According to Polish daily Parkiet InterContinetal plans to have some 25-30 hotels in Poland in 5 years with the medium target being 50 hotels. The chain is to mostly develop by its current medium-priced brands like Express by Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn. InterContinetal plans to invest a couple of hundreds million zlotys in the next 5 years.
Our view: We believe the news should have some negative trading impact on
Orbis. The strategic plans of InterContinetal show that another large player wants to enter the attractive Polish market and invest heavily in development. Recently, it has been announced that
Hilton want to build another hotel and Warimpex to dynamise its hotel-building in Poland. In our opinion, this strengthened competition in the medium- and high –end of the market should lead to falling rates per rooms and falling margins in the medium term.