Hotel Management — March 2012
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CATHIC 2012
Conference highlights regional hotel development in Turkey
Istanbul–Yapi Kredi Bank’s chief economist Cevdet Akçay kicked off the Central Asia & Turkey Hotel Investment Conference in February with a rousing call to Turkey’s economic and financial community to improve its communication with the rest of the world. “Turkey has a perception problem because we are not doing a good PR job on our economy,” he said. “My idol is Brazil because there are many similarities between our economies, but Brazil is doing an excellent job of managing the perceptions of their economy.”
He went on to outline how Turkey has improved its economic position over the past 10 years, and how this transformation was accelerated by the global financial crisis. Turkey now has normalized interest rates and brought down the real cost of borrowing, and is now a completely different country from that of four years ago. Speakers agreed Turkey now has immense opportunities for growth and prosperity.
FINANCING HOTELS
In a session on securing finance for hotel development in today’s market, Serdar Bilgili, chairman of Bilgili Holding, explained how he has created a hotel investment fund to tempt international institutional investors into the Turkish hotel sector. He believes the Turkish real estate market is one of the best in Europe, but there was not a suitable vehicle that was attractive to these institutional investors.
Bilgili outlined the difficult path to success: “After one and a half years of raising funds, we have fifty percent of what we wanted,” he said, because real estate institutional investors are very careful.
Emre Narin, VP of Marti Hotels, highlighted the potential for real estate investment trusts as a financing tool for Turkey, and predicted a growth in REIT numbers going forward.
Mehmet Önkal, managing partner at BDO, confirmed that Turkey is the hottest market for new hotel development in the CATHIC region, with the spotlight on Istanbul and secondary cities across the country.
Önkal advised that hotel operators should follow Hilton Worldwide’s lead by committing to Turkey for the long term by setting up development bases and pairing with local expertise.
Hilton Worldwide chose the CATHIC conference to announce four new hotels in Turkey—DoubleTree by Hilton properties in Kusadasi and Malatya, and Hampton by Hilton hotels in Samsun and Istanbul Ataköy.
CEO PERSPECTIVE
Christoph Härle, CEO of Continental Europe for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, asked four industry leaders for their views on the industry and the region’s business prospects.
Kurt Ritter, president and CEO of The Rezidor Hotel Group, said, “We all feel pressure at this time, but we still work in one of the best industries. I am confident for the future of our industry.”
Denis Hennequin, chairman and CEO of Accor: “I share Kurt’s optimism, though different parts of the world are experiencing different challenges and opportunities.”
Eric Danziger, president and CEO of Wyndham Hotel Group, added that people want to travel. “In the business travel sector, while teleconferencing technology may be cheaper, people have discovered that is not always as effective as meeting face to face.”
Hamdi Akin, founder and chairman of Akfen Holding Company, said, “The economic crisis is not new, and many economies, such as South Asia, Russia, Turkey, Iran, all of Africa and Latin America are hungry for growth—and we will see growth in these areas.”
Akin also pointed out that there are 20 cities in Turkey with a population of more than 1 million. “It is not just about Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir,” he said. “Other cities will boom and demand is there and they need hotel investment.”
Conference highlights regional hotel development in Turkey
Istanbul–Yapi Kredi Bank’s chief economist Cevdet Akçay kicked off the Central Asia & Turkey Hotel Investment Conference in February with a rousing call to Turkey’s economic and financial community to improve its communication with the rest of the world. “Turkey has a perception problem because we are not doing a good PR job on our economy,” he said. “My idol is Brazil because there are many similarities between our economies, but Brazil is doing an excellent job of managing the perceptions of their economy.”
He went on to outline how Turkey has improved its economic position over the past 10 years, and how this transformation was accelerated by the global financial crisis. Turkey now has normalized interest rates and brought down the real cost of borrowing, and is now a completely different country from that of four years ago. Speakers agreed Turkey now has immense opportunities for growth and prosperity.
FINANCING HOTELS
In a session on securing finance for hotel development in today’s market, Serdar Bilgili, chairman of Bilgili Holding, explained how he has created a hotel investment fund to tempt international institutional investors into the Turkish hotel sector. He believes the Turkish real estate market is one of the best in Europe, but there was not a suitable vehicle that was attractive to these institutional investors.
Bilgili outlined the difficult path to success: “After one and a half years of raising funds, we have fifty percent of what we wanted,” he said, because real estate institutional investors are very careful.
Emre Narin, VP of Marti Hotels, highlighted the potential for real estate investment trusts as a financing tool for Turkey, and predicted a growth in REIT numbers going forward.
Mehmet Önkal, managing partner at BDO, confirmed that Turkey is the hottest market for new hotel development in the CATHIC region, with the spotlight on Istanbul and secondary cities across the country.
Önkal advised that hotel operators should follow Hilton Worldwide’s lead by committing to Turkey for the long term by setting up development bases and pairing with local expertise.
Hilton Worldwide chose the CATHIC conference to announce four new hotels in Turkey—DoubleTree by Hilton properties in Kusadasi and Malatya, and Hampton by Hilton hotels in Samsun and Istanbul Ataköy.
CEO PERSPECTIVE
Christoph Härle, CEO of Continental Europe for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, asked four industry leaders for their views on the industry and the region’s business prospects.
Kurt Ritter, president and CEO of The Rezidor Hotel Group, said, “We all feel pressure at this time, but we still work in one of the best industries. I am confident for the future of our industry.”
Denis Hennequin, chairman and CEO of Accor: “I share Kurt’s optimism, though different parts of the world are experiencing different challenges and opportunities.”
Eric Danziger, president and CEO of Wyndham Hotel Group, added that people want to travel. “In the business travel sector, while teleconferencing technology may be cheaper, people have discovered that is not always as effective as meeting face to face.”
Hamdi Akin, founder and chairman of Akfen Holding Company, said, “The economic crisis is not new, and many economies, such as South Asia, Russia, Turkey, Iran, all of Africa and Latin America are hungry for growth—and we will see growth in these areas.”
Akin also pointed out that there are 20 cities in Turkey with a population of more than 1 million. “It is not just about Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir,” he said. “Other cities will boom and demand is there and they need hotel investment.”
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