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The Courtyard Hotel has 218 rooms – all rooms on the 5th, 6th and 7th floor have a Kremlin view. ‘Kremlin-view is free of charge’, made a joke Marco Fien, General Manager of Courtyard, on the press conference. Although, the hotel is positioned in a 3-4* segment, rate per night is $215–299. Karl Kilburg, Senior Vice President of the Continental Europe Division of Marriott International Lodging, commented on the pricing policy as follows: ‘there is a shortage of hotel rooms in Moscow that allows to set higher prices than, for example, in Berlin. Prices are regulated by supply and demand’. Furthermore, Kilburg complained that it is very expensive to build a hotel in Russia. However, he pointed out the attractiveness of the Russian market for the company which has already opened seven hotels in Russia. Marriott Int. owes also such brands as Renaissance, Bulgari, The Ritz-Carlton, Residence Inn etc. In total – 2700 hotels.
The Courtyard Marriott Hotel was built by Baltic Building Company which General Director, Sergey Matveev, said: ‘it took the whole year to adjust the project plan as it is difficult to work in the historical center of Moscow – we needed to preserve the façade of the building. Besides, only a more than 200 - room hotel can be profitable. Moreover, Marriott Int. have their own safety standards. All these factors required a complex architectural approach’.
Russian incoming companies do not express much enthusiasm towards the opening of the new hotel. ‘Marriott Int. do not work with travel companies on special terms – they have their own operating structure responsible for bookings in all the countries. We are not interested in their hotels, as we do not have rate preferences. Nevertheless, the increase in number of hotel rooms in Moscow is a positive factor. The market needs such big hotels as Cosmos, Ukraine, Russia’, commented Marina Levchenko, Director of Tari Tour.
