Donbass Palace, a lavish new hotel under construction in downtown Donetsk by businessman Rinat Akhmetov is scheduled to open its doors within months.
Donbass Palace, a lavish new hotel under construction in downtown Donetsk by businessman Rinat Akhmetov, called Ukraine’s richest man by Poland’s Wrpost publication, is scheduled to open its doors within months, offering affluent Ukrainians and foreigners a taste of luxury.
Originally built in 1938 and partly destroyed during World War Two, the hotel was largely ignored during Soviet times. Some of the building had been leased out as office space since independence.
Sixty-two years after the hotel was erected, the old hotel was demolished, and construction of the new building began in 2001. The exterior facade has already been completed, and workers are today adding finishing touches to the interior. The 14,640-square-meter six-floor hotel is expected to open for business before the end of the year.
Italy’s Synthesis Engineering designed the hotel. Ayala International, a Kuwaiti company, and Embrol Engineering were hired to construct it. According to its Web site, the Donetsk-based Embrol’s main client is the Shakhtar Donetsk soccer team, which is owned by Akhmetov.
Bernard Micallef – the project’s management consultant, who has consulted on hotels in Tunisia, Switzerland, Turkey, Kuwait, Malta, Egypt and Spain – said the Donbass Palace is designed to impress the most sophisticated traveler and provide maximum comfort.
“Donbass Palace is the first of its kind, not only in Donetsk, but in Ukraine,” he said.
Micallef said the hotel will join Kyiv’s Premier Palace as Ukraine’s second 5-star tier hotel.
Ironically, Donbass Hotel stands on the industrial city’s central square, directly across from a Soviet Lenin statue, a reminder of the nation’s communist past.
From the point of view of the square, the new hotel will resemble its predecessor. But on the inside, it will differ significantly, offering luxuries rare in Ukraine.
Bedrooms located on standard floors will have a neoclassical design. All bedrooms will be equipped with a mini bar, remote television, and direct dial telephone with bathroom extension. Bathrooms will include heated floors, hairdryers, magnifying mirrors, telephones and speaker systems connected to the television, he said.
All rooms will also have direct Internet connections, Micallef said.
The hotel will have 129 rooms.
Micallef said the hotel’s 400 employees, including management, cooks and supporting team, have been “hand picked” and trained extensively.
Rates will start at $260 per night for standard rooms, peaking at about $2,500 per night for a suite, located in the hotel’s tower.
The Donbass Palace will include a casino, a bar lounge, two ballrooms, an indoor swimming pool, indoor parking, and two conference rooms.
“Hotels no longer sell simply a bedroom or a dish in a restaurant. They sell an experience,” Micallef said. “That is why carpets, fabrics and furnishings will be custom made for us, to create a unique experience for guests.”
He added that the hotel’s furnishings will adhere to fire codes.
Today, Akhmetov’s diversified holding company System Capital Management owns 93 percent of the hotel; his Donetsk-based Shakhtar soccer club owns 3 percent.
The reconstruction of the hotel cost Akhmetov’s company and soccer club about $25 million, Micallef said.
Akhmetov and his soccer team set their eyes on making the old building a hotel for wealthy Ukrainians and foreigners, and as a venue for competing soccer clubs who visit the city.
The industrial region could prove attractive to business travelers, too, due to the steel mills, coal mines, and chemical and machine plants located there.
“The change I have seen in Donetsk over the last year and the potential that exists clearly indicates that the city will become a major player in the development of Ukraine,” Micallef said.
The city currently has a few small quality hotels, but they can’t meet demand. Nor can they accommodate large tour groups, business conferences, celebrations and wealthy travelers.
“There is currently little or no hotel accommodation that can cater to the local and international corporate market. There is also a lack of fully serviced meeting facilities,” he said. “I am convinced we will be the automatic first choice,” he added.
Micallef will remain with the hotel after construction is completed.
“My role [right now] is to develop an operational concept – create a structure, develop hotel standards and recruit the management team,” he said. “Once the hotel is open, I will take over as general manager.”
Donbass Palace will join a handful of premium quality hotels that exist in other Ukrainian cities, including Premier Palace, Yalta’s Oreanda, Lviv’s Grand Hotel and Dnipropetrovsk’s Grand Hotel Ukraine.
Iryna Svitlytska, director of Premier Hotels, a Ukrainian network of hotels that includes Premier Palace, Oreanda and Lviv’s Dniester Hotel, welcomed the arrival of Donbass Palace.
“Premier Palace, Oreanda and Donbass Palace will be the three fanciest hotels in Ukraine,” she said, adding that Premier Palace and Oreanda have common shareholders.
Svitlytska said Premier Palace has received certification from Ukrainian market regulators qualifying it for 5-star status, and that Oreanda would receive the status soon. Dniester Hotel, a slightly lower grade hotel, joined the Premier Hotels network to benefit from the group’s marketing efforts, she added.
Micallef said that Donbass Palace is seeking to establish an “affiliation with an international hotel organization or chain.”
Svitlytska said the arrival of luxury hotels in Ukraine is urgently needed.
“The development of the [hotel] market is fairly problematic, as many hotels are not up to Western standards and don’t fulfill their promises,” she said.
Grand Hotel, refurbished in the early nineties, was the first luxury hotel in the country, but since its opening, few comparable hotels have opened.
“There is demand, especially in Kyiv. At Premier Palace, we can’t fill demand on most days, especially when there are conferences or exhibits that attract visitors from abroad.”
Svitlytska said that standard single rooms at Premier Palace begin at about $300, adding, “It’s common that all of our rooms are filled.”
