Developers settle into rooms – Newspaper Kommersant No. 237 (7438) dated 12/21/2022

After the mass withdrawal of Western hotel operators from the Russian market, non-core players decided to take their place. For example, a housing developer – GK FSK Vladimir Voronin – created a special company to manage hotels and apart-hotels. The developer intends to develop this business through a franchise. But in the hotel market, such a scheme only works with well-known brands, and a high threshold for entering this segment does not guarantee the expected result, experts warn.

On November 28, FSK Group of Companies registered FSK Hotel LLC, found “Kommersant” in the SPARK-Interfax database. The Group of Companies clarified that the new company will manage hotels and apartments, as well as the development of hotel services at its own and third-party facilities in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia. Over the next three years, it is planned to reach an annual revenue of 1 billion rubles.

FGC, which already has experience in managing service apartments, is trying to diversify its business by entering a new segment, says Yevgenia Tuchkova, deputy director of the strategic consulting department at Nikoliers. In the current circumstances, when large Western hotel operators leave the Russian Federation, it becomes necessary to manage hotels, the FGC group explained. This year, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, Hyatt Hotels and Sokos Hotels left the Russian market.

FGC plans to create three, four and five-star hotel brands, as well as provide franchises for third parties that are launching or already operating a hotel business. In addition, the company is ready to look for apartment tenants, conduct an audit of hotels and apartment complexes under construction and ready, and accompany the construction.

The issue of selling a franchise by a new player, according to the founder of Ivashkevich Hospitality Stanislav Ivashkevich, “sounds out of place.” As a rule, he continues, in the hotel market, affiliate programs are launched by very experienced players who have been developing business for decades and own a strong brand. The high threshold for entry into this business makes the sale of a franchise rather piecemeal, and one should not expect rapid development, adds Franshiza.ru expert Anna Rozhdestvenskaya.

In addition, apart-hotels are a new product for the Russian market, which can create inflated expectations for the product’s profitability among investors and management companies, says Marina Usenko, partner at the Commonwealth Partnership. Unlike real estate management in residential complexes, the hotel business, where rooms and services are sold on a daily basis, and the number of tariffs for various types of customers is at least a dozen, is more complicated and requires professional skills when dealing with operating expenses, the expert notes.

Last year, the Federal Grid Company, apparently, did not plan to manage hotel facilities and apartment complexes on its own. At the end of 2021, the developer signed an agreement with the international hotel group BWH Hotel Group (managing 4.7 thousand hotels in more than 100 countries) on the implementation of ten projects of Best Western apart hotels in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The document was designed for a period up to 2030.

So far, FSK Group of Companies has opened one apart-hotel under the Best Western Zoom Hotel brand in St. Petersburg. “The license agreement continues to operate,” Kommersant was told in the FGC Civil Code. They added that various business scenarios for further partnership with the operator are now being studied, taking into account the changed circumstances. The headquarters of the BWH Hotel Group in Arizona (USA) did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Now there is a popular trend among housing developers to create structures for managing hotels and apart-hotels, notes Stanislav Ivashkevich. For example, since 2011, Pioneer Group of Companies Leonid Maksimov has been operating an operator for managing apart-hotels under the YE`S brand, the number of rooms of which is 4.5 thousand apartments. Samolet Group of Companies also has a Hospitality division, which includes a management company and customer service. The companies did not provide comments.

Daria Andrianova