Corinthia's Budapest hotel reopens after two-year redevelopment

The five-star deluxe Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal, a landmark redevelopment of a historic 19th century hotel in the heart of Budapest, Hungary, has reopened its doors following a two-year reconstruction period.

The reopening of the Grand Hotel Royal is being hailed in Hungary as a major milestone for the City of Budapest's continued revival.

Among the first guests were shareholders of its Maltese owning company, International Hotel Investments plc.

The m100 million project covered 59,000 square metres of construction, essentially entailing the total redevelopment of the historic Grand Hotel Royal, while retaining historic features such as the listed façade and the imposing turn-of-the-century ballroom.

The hotel now has the most complete range of facilities of any hotel in Hungary, including over 3,600 square metres of conference facilities, representing two-thirds of the conference space available in Budapest's five-star hotels.

Other facilities comprise 414 executive bedrooms, several restaurants and a unique 19th century spa located beneath the hotel, an executive floor, a 300-car multi-storey car park, 28 penthouse apartments and a casino nightclub.

Over 320 shareholders in International Hotel Investments plc, the Maltese public company owning the hotel, took up a special offer by the company to visit the hotel on purposely-chartered flights.

IHI plc acquired the Grand Hotel Royal in 2000 and immediately moved to initiate the mammoth task of rebuilding the derelict and abandoned hotel.

The hotel has now been handed over to Corinthia Hotels International, who will be operating it on behalf of IHI which is a hotel investor and developer.