According to a new report from JLL, the first half of 2016 saw the branded hotel market in Russia and the CIS grow by about 2,000 rooms. Of that, almost 1,500 rooms opened in Russian cities, indicating ongoing growth for the country’s hospitality scene.
Top cities for hotel development in the first two quarters of the year were Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yerevan. In Moscow (including the extended Moscow Region), three new properties opened. Two branded hotels opened in each of the other two cities.
Moscow now has the Holiday Inn Moscow Seligerskaya (formerly the Iris Congress Hotel) with 201 rooms, the Ibis Stupino (125 rooms) and the Radisson Residences at Zavidovo (200 units). St. Petersburg got the Hampton by Hilton Expoforum (207 rooms) and Best Western Plus Centre Hotel (107 rooms). Yerevan has the Double Tree by Hilton (176 rooms) and the Radisson Blu (142 rooms).
“About a third of the branded room stock proposed for the year has already been put into operation in H1 2016 in Russia and CIS countries,” Tatiana Veller, head of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, Russia & CIS, said. “Hilton is the leader in terms of new openings–all properties announced for 2016 already started receiving guests (762 rooms in total).
The development shows no sign of slowing down. For the second half of the year, 4,000 new rooms have been announced for Russia, the CIS and Georgia, of which approximately 2,300 will be in Russia. By the end of the year, the region is slated to get more than 6,000 rooms—which is actually 1,315 rooms less than the amount forecast early this year, according to JLL.