Impact of COVID-19 on hotels: Vilnius’s luxurious Kempinski opens its doors to tenants | Deal

Baltic Sotheby’s International Realty, an agency that rents and sells luxury accommodations, has announced that anyone can stay in two 5-star hotel rooms. The Deluxe Cupola apartment is 45 m². m area, and the Executive – 59 square meters. meters. The monthly rental price for both is 4.5 thousand. euros.

This price includes daily cleaning service, internet – unlimited access to the Kempinski SPA (24/7 gym, pool, jacuzzi, 2 saunas). There are also discounts on drinks and food, spa treatments, cleaning services and a parking space.

Looking for an original solution

Kai Schukowski, CEO of Kempinski Hotel Cathedral Square 15 minutes He said the hotel did not choose the best rooms for longer rentals, but it is a higher class apartment. The management made this decision to try something new.

“We are currently experiencing a difficult period, especially for our industry, so we cannot continue with the same as always and expect the same results. It just won’t happen. So we think about doing something different, creative and trying something new, “he said.

Schukowski sees a new trend of people staying in hotels for longer and longer periods of time. In the past, especially for business trips, people mostly stayed for a few days, and now both foreigners and locals decide to change the environment and live in hotels.

“We see people who live in Vilnius, they have big houses or apartments, but they want a break from their four walls, so sometimes they rent an Airbnb or another house. However, you would never think that it is possible to stay in a hotel for several months, this is not usual. So our idea is to find clients who have moved to Lithuania and don’t have a house yet, so they can stay with us for several months until they find a suitable house, or people from Vilnius, other parts of Lithuania who basically just they want to change the environment, ”he explained. .

According to him, due to the current situation due to the coronavirus pandemic, most of these customers are expected to be from Lithuania.

“There may be foreigners living here, like me. However, most of them should be Lithuanians. We have a lot of Vilnius residents staying with us, so I think it will be a good added value for them,” explained K. Schukowski.

Schukowski acknowledged that the price of the apartments they were offering could be expensive compared to, for example, the price of Airbnb rental homes. However, he emphasized that Kempinski offers not only living space, but the entire package of services.

“You have a spa, a maid hits the apartment every day, you have your own parking lot, you can order food in the room 24 hours a day, we have a concierge, we take care of you. You pay for this and to live at the Kempinski Hotel. Yes, the price may seem high, but there are not that many clients we are looking to attract. We also have guests who live in presidential apartments and pay 2,000 each. euros per night. The same can be said in this case: is it justified when I can rent A house for this amount? It’s not just black and white. You pay to be here, for services and experience, “he said.

Such services were lacking in Vilnius

Paulius Gebrauskas, co-owner of Baltic Sotheby’s International Realty, said those services were always lacking in Vilnius.

“Currently, there are no semi-long term apartments with rental services from one to three months. There are mostly short-term rentals for a few days or long-term rentals by time of year. Before the pandemic, there were actually quite a few clients interested in these types of apartments. And now it has happened that the hotels are facing an employment problem, there is a shortage of customers, so they have offered to look for them ”. 15 minutes commented.

According to him, these services were requested by highly qualified specialists who came to Lithuania for a short period, one or two months. The actors needed them too.

“For example, actors from other cities come to film, they film in Vilnius for several months, they bring their own family and they don’t want to live in a hotel. They generally advised renting an apartment from Airbnb or Booking.com, trying to get a better price, but they wanted the same service as a hotel. Provide cleaning, completely additional hotel services, ”he commented, adding that hotels abroad often offer residences to these types of clients.

Apply for grants for business hotels

President of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association Evalda Šiškauskienė 15 minutes He assured that hotels, especially companies, are going through really bad times. If last year their employment during the season reached 80-90 percent, now in Vilnius and Kaunas only 6 percent is registered. filling.

“It’s really bad for business hotels. At the end of August, there were simply no local tourists traveling from other cities to Latvia. <...> According to statistics, the number of foreigners decreased by 92% and the number of locals by 56%. If it was still around 20-25 percent in the summer, it was still moving a bit, it’s around 6 percent in late August and now. Here are catastrophic numbers, ”he said.

According to E.Šiškauskienė, the association is currently negotiating with the Government and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation on subsidies at least for hotels in the business segment. The goal is to give them 25%. of taxes paid last year.

“Business hotels really need subsidies and this is the hotel that has suffered the most. “The subsidy would be a great help to survive, to pay for utilities, for heating, to pay employees who are still in downtime and to keep them,” he said.

According to E.Šiškauskienė, although there was a desire to help the entire sector, both pensions and hotels in resorts, it was decided to focus on the business segment.

“The government is looking at the fact that the resorts now have doctors and had a good season. Therefore, they are not as bad as the hotels in the cities. It is a shame to cut off that foot, but we are going to try to negotiate business for hotels. ”, He assured.

It is estimated that 102 business class hotels (23 rooms, 3-5 stars) would need 5 million. euro support.

The pandemic adjusted the plans

15 minutes Remember that the global pandemic also adjusted the construction of the second Hilton hotel in Vilnius. The company, which is related to the Vičiūnai Group, had planned to complete the construction of the hotel belonging to the global network by the end of this year, but now this deadline is postponed to next year. vz.lt.

Representatives of the Vičiūnai group 15 minutes He stated that the project is not frozen, the works are in progress; It is true that most of them are currently underground, so they are not very visible from the side, so the work completion schedule is only moving.

The second Hilton hotel is being built next to the Museum of Energy and Technology on Rinktinės Street. Vičiūnai Group invests more than 30 million euros in DoubleTree by Hilton.