Considered the most important annual event in the hospitality sector in Romania, TopHotel Conference & Awards analyzes global trends and their profound impact on the investments and development of the local hotels industry.
This year’s edition, which took place on May 23-24 at the JW Marriott Hotel, was the meeting place for hospitality industry professionals to discuss new trends, analyze existing opportunities and share efficient business strategies. Last but not least, solutions have been identified for the challenges faced by industry professionals in the local hotel market dynamic landscape. Visionary leaders, experienced professionals and local and international investors exchanged valuable ideas during the two days of the event, providing answers to important questions and awarding outstanding projects.
Together with representatives of prestigious hotel brands, Alina Vlădulescu, Deputy Head of Hospitality & Development, Niro Investment Group, participated in the discussion panel on maximizing hotel performance by selecting the optimal partnership model: franchise, management or owner-operator.
The panel provided an excellent opportunity for exploring the pros and cons of different partnership models within the hospitality industry. Participants brought to the fore diverse perspectives based on their valuable industry experience and came up with innovative solutions and ideas for achieving optimal performance in hotel operations.
Ziarul Financiar, the most important business publication in Romania, organized on Thursday, November 24, at the JW Marriott Hotel in Bucharest, the ZF 2022 Gala, its yearly landmark event. The Gala, that also celebrated 24 years of existence for ZF, recognized the most valuable companies in Romania, also awarding a series of special prizes to companies that stood out through their performances in various fields.
Partner of the event, Niro Investment Group joined the champions of business performance, being awarded for diversification of the investment portfolio of a company with Romanian capital, a prize that rewards the efforts and exceptional results of the Group which has not only consolidated its business over the years, but also expanded and diversified its activity both at national and international level.
Anca Simionescu, General Manager of Niro Investment Group, received the award on behalf of the company and conveyed a message from the entire Niro team:
“We are very proud of this award, some of my colleagues are here tonight. We see this award as a recognition of the course of our company, which started as a small family business in 1993, and during three decades we managed to become a strong investment group with a vast portfolio. We are deeply Romanian, we are a company with 100% Romanian capital, we have values and we believe in the Romanian economy. We want to put Romania on the international map and we want to be able to do it in the shortest possible time.”
Along with Niro, Orange Romania, Vodafone Romania, Mercedes-Benz Romania, BCR, CEC Bank, Samsung Romania, Profi, Bucharest Stock Exchange, Roca Investments also received special awards.
This year, the special guest of the ZF Gala was Ian Goldin, professor at the Department of Globalization and Development at Oxford University, who discussed how the Western world will look after the current global economic and political crisis, about the trends that will mark the next decade, as well as about Romania’s place and role in the current and future global context.
Niro Investment Group partnered with the Capital Elite Companies Gala, a prestigious and traditional event of the Romanian business community, organized by Capital business magazine.
The ceremony celebrating the elite companies that stood out through their performance in business, thus contributing to the development of the Romanian economy, was attended by representatives of the awarded companies, as well as by leaders from various business sectors that have been included in the Capital Top 300 Companies yearbook.
Valentin Macovescu, communications director of Niro Investment Group, handed the awards for the champions of the Logistics category to the representatives of the Romanian Post, Alexander International Holding and the Aquila company.
“I would like to thank Capital magazine for inviting us. I represent Niro Investment Group, a company with almost 30 years of expertise in investments, real estate development and asset management, with a portfolio that includes shopping and logistics centers, office buildings and residential projects. In recent years, Niro focused on the hospitality industry, developing several large-scale projects that will bring for the first time to Romania luxury hotel brands such as Corinthia and Swissotel, or which will put Romania on the map of international luxury tourism, with the first Romanian hotel project developed abroad, in the Maldives“, Valentin Macovescu said.
The ceremony was also attended by Raluca Mihăescu, Portfolio Hospitality Manager, Ana Olteanu, Project Management Director and Șerban Dimitriu, Investment Manager, Niro Investment Group
Niro Investment Group was partner in this year’s TopHotel Conference 2022, an industry benchmark event that looks at global trends and their impact on local hotel investment and development.
Held over two days, May 25 and 26, 2022, the conference provided a platform to debate the most important and current issues in the hospitality market: relaunching the hotel industry after two years of global pandemic, how local players prepare for this relaunch, the new hotel projects in 2022 and the prospects of business tourism.
As always, the conference brought together some of the most important representatives of the international and local hotel market, the tourism and leisure market as well as local authorities. The event was addressed to leaders, decision makers and professionals in the main segments of the hotel and hospitality industry: hotel owners and top managers, representatives of international hotel chains, general managers of travel agencies, investors, tourism consultants, representatives of financial institutions , bloggers and journalists.
Throughout the event, the current challenges and business opportunities of the industry were debated in the context of current trends, highlighting the most interesting investments and ongoing hotel projects. During the interactive sessions of the event, the participants discovered the experiences of investors, took part in discussions about the power of authenticity in the hospitality industry and the development of touristic areas, while discovering useful information about the investments made and the motivation behind them.
The conference participants also discussed the recent performance of the hotel industry, focusing on the evolution of the local market, on investment opportunities in Romania and on new trends in digitalization in the hotel industry. Specialists in the tourism industry presented examples of good practices in the field and statistics on the positioning of the local market in the global tourism industry. Another topic discussed was the role played by local authorities in the development of this industry.
As a partner of the event, Niro Investment Group was represented by Alina Vladulescu, Deputy Head of Hospitality & Development, who moderated the panel “Current investments in hotels that connect with the needs of the post-pandemic travel trends”.
“As representatives of the tourism industry, we have always been involved in a permanent dialogue on the potential of the hospitality industry, the expectations of investors and the trends that shape the industry. After the pandemic, things changed significantly. We have changed, the teams have changed, the mentality of the investors has changed and the mentality of the guests who step in the hotels. It remains to be seen how the hotels will cope with these new post-pandemic expectations”, said Alina Vlădulescu during the session she moderated.
Raluca Mihăescu, Portfolio Hospitality Manager, Jean Pierre Mifsud, General Manager Corinthia Grand Hotel Boulevard Bucharest and Ana Maria Portnoi, General Manager – Business Hotels Investment, member of NIRO Investment Group, also participated in the event on behalf of Niro Investment Group.
Niro Investment Group has invested in several major hotel projects in recent years, such as the reopening of the Grand Hotel du Boulevard under the luxury brand Corinthia, the opening of the first Swissôtel in Romania, part of the Accor Group, one of the most important hotel groups in the world, as well as starting of an extensive project to build a luxury resort in the Maldives.
The Mock-Up Room has been completed and offers a first glimpse of the exclusive style, comfort and amenities of the international luxury brand Corinthia
Niro Investment Group announces the completion of the mock-up suite, an important step in the process of developing and completing a luxury hotel project.
Corinthia Grand Hotel Boulevard in Bucharest presents its signature suite that showcases the style and quality standards of the Corinthia brand and is the epitome of the amenities and finishes throughout the hotel that reflects the level of comfort to future hotel guests.
The „mock-up room” is a reference stage for the hotel project as a whole as it allows the visualisation of the concept: testing all the fittings, materials used, functionalities, quality of finishing, cleaning process and also making technical and aesthetic adjustments before they are replicated throughout the entire building.
Covering 120sqm, the Corinthia Grand Hotel Boulevard’s “mock-up room” is in fact, a luxury suite that includes a spacious bedroom with a dressing room and bathroom, a dining room, a living room and an office. Located on the corner at the intersection of Queen Elisabeth Boulevard and Calea Victoriei, the apartment offers a spectacular view of the old city center. It has been designed, furnished and finished to Corinthia standards of luxury, comfort and functionality. Sumptuous interiors, luxurious materials such as Calacatta marble, exquisite colours in shades of champagne and gold with accents of royal blue, and subtly stylised decorative elements inspired by the poem “Blue Flower” by Mihai Eminescu create a unique space that harmoniously combines comfort, elegance, and warmth.
„The Corinthia Grand Hotel Boulevard is a unique project, a reinterpretation of luxury, whereby a historic building is reborn to meet Corinthia standards in comfort, excellence and elegance. Every detail of the signature suite have been meticulously thought out and implemented to give us a true picture of the style, comfort and amenities we want to apply to the entire hotel while ensuring that all the criteria of excellence of the international luxury brand Corinthia are met“, said Jean Pierre Mifsud, General Manager, Corinthia Grand Hotel Boulevard Bucharest.
“The reopening of the Grand Hotel du Boulevard is one of our major projects in the hospitality industry, along with the opening of Swissotel in the northern part of Bucharest and, more recently, the start of a major project to build a luxury resort in the Maldives archipelago. We are proud to have Corinthia, one of the most exclusive and refined international brands in the luxury hotel industry, as our partner in this project. The opening of the first Corinthia hotel in Romania will be yet another first for Niro Investment Group, which in recent years has focused on strategic and innovative hospitality projects“, said Christophe Chamboncel, Head of Hospitality and Development, Niro Investment Group.
The Grand Hotel Boulevard will be the first luxury boutique hotel to open in Romania under the exclusive Corinthia brand. It will feature 30 luxurious suites, a Grand Ballroom with a historical charge, Bar lounge, Brasserie, spa, beauty salon and fitness room, florist as well as a bespoke meeting room. The hotel is designed both for business and leisure travelers or simply for those who want to spend quality time in an exceptional setting, unique in Romania.
Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard Bucharest will operate in a building emblematic of the capital’s history and culture.
Built in 1867 by the architect Alexandru Orăscu and designed from the very beginning as a hotel, the Grand Hotel du Boulevard enjoyed exceptional facilities from the beginning, being the first hotel in the country to be electrically lit, with running water in the rooms and an elevator. Its remarkable architecture and facilities meeting the highest standards of comfort won it gold medals at the international exhibitions in Milan (1906) and Turin (1911).
A symbol of elegance and refinement, the Grand Hotel du Boulevard has always been a central point in the social, cultural and artistic life of high society in the capital and throughout Europe. The sumptuous Marble Hall was considered the capital’s most elegant social venue and has hosted art exhibitions, diplomatic meetings and receptions, gala dinners and balls of the aristocracy of the time.
The building is now undergoing an extensive renovation and refurbishment process in line with Corinthia hotels’ standards of luxury, functionality, comfort, and style, designed to restore at least its original splendour. The Corinthia du Grand Hotel du Boulevard thus follows in the tradition of Corinthia luxury hotels housed in restored historic 19th-century buildings such as the Corinthia London and Corinthia Budapest. In order to complete the Corinthia Grand Hotel Boulevard Bucharest project, NIRO Investment Group has collaborated with local and international partners, such as: architects – GA Design, Architect Service, Open Architecture; designers – Tricon, Visual Energy, MCG, Allied Engineers; consultants – RBW, ADF, Astore, Beaufort, Vitalis; constructor – Alliance Properties; operator – Corinthia.
