11 September 2003 15:04
}{Hotel chain expands and renames itself}{b
}{In these days of booming business and image improvement in the region, yet another Baltic corporation has
re-branded itself. This time it is the luxury four-star Grand Hotel Tallinn that has decided to take a new name. The hot
el is now known as the Meriton Grand Hotel Tallinn and is set to be joined by a chain of four Meriton hotels in the
Baltic countries upon their completion in 2004. \par Not only has the hotel taken a new name, but its parent company,
Irnesse Kapital, owned by Austrian businessman Alexander Kofkin, has also changed its title to Meriton Hotels Limited.
\par Of the four hotels currently under construction in the company\rquote s expansion, two are located in central
Tallinn. \par One, the Meriton Old Town Hotel, is currently under construction and scheduled to open its doors on March
1, 2004, according to Meriton sales and marketing director Mare Terri. \par There are also plans to build an aquatic
park and spa next to the current Grand Hotel and to add to a 200 room two-star hotel in the vicinity. \par
\'93Those are only on a project basis for now. We don\rquote t know when they will be opened, perhaps in
2005,\'94 Terri said. \par In addition to the new hotels in Tallinn, others are also being built or renovated in
Riga and in Vilnius. A three-star hotel is expected to open in Riga in the second half of 2004, as are another hotel and
an aquatic park in Vilnius. \par The cost for the re-branding and construction of the hotels was said to be
approximately 26.3 million euros, according to Meelis Maitse, head director of Meriton Hotels. \par \'93The
investment in the Old Town Hotel is around 36 million kroons (2.3 million euros). The [construction of] hotels in Riga
and Vilnius will cost 4 million euros apiece and enlargement of the Grand Hotel in Tallinn will cost about 250 mi llion
kroons. We hope to have the new hotel and aquatic park opened by 2005-2006,\'94 he said. \par Vitali Makejev, sales
executive at Meriton Grand Hotel Tallinn, said that the name change to Meriton was needed to accommodate the large
growth in the company\rquote s holdings. \par \'93The reason for the name change of our hotel was that our owner
Alexander Kofkin is opening a new chain of hotels. There haven\rquote t been any bigger changes made, only the name
change,\'94 Makejev said. \par Still Makejev believed that the newer hotels were being marketed to a different
clientele. \par \'93Meriton Old Town will be a three-star hotel, with about 42 rooms and will be marketed to more
tourists.\'94 \par The Vilnius and Riga hotels will also have approximately 80 to100 rooms available. \par This
design is a departure from the style of the 164-room Meriton Grand Hotel Tallinn, whose guests are usually
businesspeople from the United States, Russia, Germany, England, Scandinavia and the Baltics states. \par \'93We
have a presidential suite, and superior and executive classrooms. There are also seven conference rooms
available,\'94 Makejev said. \par The Meriton Grand Hotel Tallinn has a French theme, with Parisian-style pastry
shops and restaurants, as it was owned by French hotel chain Accor, which renovated and owned the hotel from 1998 t o
2001. Planners do not intend to replicate this theme in the new hotels. \par The Meriton Grand Hotel has endured name
changes before. It was known as Hotel Tallinn from 1963 to 1998, when it was acquired by Accor and renamed the Mercury
Grand Hotel. Since bec oming independent from Accor in 2001 until now, it has been known simply as the Grand Hotel
Tallinn. \par Another accommodation near Tallinn, the Villa Meri Guesthouse, is also operated by Meriton Hotels.}{
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