Legendary Rossiya Hotel marks its golden jubilee in 2012
This year, the St. Petersburg-based Rossiya Hotel, one of the best three-star business hospitality assets in the city, turns 50. The hotel’s windows offer a beautiful panoramic view of the Chernyshevsky Square and the picturesque landscape of the Moscow Victory Park. On the eve of the golden jubilee, the hotel’s guests are expecting a variety of special gifts and offers. As a part of the events marking this red-lettered day, Svetlana Astafieva, the CEO of Turris Hotel Management Company, spoke with TRCW about the renowned hotel, its history and the surprises that await clients in its golden jubilee year.
When was the Rossiya Hotel founded?
The hotel was built in the middle of the last century in 1961, and was initially created as a three-star category property. It was finally opened for the first guests in 1962.
Could you briefly highlight the history of this hotel?
The history of the Rossiya Hotel is closely connected with the creation of the Chernyshevsky Square ensemble and construction of the Moscow Prospekt in general. Chernyshevsky’s monument was established in the ensemble in the late 1940s near the Rossiya Hotel. The Victory Park is situated opposite the ensemble, where if someone goes through the Heroes’ Alley, he will come to a neo-constructivism-styled building, the Sport and Concert Complex, which is now used to host a variety of the largest activities at the city, federal and international levels. All the houses located near the square were built in a strict classical style, notably of the 1930s. This helps explain the fact that, despite the completion of the hotel in the 1960s, its facade simply and strictly blends with the ensemble. The hotel was built during the construction of the Moscow Prospekt by the architectural and urban-planning workshop of the Lenproekt Institute, headed by Zhuravlev. The architects were P.A. Areshev and V.E. Struzman.
How was the Rossiya Hotel before it came under the control of JSC Turris?
Like most other Soviet state-owned hotels, Rossiya did not meet the European standards. However, due to an insufficient number of hotels and the excellent location of key sightseeing objects in the historical and cultural center of the city, the hotel’s room occupancy, depending on seasons, was always between the medium and high levels. In the 1990s, it, however, became clear that the hotel had only one competitive advantage, its prime location, which is a walking distance from the Victory Park metro station, proximity to major airports and the city’s downtown. Moreover, there was increase in competition among hotels that came from the arrival of foreign hotels on the Russian market, which, in turn, were offering a much higher level of services, better living conditions, etc. Meanwhile, Rossiya became obsolete in terms of its construction characteristics, the quality and quantity of services provided. As a result, the demand for the hotel declined with each passing year.
“The Rossiaya Hotel came under Turris’ management in 2005, a policy that stemmed from the understanding of the prevailing market trends and the necessity to foster more dynamic growth.”
For this reason, it became necessary to comprehensively overhaul the hotel and this required huge resources to upgrade it up to modern standards. However, it was only in 2000 that the rooms were renovated. In 2003, E.V. Krivonosova, then general director of the hotel, started the reconstruction of the Bourgeois Business Center as a part of the development of the property’s conference facilities, because the prevailing market trends demanded the creation of quality conference rooms with different formats. At the same time, the hotel became the first in St. Petersburg to install sliding walls that enabled us to change the areas of conference rooms within minutes, while maintaining sound isolation of each room.
When did the hotel come under Turris management?
The Rossiaya Hotel came under Turris’ management in 2005, a policy that stemmed from the understanding of the prevailing market trends as well as the necessity to foster more dynamic development. As a result, and taking into consideration the fact that centralization of management will lead to performance efficiency, several departments such as purchasing, personnel management, financial and legal, accounting, marketing and advertising, sales, etc., were set up.
How can you describe the hotel’s development under Turris?
First of all, we have finally completed the construction of the hotel’s conference center with seven conference rooms, each capable of accommodating from 20 to 250 people with different seating arrangements. In addition, we have bought all the necessary equipment for hosting business and corporate events, ranging from wireless microphones to simultaneous interpretation equipment. We have also created all the necessary conditions for catering for events’ guests and their accommodation. Besides, the hotel also offers a wide range of services such as beauty salon, fitness center, ATMs, air and rail ticketing offices. There are also service center and concierge service to help customers. Today, the ten-floor hotel building can simultaneously accommodate 700 guests. In addition, we have created a full-fledged shopping center, Bourgeois, where clothing, footwear, cosmetics, perfumes, etc., are sold. Thus, the demand for our hotel services has increased several times. In January, we began the repair of the kitchen and the hotel’s self-service buffet restaurant. One of the anniversary gifts for clients will be their openings.
Who are the hotel’s main guests?
Basically, these are mainly people on business trips; not only Russian citizens, but also lots of foreigners. Also, we have been working with several companies, which we help to organize business events and provide accommodation. Certainly, and especially at peak seasons, our hotel also accommodates tourists, who have come to see our beautiful city. Our restaurants are often used for hosting such events as anniversaries, weddings, corporate events, receptions, etc. Taking into account the opinion of each client enables us to continuously improve our services. A variety of ‘nice surprises’ await our guests on the occasion of the hotel’s golden anniversary. In addition to the opening of our renovated European cuisine restaurant, special offers will be available from April to December 2012, details of which can be found on our website at www.hotels-turris.ru
Have celebrities ever stayed in the hotel?
The interiors of the hotel, and even its basement, are often used for filming different movies. Besides, the hotel is frequently used to host various city and federal contests such as ‘the St. Petersburg’s Bride.’ Not long ago, the hotel played a host to people on an auto rally from Hamburg to Shanghai, visiting major cities. We also hosted such celebrities as Yulia Chicherina, Alexei Panaitov, Alexei Vorobyov, the Zemlyani, Nogu Svelo groups, Gorod-312, as well as the performers and technical teams of the Sensation Electronic Dance Music Festival and the movie ‘Return of the Musketeers or Treasures of Cardinal Mazarin’ and many others.
What types of gifts are waiting for the hotel’s guests during the golden jubilee celebrations?
We shall issue a limited edition of special anniversary discount cards with huge discounts that would be given as gifts to our loyal clients. At the same time, each guest will be able to get one during the anniversary events. I should also add that we shall offer our brand souvenirs to all our guests. It goes without that this is not the whole list of programs that we plan to carry out in our jubilee year. We hope that our guests will be delighted with our pleasant surprises.
How would you assess the current situation on the city’s three-star hotel market, and what do you expect from the industry in the second half of 2012?
Hotel market experts have forecast that the number of tourists will increase by 5-7% in 2012. I’m sure that this will happen, but only at the expense of an increase in the number of domestic tourists on the market, as it is no secret that most European states and several other countries are currently in economic and political crises. Consequently, the competition on the market will escalate significantly. In this scenario, only companies that are able to fully understand the market, customer needs and make appropriate offers that reflect these trends will become the winners.
After learning the Rossiya Hotel’s history, one question that readily comes to mind is what is the secret of such successful development?
Of course, our success formula is our loyal customers and efficient staff. In this regard, I would like to use this golden opportunity to thank all our regular guests for having been with us all these years and for their recommendations on how to further develop our hotel. The opinion of each client has always been very important to us, enabling us in many respects to move in tune with the latest market trends. Of course, I cannot help but note our talented team of managers and employees, who, with great dedication, always effectively do their jobs, constantly improving our services. This helps us not only not to lag behind competitors from the other three-star hotels, but also to being able to anticipate the expectations of our customers. Finally, I would like to invite everyone to join us to celebrate our hotel’s golden anniversary. We are waiting for everyone.
Web design,