Trends in the development of the hotel market in Poland

This year, over a dozen thousand hotel accommodations will become available in new hotel facilities

The industry is currently experiencing a boom. In 2017, the basic operating results of hotels increased in most urban agglomerations in Poland, despite record results from 2016. For several years, investors have been very active in this segment of the market, due to which hotel infrastructure in our country is constantly gaining attractive facilities.

According to Walter Herz experts, the demand for hotel services in Poland from both tourists and business customers is constantly growing. According to Statistics Poland (GUS) data, the number of tourists staying over in hotel facilities in the first ten months of 2017 increased by 1.5 million compared to the same period a year earlier, which constitutes an increase of 6 per cent.

Not enough hotels in the largest agglomerations

Polish hotel market is still developing, although it already  offers over 2.7 thousand categorized hotel facilities with a total of over 135 thousand rooms. This is still not much compared to the markets of Western Europe and the number of hotel rooms per citizen of a given country. Large investment potential is invariably demonstrated by the biggest agglomerations in the country, primarily Warsaw, where according to calculations of Walter Herz analysts, the hotel market will get over 5 thousand rooms in the next three years.

There is still room for new facilities of all categories in the capital. Specialists note that until recently, business customers dominated the Warsaw market. Now Warsaw is increasingly visited by tourists, the number of whom amounts to10 million a year.

This year in Warsaw, a prestigious hotel Raffles with 103 rooms will be commissioned in the former Hotel Europejski location. Among other investments that are to be finished, Walter Herz specialists enumerate Renessaince hotel at Warsaw Chopin Airport with 225 rooms, Four Points by Sheraton with 192 rooms in Służewiec Przemysłowy district as well as Moxy Koneser in the district of Praga with 141 rooms.

Other hotel facilities that will welcome guests this year include 163-room Hampton by Hilton on Postępu Street, over 350-room Krakowska Residence in the Warsaw district of Włochy and 220-room Ibis Styles on Grzybowska Street. A total of over 2 thousand rooms will be commissioned in 2018 in Warsaw.

Future investments in Warsaw

In the following years, Warsaw is to open, among others, 330-room Motel One in the Center, 120-room Port Praski, 300-room combo hotels by the brands of Residence Inn and Moxy, as well as other ibis Styles hotels.

Warsaw market will also gain Holiday Inn by Zachodni Railway Station with 217 rooms, Focus Hotel in the district of Służewiec with 238 rooms and 150-room Puro Warszawa Centrum hotel.

According to Walter Herz specialists, the first Staybridge Suites hotel belonging to the InterContinental Group is to be commissioned in the district of Ursynów by the end of the next year. The facility will provide 190 rooms.

Investments planned in the regions

According to Walter Herz advisers, not only Warsaw, but also other agglomerations have an enormous potential and space for new hotel investments in Poland. In Cracow, Poznań and Wrocław, many hotel investments have been planned for the upcoming years.

In Gdańsk, a 76-room ibis Budget hotel in Jelitkowo, a 354-room Deo hotel on Wyspa Spichrzów Island, a 236-room Holiday Inn, a 140-room Grano Residence, as well as a 154-room Hampton by Hilton in the Old Town and the hotel in the Uphagen Court with 150 rooms will soon be opened. In the next two years, a total of over a thousand hotel rooms will emerge in the city.

In Wrocław, MGallery by Sofitel hotel with 190 rooms and Klasztor Grupy Arche hotel with 200 rooms are planned  to arrive in 2019.

New hotel brands in Poland

In Cracow, among others, Puro hotel in Kazimierz with over 200 rooms, Radisson Red hotel with 230 rooms, B&B Kraków Centrum hotel with 130 rooms and two boutique hotels Ferreus and H15 with a total of 140 rooms are to be opened. In the center of Cracow on Stradomska Street, in the immediate vicinity of Wawel Castle, the Autograph Collection Hotel with 125 rooms will also be built by a lifestyle brand belonging to Marriott International. It will be the first facility of this exclusive line in Poland. The construction of the Best Western Balice Airport hotel will also begin operating this year.

In Poznań, Hampton by Hilton (117 rooms) and Focus Hotel Poznań (94) are planned to be opened this year. Next year, Moxy hotel (120) will be built next to the Ławica airport. In addition, Best Western Hotels & Resorts chain will welcome two newly-emerging Poznań facilities - Edison Park Hotel Premier Collection and Sure Hotel Old Town, as well as the existing Hotel Edison located in Baranowo near Poznań, which will undergo a modernization.

Investors are entering smaller cities

Walter Herz experts note that a new market trend is the growing interest of investors operating in the hotel segment and international  franchisers in the smaller cities in Poland. As an example, they mention the implementation of a hotel facility in a revitalized piano factory in Kalisz. An office, hotel and culture complex Calisia One is under construction on its site. It will include Hampton by Hilton hotel with over 100 rooms which will be commissioned this year. Whereas in Oświęcim, the Hampton by Hilton hotel will include120 rooms.

New facilities of international brands are also emerging in Polish resorts, including Radisson Blu hotel in Zakopane with 158 rooms and 68 suites as well as Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Kołobrzeg.

Walter Herz experts point out that the structure of the Polish hotel base is dominated by individual hotels owned by Polish companies, that conduct them by themselves. The same is true when it comes to the demand for accommodation. In Poland, it is mainly domestic tourists who drive the boom in the hotel sector. One third of foreigners and two thirds of Poles use hotel services in our country.