The new hotel will be located in the village of Shchaslyve, seven kilometers from the city limits.
One of the world’s leading hotel operators has announced plans to manage a second hotel in the Kyiv area that will cash in on the city’s continuing shortage of rooms and resulting high prices, which aren’t expected to come down any time soon.
The Brussel’s based Rezidor Hotel Group, which operates 270 hotels in 47 countries under brand names like Missoni, Radisson SAS, Country Inn, Park Inn and Regent, announced last month that it would open a second Radisson SAS near Boryspil International Airport by 2009.
The new hotel will be located in the village of Shchaslyve, seven kilometers from the city limits and 8 kilometers from the airport. When completed, it will boast 300 rooms adjacent to an office complex, the operator said.
The only current option near the international airport is the three-star Boryspil Hotel, which costs from $50 to $150 a night and has an average occupancy rate of 80 to 90 percent. An additional 50 percent charge is added to your bill if you book in advance, hotel officials told the Post.
Top dollar
Pavlo Oltarzhevskiy, a spokesperson for Kyiv’s first Radisson SAS hotel, located in the city center, said the capital’s hotel market “can easily welcome another dozen 4-5 star hotels to meet growing demand.”
But that doesn’t mean that occupants will get any relief from the city’s high room costs.
According to Oltarzhevskiy, the price of a room at a Radisson operated hotel depends largely on its location.
“The main determinant of the rates is supply and demand on the local market,” he said.
“It depends on people’s interest in the destination in question, whether it is growing or diminishing, on the presence or opening of other well-known international hotel brands,” he added.
Currently, guests of Kyiv’s existing Radisson SAS pay 291 euros ($376) per night for a standard guest room. In Budapest the price would be 95 euros ($73), in Moscow – 377 euros ($489), and in New York – $189.
“Most probably there will be no changes in the prices at our hotel this year, since the situation will remain the same,” according to Oltarzhevskiy.
Mykola Yevdokymenko, the general director of Ukrainian hotel Association, said there are several reasons why prices for rooms in Kyiv remain relatively high.
“Until recently, hotel operators had to pay a 20-percent income tax into the city budget, which was covered by the rates,” he said.
After it was cancelled in 2003, high demand allowed owners to keep the rates at the same high level.
“Hotel owners are in no hurry to set lower rates, because they want to cover their investments,” he added.
According to the Yevdokymenko, the hotel market lacks competition, because “normally there should be at least 16 hotel rooms per 1,000 inhabitants, but the ratio is around 6 per 1,000 in Ukraine and nine in Kyiv.”
Yevdokymenko expects rates to come down only after a lot more hotels are opened.
“For instance, for healthy competition among five-star hotels, there should be at least five of them in Kyiv only,” he explained.
The Association of hotels unites 179 hotels throughout Ukraine, including brands like Radisson SAS and Premier Palace.
Hyatt Regency, another internationally recognized brand, is scheduled to start operating a five-star hotel in Kyiv this spring. The price for a Business Class room in Hyatt’s New York hotel is $359 per night, in Moscow – 770 euro ($996), and in Warsaw – 129 euros ($167). The operator’s Kyiv office declined to disclose pricing for rooms.
