Michaeler & Partner are among the leading providers of tourism services in Central, Southern and South-Eastern Europe. Which services does your portfolio include?
For clients who are looking to invest in a hotel project, we compile a concept & feasibility study that shows which product will be successful for that loca-tion and whether the investment will pay off. This is followed by an architectural competition and then project management services in all phases of development, with a focus on cost, timelines and quality. Parallel to this, we also offer pre-opening marketing and substantiated controlling.
Which challenges will the leisure hotel industry have to face in times of the financial and economic crisis? How does the situation look from your point of view?
Generally, it needs to be said that the leisure hotel industry has still gotten off lightly. People are saving with regard to their destination, their frequency of travel, and then also once they have arrived at the destination. I believe the goal now has to be to react accordingly and offer products that will pick the guest up from where he currently stands. A good price-performance ratio is the basis for this. Furthermore, simple values now play a much greater role than before. Luxury and pomposity are passé; instead, guests are now looking for authenticity, safety and benevolence. Successful tourism projects need to have an emotional quality and create so-called “Wow” moments for the guest. And this will be the challenge: the interplay of an authentic product and emotional quality, which is clearly noticeable in the quality of service.
In which countries is Michaeler & Partner active at the moment? Which projects are planned or are already being developed?
At the moment, we are managing projects in Austria, Italy, Serbia and Croatia. There are projects of all dimensions, from the smallest project with an investment volume of 2 million EUR up to our largest project, the “Punta Skala Resort” in Croatia, where we are talking about approximately 120 million.
The growth markets of CEE and SEE have considerably lost steam. Do all markets in the tourism industry react the same way?
The economic crisis had the effect that many investors, especially in countries such as Ukraine and Romania, are hoarding their resources. Fact is that some of the Eastern European countries still have a lot of potential. |
