The FINANCIAL — Georgia Palace Hotel, an exclusive five-star hotel located on the Black Sea coast in Kobuleti hosted nearly the same number of guests in just August 2009 that it did for the whole of the year 2008.
According to Lela Tsulukidze, Executive Director of Hotel GPH, the booking of the hotel at the moment is around 50%. The Executive Director says GPH is going to have special packages on offer during the Christmas period.
“Prices have significantly decreased at our hotel and we have introduced new special packages for newlyweds and businessmen as well,” Tsulukidze says.
Q. Summer 2009 was quite busy for Georgian Palace Hotel. Despite the economic crisis, popularity of the 5 star hotel increased dramatically compared to the previous year. What do you think was the main determiner of the success of your hotel?
A. The popularity of Georgian Palace Hotel was determined by many different factors; among them the most important is that we represent the first Georgian 5 star brand. This fact counts for a lot and it is necessary to prove every day that the hotel really corresponds to the stated standards.
The quality of service, right method of approach and hard work of the staff all contributed to the company’s level of popularity. Despite the unstable economic conditions existing in the country, interest in GPH increases on a daily basis.
Q. In your last interview with The FINANCIAL you said that the hotel served 7,112 guests in 2008. You planned to double this number, what are the numbers for the year 2009?
A. Last year we hosted only 7,112 guest but we should not forget the August events in 2008 that significantly contributed to a lower number of guests.
For the year 2009 the situation has changed radically and I have to tell you that we hosted nearly the same number of guests in August of this year that we did in the whole of the last year. As you see our predictions have come true.
Q. What was the ratio of foreign to Georgian guests at GPH?
A. On average 35% of our guests are foreigners and 65% Georgians. In our view, this percentage index will significantly change over the next year and the percentage index of our Georgian and foreign guests will become practically the same.
Q. Which countries do you see guests coming to you from?
A. We are mostly visited by people from neighbouring countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and turkey. Out of the European countries we get most guests from Germany and Italy. We also have many guests from the USA.
Q. You originally planned to complete construction of a conference hall, inside swimming pool, Yoga room and cardio clinic by the end of 2009. In what condition are these facilities at the moment?
A. All the services mentioned above will be available by the end of the year. Some of them are already completed, but finishing the cardio centre has been delayed till the end of the year because of various reasons. We also have a novelty planned for the end of the year – the first Indian “Ayurveda” centre in the Caucasus will be open to clients. The specialist invited specially from India will serve our guests and this centre will be of the exact same standard of centres located in Bombay and Dally.
Q. At different periods your guest list has included the likes of Tanya Marya, Marcus Miller and Victor Uschenko. Which celebrities visited you in the year 2009 and tell us of their impressions.
A. Every year the Black Sea Jazz Festival is held at GPH which means us hosting a wealth of famous guests. At different periods our guests have included Katie Melua, Marcus Cahill, DJ Giom, Naturally Seven. We have also been visited by world opera star Nino Surguladze and Prima Ballerina Irma Nioradze. We have also hosted Diana Gurtskaia, Bianka and others.
We have of course had many famous Georgian politicians as guests, I would specially like to mention out of our foreign guests the Swedish Premier Minister Carl Bildt and Representative of the EU Peter Semneby.
Q. What about the hotel guest load for the autumn season? What are your expectations for the New Year and do you have any special offers planned?
A. We have quite a high number of guests booked in for autumn. For the end of October the total amount of bookings is about 40-45% which is quite a good index for out-of-season in what is essentially a summer resort town. I have already mentioned the novelties we will offer our guests from the beginning of 2010 and this New Year we are going to celebrate with the special New Year packet which will include tickets to different New Year celebrations and events. We hope that this will be an interesting offer and that our guests will be as satisfied as usual.
Q. At the moment what are the hotel prices and have they changed in 2009 or not?
A. Of course the prices in the hotel have changed over the past year, for example when the summer season finished. The prices have significantly decreased and we have made special packets for newlyweds and businessmen. For very low prices our guests will be able to live in a comfortable area, use the spa centres and other different services.
Q. Do you offer any special tariffs to your clients?
A. Of course our corporate clients are prioritized for our hotel. We have low tariffs specially for our corporate clients and we give them maximal comfort and satisfaction for the price of their stay.
Q. What is the difference between the numbers of summer and winter guests at your hotel?
A. Winter is generally a hard time for the Adjarian Region, however despite this the hotel management and sales department try to turn the statistics around so as to maximally increase the number of guests in winter, and decrease the margin between the 2 seasons.
Q. from the total number of your guests, what percentage do Americans make up?
A. There is not an exact number but I will tell you that the percentage of our American guests is roughly 10-15%.
Q. Do American business delegations visit you, and when did you last host one?
A. Unfortunately business delegations visit us quite rarely; apart from American diplomats who are quite often our guests. In fact we offer the best facilities for business travellers. We welcome their visits to our hotel and hope that their number will rise in the future.
Q. Do you promote the hotel on the American market?
A. No, unfortunately we aren’t able to enter the American market because this is connected to quite serious costs. With the help of international tourism agencies we are trying to enter their market though.
Q. Are you interested in attracting investments?
A. Of course we are interested in attracting investments. We welcome any kind of investment if they are directed in the right way and what’s most important, if they will be implemented by our partner country the US.
Q. Are you considering any world brand franchising?
A. Not yet, but let’s see what the future holds.
Q. The Radisson plans to open one more branch in Adjara. The Sheraton has also built a hotel there. In your view, will this fact raise the competition?
A. Healthy competition is welcome and the existence of different famous hotel brands in Adjara will be just one more additional stimuli to promote and advertise the Georgian brand name and its advantages.
Q. What makes GPH different from those other famous hotels brands in Georgia that are planning to open in Adjara?
A First of all it’s the name – “the First 5 Star Brand”, our service quality and the uniqueness that only GPH offers its customers.
Q. How do you support the popularization of the region in order to benefit the company as well?
A. The existence of such a kind of hotel in Adjara is in itself a popularization of the region. That’s exactly the main idea and charm of the place and I think that we do our best in this regard. And we trust that our hard work will definitely yield more positive results in the future.
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