TIRANA, Sept. 27 – Hilton Garden Inn, a mid-priced brand owned by Hilton Worldwide, has launched its first Albania hotel, an Albanian investment in partnership with the prestigious US-based hospitality chain.
Located in downtown Tirana, Hilton Garden Inn, is a €19 million investment by Albanian investors that was officially launched this week following a 2014 franchise deal with Hilton Garden Inn.
The 150-room hotel is now one of the best accommodation units in Tirana and an international brand targeting the mid-priced hotel segment with a product that offers upscale, first-class accommodation and entertainment along the capital city’s ‘Gjergj Fishta’ boulevard, just 2 km off the city center.
The Albania investment is the first Hilton Garden Inn in the Western Balkans where the Hilton brand is already present with two luxury hotels in Serbia and Montenegro.
Hilton Garden Inn’s opening in Tirana comes after Sheraton Tirana, a Starwood brand which in late 2016 was acquired by U.S.-based Marriott International, left Albania in January 2018 following 15 years of operation in the country under a deal with Mak Albania, a subsidiary of Kuwait-based Kharafi Group Investments.
The high-end Sheraton hotel was purchased by an Albanian investor for €30 million and rebranded Mak Albania Hotel in early 2018.
Sheraton, which competed with two main rivals in the past 15 years, Austrian-owned Rogner Hotel and Albanian-owned Tirana International Hotel, had seen tougher competition in the past couple of years after the opening of the Albanian-owned Plaza Hotel, a 24-storey tower in downtown Tirana. Competition in the luxury segment is expected to get even tougher in the next few years as a new hotel tower is being built next to the under construction National Arena stadium and the Tirana International Hotel has obtained a license to build a new giant hotel next to its landmark 15-storey building in the city center.
Speaking at Hilton Garden Inn’s launch ceremony, Prime Minister Edi Rama said legal changes on elite tourism investment would pave the way for more 5-star hotels in Tirana and along the country’s Adriatic and Ionian coastline.
However, local experts say demand for accommodation in Tirana, which has seen a significant rise in the past few years, is mostly for medium-priced 3 or 4-star hotels and see the new luxury investments with skepticism.
In a bid to promote elite tourism investment, Albania has been offering tax incentives for a 10-year period on luxury accommodation units for investments ranging from €8 million to €15 million for four and five-star units that will have to be carried out by internationally renowned chained-brand hotels or local companies under management or franchise contracts with them.
Current investment in the tourism industry in the country are being mainly carried out by Albanian investors at a time when the long-standing unclear property titles remains the main concern for foreign investors, especially at coastal areas.
