inside are marbled walls, antiques and a venerable cash register that may once have taken Christie’s guineas.
I walked over the tiled floor and noticed a spaniel-eyed shoe-shine man, eyeing my brogues expectantly. The prime suspect? Nah. It’s always the one you least expect.
Christie is indelibly associated with the hotel, and the world’s most published writer lingers in salons and the city. The Pera Palace, designed by French-Turkish architect Alexander Vallaury in Art Nouveau-meets-Oriental style, hammers the continental crossroads theme home. I went up to room 411: large, elegant and without a distracting view of the Bosphorus. Could I transfer to here? “Sorry,” said Esin Sungur. “It’s always booked.”
Others to have stayed here include the Queen, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Hemingway. But the most prominent spirit here is Agatha’s.
I necked an Efes beer on the Orient Bar’s splendid terrace then went for supper in the Agatha Restaurant: quail kebab, artichoke soup. Murder by Meze? I certainly felt the generous helpings as I stumbled off into the back alleys for a raki nightcap. The streets heaved, the crowd moving like a millipede. Turkey may be an Islamic majority country, but bar cleaved to bar. I managed about half of my six-inch glass of Raki, watched the pageant, and went to bed.
In the morning, a spectacular sunrise lured me up, and I went down to breakfast. A delicious croissant, finished with honeycomb, reminded me that this most French patisserie had started life as an Ottoman ‘crescent’. Another plus was the lift: a glorious carpeted wooden cabin, at 120 years as old as Agatha herself. A great location for a crafty garroting? Well yes: at Agatha’s ‘birthday party’ last year, someone ‘died’ here. If you’re going to put on a Murder Mystery event, then it might as well be at the Pera Palace.
I left the hotel and walked to the Bosphorus, the glittering waist of Istanbul. This is a city that benefits, like Rio and Cape Town, from amazing topography, and the hills were top of my mind as I struggled back up the incline from the Bosphurus’ floating bridge.
Here, life is lived outside. Rough metalwork shops melded into tourist emporia. In the old town, I nosed around the Grand Bazaar, thinking of Mallowan and Christie: great collectors and rug buyers. The Bazaar is a tourist trap, but one that offers an irresistible jolt of the East. I strolled to Istanbul’s big three: the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace. The latter is home to a magnificent jewellery collection, including the Topkapi Dagger, as used in the thriller Topkapi. There is something about raffish Istanbul that inspires the imagination.
In the late afternoon I alighted a boat – white leather seats, pink windows – for a glamorous splash along the Bosphorus. As the Bond-like craft cruised, the banks became replete with international glamour: an Ottoman palace here, a waterside restaurant there, the occasional ancient castle. The city’s historical depth surely inspired Christie and back at the Pera Palace, I looked at the museum room (room 101, no less), which includes old newspapers from the day that Ataturk died, as well as Christie memorabilia.
And there remains a mystery most weird: the key story. In 1926, at the age of 36, Agatha Christie went missing in Britain for 11 days. A film directed by Michael Apted was made in 1979, trying to piece together this episode and, bizarrely, a Hollywood séance even took place in pre-production.
At this event, a ghostly ‘Agatha’ gave spooky directions to the skirting board in room 411, where the key to a missing diary was found. A replica of the key now sits under glass outside her room, testifying to the most enduring Christie mystery: those missing days.
To this day, nobody knows why she dunnit.
* high50 special offer: enjoy 10% off a trip on the Orient Express
LONDON—The European hotel industry posted positive results in year-over-year metrics when reported in U.S. dollars, euros and British pounds for May 2011, according to data compiled by STR Global.
Year-over-year, May 2011 figures for Europe (U.S. dollars, euros and British pounds):
Europe
% change
Occupancy
71.4%
+5.3%
ADR (U.S. dollars)
$150.73
+26.0%
ADR (euros)
€105.54
+8.3%
ADR (British pounds)
£91.51
+10.5%
RevPAR (U.S. dollars)
$107.69
+32.7%
RevPAR (euros)
€75.40
+14.0%
RevPAR (British pounds)
£65.38
+16.3%
Source: STR Global
“European hotels continue to bring in good results across the regions”, said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. “Occupancy and average room rate grew 5 percent and 8 percent respectively for May. Supply growth remains subdued across Europe at 1.1 percent for the first five months coupled with demand improving 5.3 percent, which helps hoteliers to build revenue per available room. The year-to-date RevPAR of €61 is greater than the year-to-date results of the past two years, but still €6 below the YTD RevPAR achieved in 2008. We expect that, given economic conditions do not change for the worse, the recent solid recovery in occupancy and average room rates continues over coming months.
“Düsseldorf is the star performer this month, with high increases in occupancy and average room rates”, Randall said. “Düsseldorf hosted the Eurovision Song Contest and Interpack trade fair which boosted the city’s results”.
Highlights from key market performers for May 2011 include (year-over-year comparisons, all currency in euros):
• Düsseldorf, Germany, achieved the largest occupancy increase, rising 34.1 percent to 72.6 percent, followed by Gothenburg, Sweden, with an 18.6-percent increase to 77.5 percent.
• Birmingham, United Kingdom, fell 12.1 percent in occupancy to 65.7 percent, reporting the largest decrease in that metric, followed by Istanbul, Turkey with a 6.8-percent decrease to 76.5 percent.
• Three markets posted ADR increases of more than 30 percent: Düsseldorf (+67.5 percent to EUR146.86); Istanbul, Turkey (+32.6 percent to EUR207.84); and Gothenburg (+31.4 percent to EUR125.02).
• Birmingham (-24.9 percent to EUR66.37) and Madrid, Spain (-11.8 percent to EUR92.77), reported the largest ADR decreases.
• Düsseldorf jumped 124.6 percent in RevPAR to EUR106.60, reporting the largest increase in that metric. Four other markets achieved RevPAR increases of more than 35 percent: Gothenburg (+55.8 percent to EUR96.85); Munich, Germany (+40.1 percent to EUR90.13); Cologne, Germany (+38.8 percent to EUR88.04); and Zurich, Switzerland (+36.9 percent to EUR163.84).
• Birmingham fell 34.0 percent in RevPAR to EUR43.62, reporting the largest decrease in that metric.
Performances of key countries in May (all monetary units in local currency):
Country
Occupancy
% change
ADR
% change
RevPAR
% change
Germany
72.6%
+10.3%
EUR98.80
+11.7%
EUR71.74
+23.2%
Italy
68.8%
+6.3%
EUR130.12
+5.7%
EUR89.52
+12.3%
Russia
59.9%
+5.5%
RUB5370.62
+10.8%
RUB3216.64
+17.0%
Spain
66.7%
+3.9%
EUR81.68
+0.9%
EUR54.50
+4.8%
United Kingdom
76.2%
+0.8%
GBP81.21
+7.6%
GBP61.84
+8.5%
*percentages are increases/decreases for May 2011 vs. May 2010
View Global hotel review for May 2011.
About STR Global:
STR Global provides clients—including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry—access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America. STR Global provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR Global is part of the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR, RRC Associates, STR Analytics, and HotelNewsNow.com. For more information, please visit www.strglobal.com.
Media contacts: Konstanze Auernheimer
Director of Marketing & Analysis
STR Global
KAuernheimer@strglobal.com
+44 (0)207 922 1961
Jeff Higley
VP, Digital Media & Communications
jeff@str.com
+1 (615) 824-8664 ext. 3318
Two hotels from Turkey entered into the Expedia Insiders’s Select List. Hotels are listed based on quality and value, where the ranking is determined primarily by Expedia customer reviews.
expedia-logoEvery year more than 500,000 reviews are submitted, verified and analysed to compile the Insider’s Select list. Witt İstanbul Suites and Hillside Su in Antalya are the two hotels from Turkey at the 2011 list.
The Insiders’ Select program debuted in 2007. This year, Expedia made the requirements more rigorous; the company required more reviews per property and higher scores per review to make the list. The 2011 winners are the top 500 hotels globally, out of the more than 135,000 properties offered on Expedia sites internationally. Hotels that made the 2011 list received an average review score of 4.7 and a 98.2% recommendation rate.
Three components are considered when ranking a hotel:
• Customer Reviews: Reviews are the most powerful testament to the quality of a hotel. Travelers submit reviews after completing a stay at a given hotel. Expedia verifies that each review is legitimate. The company has a comprehensive method of ferreting out fake reviews. More than 500,000 hotel reviews were analyzed over the past year.
• Market Manager Input: Expedia employs hundreds of market managers in cities across the globe. These market managers work closely with Expedia’s hotel partners to maximize the value the hotels get from Expedia’s global online travel marketplace [and to maximize the value that hotels offer to Expedia’s consumer base].
• Value Rating: Expedia compares each property’s average daily rates to those of similar properties, to assess the hotel’s relative value. This makes it easy for busy travelers to identify hotels that deliver an excellent experience at a comparatively good value. Hotels that routinely exceed customer expectations – in their customer service, amenities, competitive pricing and more – see that emphasis reflected in their rankings.
Expedia Turkey Market Management Director Marilena Zagana added, “Insider Select scores are primarily determined by our customers. Every year, hundreds of thousands of travelers take the time to share their experiences with Expedia and with one another. The 2011 Insiders’ Select List reflects that collective wisdom. We hope to see more and more hotels from Turkey at the list every year.
To see the complete list of winning hotels and for more information on Insiders’ Select, visit www.expedia.com/insidersselect.
via Two hotels from Turkey are at the Expedia prestigious list.
