An informal synergy

A business breakfast organized a few months ago by the law firm Miller Canfield, gave birth to a new 'synergy' (as the participants like to call it) between the Polish hotel representatives of real estate agents Colliers International, consultants WS Atkins and the lawyers themselves. Together they aim to form a type of vanguard in the market and win one another business in the process

Over-supplied it may be but Poland's market is still very young and new investors are entitled to approach it with some trepidation. By working together, in what the three firms stress is very much an informal arrangement, they hope to reduce the risk that foreign hotel operators might confront on coming to Poland.
Put simply, WS Atkins can help developers and investors design and equip their hotels in the most efficacious way, Miller Canfield are on hand to deal with contractual complications and Colliers International deal with transactions.
"If a site is chosen properly, the financial risk is minimized and if there are proper contracts, it is of course much safer to develop a project," says Krysztof Droń, WS Atkins' Head of Inward Investment. And after this groundwork, it can be assumed, Colliers International can step in to assist the transaction, if there is one on the cards.
According to Colliers' Marek Dabrowski however, "there have been no significant deals or transactions as yet in the Polish hotel industry", though he adds that his firm are currently exclusive agents to sell the Hotel Sobieski in Warsaw.

Cooperate and be flexible
By combining their knowledge, the three companies believe that they can offer their potential clients modifiable solutions to any problems they may encounter here in Poland.
"You have to give projects as much flexibility as possible," says Krysztof Droń, "there are often constant changes, (because the market rarely stays the same), and investors generally prefer to keep their options open right until the end. If you design something however, you can't come back two months later and re-do it: you have to have a sound project strategy right from the outset. And this also applies to what Colliers do on the marketing side."

You scratch my back...
In Poland at least, WS Atkins and Miller Canfield have been working closely together since 1997 on various projects and have learned that openly sharing one another's expertise can bring with it mutual rewards as Konrad Marciniuk, a lawyer at Miller Canfield, explains:
"There are certain technical problems that can be solved from a legal point of view. For instance, you can sign types of agreement with residents, with the city or utilities' providers. On the other hand, legal difficulties can be overcome by implementing certain technical solutions or constructing appliances that solve problems of access, sewage or disposal, for example."

Both western and local
This informal synergy that exists between the three companies they maintain, is indicative of a western style of handling their businesses, which has yet to gain a real foothold in the Polish market. "Issues such as minimizing costs, optimizing investments and contracts are pretty disorganized here in Poland," says Krysztof Droń, "and when it comes to real projects, a complex approach is required and among our three companies we understand the principles we are working to and operate according to the same business culture."