Zirve Eki - ISTANBUL REstate

16-17 Haziran 2010
Michael Widmann: So that would be...
Haluk Kaya: There is because this is something very low in Turkey
and they are always fully occupied. And now the room prices in the
hotels are going up every year. This brings also the need of for longer
stays to have service apartments and we are getting more and more
guests from the Arab world. And they come always with family. So
it is very expensive to live in a hotel with full family. So this is real
market. I see a real market in Istanbul.
Michael Widmann: And maybe to wrap it up just some comments
from your side on the situation of contracts. Most of the international
operators enter with the expectation of a management or a franchise
contract. Do you see some lease contracts as well? Do you need a
lease contract to get financing? And how is the opportunity for
financing right now from your point of view?
Haluk Kaya: Lease contract, a normal Turkish entrepreneur would
never like it. He wants to dream of the upside. He is not looking and
institutional investors are looking to secure themselves with the
downside. But we don't have institutional investors. There was once
the government who built these hotels and then sold it. So, nothing.
The people are realizing more and more the value of international
hotel management not depending on the brand. And some people
say, I brought Holiday Inn to Turkey as if it is his chain. This is very
important. So if you build in Konya, Radisson, I brought Radisson
to Konya. People will think he is the owner of the Radisson. This is
important for the people. So, I think more and more international
operations will come and then the people unfortunately, if it is a
rebranding or new branding of an existing hotel, they will realize
that they have to invest more and more in order to bring it to the
international standards. Sorry, for the financing, Turkish banks don't
have the possibility to finance over 4 years and this is not enough
for a hotel. So there are 2 options. One, to convince Areal that you
are a good builder so they finance you from the beginning on or
you finance, build and the refinance with them. This is what they
like and this is what they are here for and they are very successful.
Michael Widmann: So Turkish people are very flexible people.
They are used to crisis and maybe not always interested in long term
commitments. They are interested in shifting things around and
Gayrimenkul Zirvesi 10
being more flexible. So that offers some opportunities but it also
limits some longer term schemes like budget hotel projects. But would
you agree that nevertheless is there a future in the next 20 years in
the budget and mid segment in the city plus the resort hotels? So
that might be we get more upscale resources on one hand and
maybe a little bit lower priced city hotels on the other hand.
Haluk Kaya: Yes, exactly. You are right. I agree with you.
Michael Widmann: It is almost boring not having a controversy
with you. But nevertheless thank you very much Haluk Kaya. It is
always a pleasure and a great privilege to have you here. Thank you
very much.
Haluk Kaya: Thank you very much.
Andreas Martin: If we do have a question, probably we have 2
or 3 more minutes while Haluk Kaya is here. You just have to raise
your hand but if not, from my side as well I thank you very much.
Çok teflekkürler Haluk Kaya and Michael Widmann. I would like to
introduce the next panel. "Turkish hotel brands going international
and international hotel groups entering Turkey" is the topic of the
next panel. Unfortunately we had a few changes here but nevertheless
I think with three representatives on stage will be an interesting group
together with the moderator Georg Wailand. Unfortunately Gökhan
Sarper from Rixos canceled at the last minute as well as Feyza Solaklar
from the Marmara hotel group. And Georg Schlegel from Starwood
Group couldn't leave London. So nevertheless I would like to introduce
to you Begüm Kaya. She is in charge of business development for
Divan hotels. And we are going to have Stephen Schnorr. He is the
director of development for Motel One. And thank you very much.
Çok teflekkürler to Tar›k Nasar who is just on my right who work a
kind of chipped in. And I don't even know why we didn't ask you
before because you are excellent in this group. He worked for a
Turkish hotel group before then changed to work for Marriott
International. Georg Wailand is the moderator. He will introduce the
three panelists to you. Just a few more numbers, Divan Hotels will
have 10 hotels by the end of the year. If I am not mistaken, one hotel
already abroad in Erbil in Iraq. And the target and this is interesting
is 50 hotels by 2015, not only in Turkey but in neighboring countries
and I trust Begüm Kaya will tell us how to reach this goal. Motel One
might not be known to some of you because it is so far purely
German company, not even ten years old. It was established when
Aston, the German brand Aston was sold to NH, Spanish group. The
company is based in Munich and within this not even ten years they
reached already close to 30 hotels in Germany, by the end of the
year will be close to 30 hotels and by the end of next year, because
these hotels are already under construction, almost 40 hotels which
is a very successful development path. And obviously Motel One is
looking into Turkey. For Marriott, 10, 30, 40, 50 is not enough.
I don't want to tell you how many hotels Marriott worldwide has
all over the globe. More interesting for us is there is one Marriott on
the Asian side of Istanbul and one Courtyard Hotel just recently
opened near the Ataturk Airport, so Marriott now is entering the
Turkish market. And I will leave it up to Georg Wailand now to further
discuss what Turkish brand and international brands may have in
common in Turkey.
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GYODER