Warsaw Voice - Hilton in Warsaw

By Andrzej Ratajczyk
27 October 2004

Poland's first Hilton hotel, with an ultra-modern conference center, will be opened in downtown Warsaw at the beginning of 2006. At further investment stages, the project will be expanded to include an office building, luxury apartment blocks and an elegant shopping center.

"We are the world's best known hotel brand, present in 75 countries. We are very happy that Hilton's flag will soon fly over one of the most important cities in the world. We believe that the opening of Hilton Warsaw Hotel and Conference Center will be a development important not only for the city but also for the development of tourism," said Didier Martin, Vice-President for Operations at Hilton International.

"Warsaw is the last big city in the region without a Hilton hotel. This needed to be changed as soon as possible. What made the decision to start this project easier for us was that we regarded Poland as a good investment location, with a transparent economic system and clear legal provisions," said Tal Einhorn, a representative of the investors.

Stooga, Elran Real Estate, Arenson, CE and Dirom, operating on the real estate market in Europe and North America, are developers of the complex. The first project to be implemented, estimated at 53 million euros, is Hilton Warsaw Hotel and Conference Center. It was designed by Biuro Projektów Kazimierski i Ryba with the participation of international design offices. HGC supervises the implementation of the project on behalf of the owners, while finance is provided by Volksbank-Immoconsult of Vienna.

With 22 floors, the hotel will have 313 rooms and business suites, a presidential suite, bars and restaurants, stores and a casino. The hotel will also be equipped with a fitness club and spa, covering 4,000 sq m, to be run by well-known multinational company Holmes Place 77.

The Conference Center will house Warsaw's largest conference hall, which will cover 1,500 sq m. "The Center will provide facilities appropriate for the largest international conferences as well as commercial and promotional events. This will be a perfect place to arrange big events, fashion shows and presentations of new car models," said Elran Holdings Chairman Gadi Dankner.

The Hotel and the Conference Center will be run by Hilton International (HI), the operational part of Hilton Group plc based in the United Kingdom, which owns the rights to the Hilton brand throughout the world except in the United States. HI runs 394 hotels, 253 under the Hilton brand name.

Representatives of the investors do not fear competition from other international hotel chains operating in Poland. "Hilton is synonymous with prestige and a brand valued the highest by business," said Dankner. "Moreover, the Polish hotel market has great prospects for growth. The Polish economy is developing fast; foreign investment is on the rise. Considering Poland's recent accession to the European Union, one should also expect a considerable growth in the entertainment, business and conference sectors."

The hotel is to be the first stage of the future complex. The ground floor will be linked through a shopping mall to two residential buildings and an office building. The towering residential buildings will each feature 22 stories. The office building will close off the whole complex, centered around an open square. The office space is planned to occupy some 27,000 sq m. The project is in the initial design phase. The total area of buildings in the complex will amount to 140,000 sq m.