Three notable hotel projects open in Hungary

As Hungary's tourist season draws towards its close, several new hotel projects have opened their doors in the country. Among the more notable are the Lánchíd 19 design hotel, facing the Danube at the foot of Buda's Royal Palace, a re-launch of a veteran three-star hotel near the capital's City Park, and a hotel built in conjunction with a college for tourism and catering professionals in the western city of Győr.

Hotel Famulus

The 4-star Hotel Famulus was opened in Győr on September 1, and is operated by the catering department of West Hungary University (Nyugat-Magyarországi Egyetem). The hotel also serves as "training ground" for students of the school majoring in catering and tourism management.

The new, 8,000-square-meter complex includes the hotel, which has a capacity of 120 guests, and high-standard dorm accommodations for 200 students. It was built in 11 months with an investment of Ft 2 billion (€7.82 million) as part of a public-private partnership.

Lánchíd 19

The international Design Hotels chain opened its first Hungarian hotel, Lánchíd 19, on the Buda side of the Danube on August 15. The building and its interior are the result of an interesting collaboration between Hungarian architects, graphic artists, photographers and fashion designers.

The unique glass facade was designed by the groups Szövetség '39 and Nextlab. The interior creative concepts were worked out by renowned architect-interior designer Dóra Fónagy and cultural trend researcher Anna Dávidházy, both students at the Moholy-Nagy Art University (MOME), and the hotel uniforms were designed by the USE group. Each of the hotel's 45 rooms and three suites are different.

During construction of the hotel, walls and plumbing features dating to the time of King Sigismund (1368-1437) were discovered under the site. These can be seen through a section of glass flooring on the first floor of the building.

There are over 150 design hotels in 40 countries of the world, all of them owned by different local operators.

Ibis Budapest Heroes Square

Work on the 3-star Ibis Budapest Heroes Square, the fifth Budapest property of the French Accor group, has been finished. The work cost €2.5 million, and involved a comprehensive renovation of the property formerly known as the Liget Hotel.

Accor is leasing the property for 20 years, and the reconstruction was jointly financed by Accor and the Dare group, which owns the property. Accor Marketing Director Zoltán Király said that this year the group expects its Hungarian hotels to enjoy over 70% occupancy. Accor is the largest European hotel chain, present in nearly 100 countries. Ibis is its budget hotel chain, offering 745 hotels in 35 countries.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Hotel Association President Andrea Kopócsy noted that the 3-star hotel category has not seen much development in recent years in Hungary, adding that she believes it is crucial for the development of tourism in Budapest.

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