Accor, a global augmented hospitality leader, has signed a management agreement with Alexandra Residence Design to open 144-room ibis hotel by the end of 2022. The newly signed hotel will be located near the future Terminal 2 of Henri Coandă International Airport, the largest airport in Bucharest and in the country. Est Hospitality Consulting is the consultant of the project until its official opening while Cumulus Architecture is responsible for the design.
Accor strengthens its portfolio in Romania with new openings coming this year and a robust pipeline in the near future. On June 24th a management agreement has been signed between Accor and Alexandra Residence Design for a new ibis hotel in Tunari, Romania. The hotel is located on Washington Street 1, next to Henri Coandă International Airport, where the future Terminal 2 will be built together with the last station of the easy train which is already under development.
The future ibis will be part of a mix-use complex together with a large health and SPA facility and a multi-functional events centre of almost 1,000 sqm, able to host diverse events from social to corporate, from sports to concerts and other entertainment events. The two facilities will connect with the hotel via a bridge.
New ibis will offer 144 rooms, a restaurant with bar, and the new living-room concept by ibis. The revamped ibis brand offers investors the option to choose from 4 types of designs. The new ibis hotel will be built and designed in accordance with Soda concept, developed by an international design office in Thailand which translates the brand’s DNA into a modern and dynamic concept suitable for both business and corporate travellers but also for the leisure groups and individuals. The opening of the future ibis Henri Coandă Airport Terminal 2 Hotel and Event Center is planned for the end of 2022.
“Accor is concentrating to build-up a network of 45-50 hotels in Romania in upcoming years. We actively look for opportunities on the market to assist and provide the owners or potential investors with full benefits of our support, tools, distribution network and know-how. Therefore, we look forward to the partnership with Alexandra Residence Design, as an important step in our mutual growth on the Romanian market and opportunity to contribute full assets of our strong brand portfolio. Furthermore, despite the current situation, we believe that the market will bounce back stronger than ever as the hospitality industry had proven resilience over history and will show again the same restiveness. 2020 is the best year for opportunities and the partnership with Alexandra Residence Design is a live proof of this,” says Frank Reul, Head of Development Accor Eastern Europe.
The owning company of the new ibis hotel is Alexandra Residence Design, developer of Alexandra Residence Complex. The owner and investor is Ion Marian, the city manager of Tunari and a real estate developer in the residential field.
The future hotel development will be located at the entrance of Alexandra Residence Compound, the investor planning to develop an additional plot with 30 residences that, together with the active community from the residential complex, will have full access to the services of the proposed hotel.
“My whole family is from Tunari, I grew up here, and it was always my dream to develop something that will put Tunari on the international map and create awareness for future investments. From my both qualities as City Manager and real estate investor in Tunari, I wanted to be the first one to kick-off the development of such project by signing a management agreement with Accor after the lock-down.
My daughter, Alexandra-Catalina, a youth player in the national basketball team, was my inspiration to invest into a sports hall and to support other teams looking for a space to train and/or organize friendly games competitions. The passion for hospitality is being shared by my wife Alina who is managing partner of Discover Romania Travel Agency – part of Explore Travel & Events Company – specialized in incoming tourism.
Together with my family as inspiration drivers, we aim to promote Tunari as a place for events & investment opportunities and Romania as a fabulous and safe travel destination.
I brought on the team probably the best hotel consultant in the market, Mr Mircea Drăghici, to advise me on the feasibility of a hotel investment and selected with him the best architecture & design company – Cumulus Architecture for this project. Being an investor in this process, with the assistance of the Consultant, I connected the dots and after a process of strategic analysis, we have reached to the conclusion that Accor group with ibis brand is the best choice for the future hotel.
Tunari will continue to develop a lot in the next few years due to major infrastructure and strategic developments: Ring Road 0 that is already in execution, the connection with A3 motorway and Henri Coandă Airport, the future Terminal 2 of the Airport and the NATO Military base that will be developed not very far from the future hotel premises).
We are very happy for this milestone and we look forward to benefiting from the knowledge and know-how of the global augmented hospitality leader on this upcoming project,” says Marian Ion, the Owner of Alexandra Residence Design.
According to the press release, Accor plans to open 7 new hotels in Romania. Furthermore, in the next few years, the group has a further secured pipeline in Romania of 10 properties totalling more than 1,344 keys.
