Room for rooms?

Mladen Petrov  The credit crunch has seriously impacted the hotel real estate market. In times when the banks are counting every penny, what will the future bring for the CEE hotel sector in 2009? At the moment, there seems to be little consensus When was the last time when you checked in at a luxurious, top notch 5-star hotel in Warsaw? Can’t remember? Let’s try another city: Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia? The same answer. While the capitals of the CEE countries were getting ready for the next stage of the hotel market growth – that of high-end luxury hotels – the credit crunch started to bite. Hotel developers are now changing their strategy, putting expensive development plans on hold. In December Varsovians found out that a long anticipated investment – a luxury hotel on the historic Próżna Street in the very heart of Warsaw – will neve