The year 2009 is the first when JW Marriott, the hotel with the highest revenues on the market, will see a two-digit decline. After having ended last year with 40 million euros in revenues, the owners of SCH Grand see 10% lower figures for this year.

”There have been years of decline before, but we were talking about a few percentage points then,” says Meda Vasiliu, the hotel’s sales manager. Promoted to a top management position at the hotel in 2006, Meda Vasiliu says that it is difficult and dangerous to talk about decline at this time: ”I believe that by talking about the crisis we are making it worse, instead of looking for alternative solutions to drive it away.”

The marketing and sales manager, however, says that the decline of demand on the five-star hotel market as a result of the cut in the spending budgets of the corporate clients applies both to room bookings and to conferences and events. Marriott derives 50% of its revenues from room bookings and the other half from conferences and events, and bar and restaurants, which seem to be less affected by the economic crisis, at least for the time being. Intercontinental hotel, now under refurbishment, anticipates one of the most serious declines on the market, by almost 27%.