Happy hoteliers

The first panel, entitled ‘It’s Good Here Too’, was devoted to the prospects for the market in the CEE region and opened by a presentation by Kathryn Miller (STR Global). The figures for the region’s major markets all look promising, with the exception of post-Olympics Sochi and political crisis-hit Kyiv, which are both struggling with vacancy. Markus Beike (Christie+Co) told the audience that Prague remains particularly interesting for hotel investors due to its leisure and business mix, while Frédéric Le Fichoux (Cushman & Wakefield) spoke about Montenegro as an under-developed hotel market with great potential, but also pointed out that the lack of infrastructure in such locations will always discourage investors. Both concurred that Euro 2012 had had a positive effect in boosting Poland’s profile for leisure, while they also agreed that the question of whether the Ukrainian situation will attract or deter investors from the Polish ma