The Corinthia Hotel St Petersburg is seeking to attract new business from within Russia after having been hurt by the international political tensions over Ukraine, hotel owners IHI have reported.
The group has meanwhile reduced its staff at the Corinthia Hotel Tripoli to a nucleus, but kept its hotel there open, despite ongoing violence.
International Hotel Investments in a half-year company statement said that Libya is 'a major concern'.
"The current conflict in and around the Tripoli airport area has severely curtailed international demand for hotel accommodation in the city. Nevertheless, in spite of the prevailing challenges, IHI continues to operate its hotel through a core nucleus of staff after having implemented a significant down-sizing of both local and expatriate personnel.
"Likewise, all other operating costs have been thoroughly reviewed and reduced as necessary.
In Russia, the performance of the Corinthia Hotel St Petersburg has been adversely affected by the developments in Ukraine resulting in a volatile rouble, weakened international demand for hotel services in the country, and the cancellation of a number of major events and conferences planned to be held in the city earlier in the year.
"In order to mitigate the resultant impact of these conditions, management has been directing its efforts towards replacing the lost foreign business with other
business generated from within the Russian Federation. Furthermore, these events might have an impact on the value of the property at year end," IHI said.
OTHER HOTELS REPORT IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
In its statement, IHI said revenues and operating profits in the group’s hotels in Malta, Prague, Budapest, Lisbon and London continued to increase year on year between January and June, in line with projections, and reflecting a stronger capability to achieve a fair market share in their respective markets.
In particular, the Corinthia Hotel St George’s Bay and Marina Hotel in Malta registered an improvement in revenue of 15%. The Corinthia Hotel London continued to consolidate its position as one of the leading luxury hotels in the British capital with an improvement of 6% in revenue relative to the same period last year.
The general business outlook for IHI’s hotels in Budapest, Lisbon, London, Malta and Prague remains positive with year-on-year growth being registered in both turnover and operating profits.
During the first half of the year under review the Group registered a loss after tax of €7.7 million compared to the loss of €4.4 million reported in the same period last year.