Rezidor, prizeotel to launch debut hotel in Switzerland

The Rezidor Hotel Group and prizeotel are launching their first joint hotel project in Bern, Switzerland. The 188-guestroom prizeotel Bern is expected to be the largest hotel in Bern when it opens in late 2019. 

The hotel will be located at the former Swiss Post headquarters at Viktoriastrasse in Bern. Rezidor has owned a 49-percent stake in prizeotel; the Bern project is the first landmark step towards long-term and ambitious expansion plans in the economy hotel sector by Rezidor. In these plans, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Benelux countries, have been identified as the priority target markets for short-to-medium term brand development. prizeotel, the German economy design chain, currently operates three city-center properties in Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover for a total of 555 rooms.

The Swiss real estate company Prime Site is the proprietor and lessor of prizeotel Bern. “The signing of Bern is an important milestone for prizeotel,” Connor Ryterski, prizeotel Head of Development, who will also be responsible for the project development with Swiss Prime Site, said in a statement. “It elevates our portfolio beyond the 1,000 guestroom mark, as we expand the prizeotel in Hamburg City with an additional 177 rooms, and construct a new prizeotel in Hamburg-St. Pauli [with] 257 rooms.”

Beyond its 49-percent ownership of prizeotel, Rezidor has the option of acquiring the remaining 51 percent in four years' time. "The joint project in Bern heralds the start of our ambitious expansion strategy in the economy segment across Europe,” Elie Younes, EVP and CDO of The Rezidor Hotel Group, said.