„Ultimul” hotel din Albena - info albena

-From what i know, one of Albena’s
secrets is the single management. It is
the only resort from this part of
Europe that uses this concept.
-I think there is similar system in a resort in
Italy. Perhaps this is the reason for which
Albena is a single entity. The state has
offered people stocks not real properties
after 1989. Albena was privatized as a
single company. The proces ended in
1997. At first there were around 1000
owners. The Albena Company managed
to buy 35% from the state and thus
completely privatizing the resort.
Nowadays, Albena Holding holds 58% of
the deeds.
-Who has the rest?
-The rest belong to Albena Invest Holding
and to some private investors, and 7%
belong to the Balchik Municipality, due to
the fact that part of the land was owned by
this city.
’WE PLAN TO INCREASE THE NUMBER
OF 5 STAR HOTELS.’
-The Romanian and Bulgaria seaside
had a similar evolution in the 70s and
80s. Unfortunately, Romania has lost
most of the foreign tourists in the
90s. How did the German tour
operators influence the development
of the Bulgarian seaside? Practically
what is the ’secret’ behind the
colaboration with the Germans?
-In 1993 for example, the renovation of the
Kaliakra and Gergana hotels has begun,
with the help of the TUI and Neckermann
touroperatos. We did not really receive a
financial helping, it was actually a loan that
we payed back. This was the only way to
renovate the hotels.
-I heard that the Albena Company has
investments in mountainside areas.
-Yes, we already own a hotel in
Switzerland and the holding has 2 hotels in
the Borovets ski resort in Bulgaria. These are
separate projects, but we do not intend to
invest further in ski areas. Now we are in
the stage when we are diversifying the
product and the business. We have
invested in agriculture and we cultivate the
vegetables and fruits necesary in Albena.
-Fortunately, the crisis doesn’t seem
to have affected Albena that much,
even tough you had certain
decreases. Which are the main
strategies of the company for the
following year?
-We looked at the figures and the results
show that by the end of the year we will
have 12 to 15% less people than 2008.
However we managed to reduce a part of
the costs without affecting the quality of the
services and I can say that we will end the
year with a profit.
-Are you planning any investments
in the near future?
-I think that in the next 2 years we will not
be making investments. However we plan
to increase the number of 5 star hotels and
to create a conference center, probably
near the Dobroudja Hotel which will be
renovated and dedicated to the event
segment. The next 5 star hotel will be
placed near the Arabella complex. So, we
will be renovating hotels and we will
demolish some of the older ones in order to
build modern ones.
-What is the revenue of the Albena
Company?
-In 2008 it was 75 million euro for the main
services. The profit was about 10 million
euro. Of course, this year the figures will
decrease.
-You already made the conclusions
for the season that is about to end.
Which will be the markets that
Albena will try to address next
year?
-Of course the Romanian market will have
our attention, being one of the most
important along with Germany and Russia.
2010 will also be a difficult year and we
are already thinking about the way to
promote our advantages. In February or
March we will organise a road-show in
Romania which will pass through important
cities such as Bucharest, Pitesti, Targoviste,
Ploiesti, Constanta, Braila, Iasi, Suceva,
Bacau, Brasov, Cluj, Targu Mures and
Sibiu. We will present Albena’s strong
points to journalists and tourist agencies.
We will discus ways to improve the
relations with tour operators, which have
automatic access to the website, and how to
connect their own reservation systems with
the one in Albena. This will surely determine
an increase in sales. We thought of ways of
attracting more tourists and we decided to
decrease the prices for next year. We have
included other advantages for those that
book early, offering a 20% discount for
those who make reservations until the end
of April. We think all these will determine
an increase in the number of tourists. For
now we will finish making the conclusions
for this year, as the season will end in the
middle of October. Unfortunately, for
Romanians and Bulgarians the season ends
on the 20th of September as they prefer the
warmer periods, unlike the German and
Scandinavian tourists.
-Do you intend on launching a new
message or a new promotional
campaign?
-We still do not have a new slogan. This
year we had ’Ultra Summer’, in which we
suggested that more hotels offer ultra allinclusive
services, a premiere on the Black
Sea, at very good prices and quality
services.
Consigned by Traian Badulescu
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