Zont Hotel Group may become the operator of a future hotel on Russky Island instead of Accor Hotels

The departure of foreign hotel operators from Russia is forcing the owners of the facilities to look for a replacement from among Russian companies. Thus, instead of the French Accor Hotels, the local operator Zont Hotel Group may take over the management of the future hotel with 300 rooms on Russky Island in Vladivostok. The hotel construction project itself is considered risky on the market.

Zont Hotel Group will manage a 300-room hotel as part of the Aquaparadise complex on Russky Island in Vladivostok, the company itself told Kommersant. They specified that an agreement was signed with the owner of the facility. The property developer is Eastern Aqua Paradise LLC, where, according to Kartoteka.ru, 25% belongs to the state corporation Tourism.RF, 34.37% belongs to Dmitry Boyarko, who previously headed the Business Russia branch in the Primorsky Territory. This company could not be contacted.

Earlier it was planned that the French network Accor Hotels, which suspended its development in Russia last year, would take over the management of the hotel. Tourism.RF told Kommersant that the change of the hotel operator in Russian is still under development.

The project of the Aquaparadise complex on the Saperny peninsula of Russky Island was announced in 2021. In addition to the hotel, it includes an indoor water park, a shopping and entertainment area. Initially, the volume of investments was estimated at 5.1-7 billion rubles. Now, according to Zont Hotel Group, we are talking about 15 billion rubles. Tourism.RF says that the project is in the process of obtaining permits, preparatory work is underway at the site.

The area of ​​the hotel planned in Aquaparadise is 31 thousand square meters. m. The Zont Hotel Group expects that the object will earn in the category of “four stars”. The opening is planned for 2026. Stanislav Ivashkevich, founder of Ivashkevich Hospitality, calls the location difficult, pointing out that Russian infrastructure is not very developed and it can be difficult to find staff. In his opinion, a hotel lease agreement is usually based on fixed and variable payments, and its calculation is based on the fact that the owner will receive 90% of the income. The operator also often bears running costs and wages.

Mr. Ivashkevich believes that it will be problematic to increase the flow to Russian because of the short warm season. At the same time, according to Rosstat, in January-April 2023, 240.8 thousand guests were accommodated in the hotels of Primorsky Krai, which is 46.7% more year-on-year. In Russia as a whole, this indicator increased by 16.6%, to 21.2 million people.

Marina Smirnova, partner of the Commonwealth Partnership, says that last year there were a total of about 30 local management companies operating in Russia, of which 40% appeared in the last two years. According to her, market leaders – Azimut Hotels and Cosmos Hotel Group – have expanded their portfolios by at least 40% since March last year. The share of Western operators in the market is being eroded, the expert notes. NF Group partner Olga Shirokova speaks of a total increase in the portfolio of Russian operators by 15–20% since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine.

Among the disadvantages of switching to cooperation with Russian operators, Ms. Smirnova calls their lack of serious experience, unlike international hotel brands. “In Russia, the first network appeared in 2006, and in the world – in the 1950s,” she recalls. The expert does not rule out that local operators may not be able to cope with the volume of new numbers, but he notes that we are talking about the risk of a sharp increase, which international companies also faced in their time. Cooperation with local players has its advantages. According to Marina Smirnova, they are ready to conclude hotel lease agreements with fixed payments to the owner, while Western operators did not agree to this.

Alexandra Mertsalova