With the hotel market in the Central Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca closely following the patterns of the capital market, the city's hotels too are poised for growth once several office buildings under development become functional and boost demand among local and foreign business people.

Located close to Cluj-Napoca's Old Town, Hampton by Hilton is just across the street from a future office compound called The Office, which is being built by investment fund NEPI and businessman Ovidiu Sandor.

The developers hope their compound will become the core of a business area. The opening would benefit the whole hotel market in Cluj-Napoca, the Hampton by Hilton manager Andreea Balaj believes. “I think the developers have an economic reasoning behind it, and more business will come to Cluj,” said Balaj.

She added that the Hampton hotel would have the extra benefit of being very close by to the future office building. The first stage in NEPI's office compound is expected to be ready in mid-2014, while the whole project, which will also include a services and retail area, should be done in 2016.

Two other office projects are currently underway in the Transylvanian city: Liberty Technology Park, a compound developed by Fribourg Investments near the city's railway station, whose first building should be ready in late 2013- early 2014; and Cluj Business Center, on the former Feleac factory site, whose first building was ready earlier this fall.

Initially designed to become an office compound itself, the two adjoining building wings which now host the Hampton by Hilton hotel in Cluj were taken over by the current hotel owners, a company called Roquebrook, which turned it into a hotel, following investments estimated at some EUR 15 million.

Hotel chain Hilton runs this unit under a management contract, similarly to other hotels under Hilton brands in Romania. This was the first Hampton by Hilton hotel in Romania, and the chain's third brand on the local market, after Hilton in Bucharest and Sibiu, and DoubleTree in Bucharest and Oradea.

The 109-roomed, three-star hotel in Cluj is part of a chain which also includes Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, all in the mid-price segment. In Romania, a room for single occupancy can be priced between RON 260 and RON 305 a night (EUR 57 to EUR 67), depending on season, with an extra RON 49 (EUR 10) to be paid for the second person in the room.

So far, half of the guests in the newly opened Hampton by Hilton hotel in Cluj-Napoca are Romanians, and after five months of activity, the hotel has seen a mix of business and leisure clients, said Balaj.

Hungarians also feature smong the top 10 nationalities that make the mix of guests at the Hampton by Hilton in Cluj-Napoca, according to the hotel manager. They are among the biggest group of foreign visitors to Romania, according to statistics, ranking fifth among visitor nationalities in Romania, after Italians, Germans, French and British, according to statistics.

The Cluj hotel market is still more of a corporate one, similarly to Bucharest, and its peak seasons are spring and autumn. The Cluj-Napoca hotel, opened in the beginning of summer, is yet to benefit from these peak moments. The hotel manager hopes the sales next year will also be backed by the bigger contracts usually negotiated towards the end of the year for the coming one. The new hotel shares the market – and the potential benefits of increasing business developments in the city, with several other large hotels, such as Ramada, Opera Plaza, Paradis, Beyfin and City Plaza.

Occupancy rates on the hotel market in Romania have been going down in recent years, only to slightly come up in 2013. The average occupancy rate was of 32.2 percent in March, below the EU average, according to a study by EY Romania.

Corina Chirileasa, corina@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Hampton by Hilton)