Over 40 hotels built in Moscow in six years
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The number of tourists visiting Moscow is growing with every year. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin spoke about this during a visit to the new Kievsky trade and hotel complex on 2 Kievskaya Street.
“The number of tourists visiting Moscow is growing with every year. Last year, this number reached almost 17.5 million. The number of tourist is expected to continue increasing in 2017–2018. The tourist infrastructure, including new hotels, will develop accordingly. Over 40 new hotels have been built in the past few years and another 40 are under construction,” he said.
The Kievsky trade and hotel complex was built from 2008 to 2015 next to one of Moscow’s largest transit hubs, which comprises the Kievsky Railway Station, the Kievskaya metro station of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya, Filyovskaya and Circle lines, public transport stops and a mooring for river pleasure boats.
“A few months ago, the biggest hotel complex in Russia and Europe built in the last few years was opened. I hope it is doing well and its room occupancy rate is fairly good, even considering that it has been open for just a few months,” the Mayor said. He also thanked investors for their contribution to the development of the hotel infrastructure. “This is very important for Moscow and its guests,” he said.
In turn, Director-General of the investor – Patero Development – Valery Afinogenov thanked the city authorities for the opportunity to build such a hotel. “At first, the project provided for office construction, but we understood the city’s requirements and changed its format. This is why it required more time. We were able to realise this project thanks to the city’s support,” he said.
The convenient location of the Kievsky complex allows its guests to get to the Vnukovo or Sheremetyevo airports in an hour. A trip by metro to the historical centre or the Moscow City Business Centre will take about 10 to 15 minutes.
The Kievsky complex was built on the former site of the Kievskaya Hotel (built in 1929), which was demolished in 2005, in conditions of dense urban development. The complex has a modern design. Its ventilated facade is clad with glass and decorative ceramic tiles. The building is equipped with the latest energy- and resource-saving, security, access control and fire safety systems. The 77,800 sq m total area of the 12-storey complex includes:
— retail space on 27,900 sq m on the first–fourth floors;
— A hotel with 701 rooms on an area of 37,900 sq m on the fifth–12th floors;
— a two-storey underground parking garage for 571 cars, including 100 parking spaces for hotel guests. The parking garage has an automatic two-tier equipment that is unique in Moscow.
Three hotels in a single complex
Three hotels of the Kievsky hotel complex opened for occupancy this past autumn. Occupancy exceeded 60 percent in December 2016, said Alexis Delaroff, Chief Operating Officer of Hotel Services Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and the CIS, ACCOR Hotels General Director for Russian Management Hotel Company LLC.
The facility ranks among the most ambitious hotel projects in Moscow since the 1980 Summer Olympic Games.
It includes three hotels of popular international brands: Ibis, Novotel and Adagio, with 350, 202 and 149 rooms each. Hotel lobbies are located on the facility’s fifth floor and feature unique architectural styles which are characteristic for each brand. For guests’ convenience, there are two restaurants, two bars, a multipurpose conference area, a spa zone, a sauna, a Turkish bath, a gym, swimming pools for adults and children, a massage parlour and WiFi.
The hotels utilise environmentally-friendly floor-and-wall surfaces, and their employees use special cleaners. Their rooms feature energy-saving LED lamps and adjustable water faucets. Noise levels are maintained under 43 decibels. Energy consumption levels are monitored and assessed each month. Leading global hotel operator ACCOR Hotels runs the facility. Over 200 high-tech jobs have been created at the facility’s three hotels.
The three-star Ibis hotel caters to budget-conscious tourists, including fans coming to attend 2018 FIFA World Cup matches in Moscow. Just like in any other Ibis hotel, its standard rooms have an area of 16 square metres. These high-tech rooms feature climate control systems, LCD television sets, safes, telephones and WiFi access. Their beds come with memory foam mattresses.
Eight larger rooms with an area of 22.8 square metres are reserved for guests with disabilities. They feature large door openings, low thresholds, custom-made furniture and toilets, fire alarms for people with hearing impairments, alarm buttons in the bathrooms and special light indicators on the telephones. Those accompanying them can stay in adjoining rooms . Ibis guests can dine at the Ibis Kitchen restaurant and the bar.
The mid-priced Novotel suites have an area of 24.5, 38 and 49 square metres. French design bureau Atome Associes has contributed the interiors. Six Novotel suites accommodate people with disabilities. The hotel has a restaurant, a bar, a children’s play area and a wellness centre with a spa-zone, a gym, a sauna, a Turkish bath, a massage parlour and swimming pools. In addition, there are ten multipurpose meeting rooms with a total area of 780 square metres seating about 630 people. There are also special coffee-break areas.
The mid-priced Adagio apart-hotel for longtime occupancy has 107 studios, 36 two-room and six three-room suites. Six suites are designed to accommodate people with disabilities. Each suite has a fully-stocked kitchen with a refrigerator, a microwave oven, a stove, a cutting table, tableware and other essentials, a coffee-brewing machine, an electric kettle, a dining table and a dishwasher. Adagio guests can also dine at the Ibis and Novotel restaurants.
The Kievsky hotel complex, which has already been operating for two months, remains highly popular. In November–December 2016, average occupancy levels reached 46 percent for Novotel, 48 percent for Ibis and 38 percent for Adagio. Last summer, the complex made it into the finals of the Best Implemented Construction Project competition and was rated among the best implemented hotel construction projects.
New mall
Lease contracts have been signed for 80 percent of areas and 30 percent of areas have been opened (the Detsky Mir, Dom Mody and TSUM-Discount shops, and others). A major Italian gastronomic centre, EATALY, combining a shop, restaurants and food production, is expected to become the biggest leaser. Visa centres from Italy and Estonia have leased areas as well.
Stellar hotels
The hotel industry is one of Moscow’s most thriving economic sectors. In 2016, the city received almost 17.5 million tourists, including 12.9 Russians and 4.5 million foreigners. Almost half of all visitors stayed at hotels. The rest stayed with friends, relatives or acquaintances.
The number of hotel guests in Moscow grew by two million (or 25 percent) over the last six years to 8.8 million in 2016. The total number of overnight stays reached 15.5 million, with hotel earnings exceeding 59 billion roubles and city budget tax revenues amounting to over 4.3 billion roubles.
Currently Moscow has 211 big hotels with over 50 rooms, 413 hotels and mini-hotels with less than 50 rooms, 242 hostels and four rooming houses. The total number of hotel rooms in Moscow is 58,100.
A number of popular international operators, including Four Seasons, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn, InterContinental, Kempinski Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Radisson, Ritz Carlton, Swissotel, and others have opened a total of 39 hotels.
Years-long work to classify Moscow hotels was finalised in 2016, with 870 of them receiving different star categories, including:
— Five Stars – 27 hotels;
— Four Stars – 74 hotels;
— Three Stars – 184 hotels;
— Two Stars – 98 hotels;
— One Star – 40 hotels;
— No Stars – 447 hotels.
Moscow hotels operate at 70–75 percent of their capacity on average.
According to the Europe 3-star Traveler Index-2016, Moscow hotels are in 19th place among 56 cities of Europe (a higher place means cheaper accommodation). Thus, economy class tourists can easily afford accommodation in Moscow (a similar price-level of hotels can be found in Prague).
Trip Advisor Traveler Choice-2016 included nine Moscow hotels in its Top 25 Russian hotels. The number of hotel rooms in Moscow is growing by several thousand a year, both due to the construction of new buildings and reconstruction of existing ones.
From 2011 to 2016, the city built 42 hotels with 7,000 rooms, not counting mini-hotels and hostels. Investors are planning to build another 49 hotels with 7,800 rooms between 2017 and 2019.
Under Moscow laws, classified hotels possessing star categories are entitled to corporate property tax benefits calculated based on cadastral values. The minimum room area multiplied by a factor of two is exempt from cadastral value tax.