Accommodation in Sochi for the Olympic guests

Аннотация. В период Зимней Олимпиады 2014 остро встанет вопрос размещения туристов. Сочи наводнит множество иностранцев, как никогда раньше. И главная проблема состоит в том, ответят ли сочинские отели западным требованиям. В данной работе содержится маркетинговое исследование рынка отелей города Сочи, проведенное в предолимпийский период, которое показывает уровень их готовности к приему гостей Олимпиады.

Ключевые слова: ХХII Зимние Олимпийские Игры 2014 в Сочи, размещение туристов, отели Сочи.

One of the acute problems of organization XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi is the problem of accommodation the tourists. In this time Sochi will be filled by both Russian and foreign tourists. But have the Sochi's hotels been ready to host the foreign tourists? This article contains the marketing research of Sochi's hotel market. It shows the level of readiness the hotels to host the guests.

Key words: XXII Winter Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi, accommodation of the tourists, Sochi's hotels.

The summer of 2007 was significant for the most famous Russian resort. Exactly in June of 2007 Sochi was called the capital of the XXII Winter Olympic Games. Since that moment the life of Sochi has been dramatically changing: modern high-rise buildings grown where the wastelands were before, the nets of modern roads has become to enmesh the mountains. Every year Sochi changes more and more. And the most important changes should make the world-famous resort from Sochi. The Olympic aim is showing that Sochi can host all the year round.

In according to Rosstat's data, every year Sochi takes about 3,5 million tourists including about 10 % tourists from non-CIS [2]. In the Olympic period the number of guests will be about 2 million including about 250000 foreigners [1]. All this people need to temporary home in Sochi. Today there are hotels, hostels, small private hotels for Olympic guests, a lot of locals list the apartments, rooms and even homes. It is understood why most of foreign visitors prefer classic hotels and hostels. That is why that hotels will be filled the first. Therefore there is the question: «Are the hotels of Sochi ready to host the foreigners?". I tried to find the answer in this research, which includes the interview of staff from different Sochi's hotels.

So, the hotel is an establishment that provides lodging paid on a short-time basis. [3].

In according to international classification every hotel has from 1 to 5 stars. The quantity of stars is identified in according to certain criteria, such as occupancy, facilities, comfort, the functional purpose of the hotel, its location, etc [3].

All Sochi's hotels have been awarded from 1 to 5 stars status. In this research I examined from 2 to 5 star (tab. 1).

Table 1

The researched hotels

The level of readiness of hotel to host Foreigners was estimated in according to this criteria:

-       the foreign language proficiency;

-       availability of family rooms;

-       babysitting, children rooms and animation;

-       types of meals;

-       the cost of accommodation and distance from the Arena;

-       the additional facilities.

I think, one of the most important criterion of them is the level of knowledge of foreign languages by the staff. Firstly, they must to speak English. The skills of speaking other languages are less important. Unfortunately, as we know, one of the specific problems of service in Russia is the low level of speaking English. This characteristic scares a lot of foreigners and make a hurdle to develop Russian tourism. However, latterly the propaganda of learning English has become in Sochi. One of the example of this is program of Sochi Administration «The word of day» [4].

So, the staff of all asked hotels can speak English. Sure, than the rate of the hotel is higher the level of English is higher too. And only personnel from 4 of 17 hotels can speak German, including one five-star hotel («Russian seasons deluxe hotel») and three three-star hotels («Sochi Breeze Hotel», «Zhemchuzhina», «Tulip inn»).

A plenty of foreign visitors come with their family and children and they cannot always take their kids along to the competitions. That is why this ability is very important to choosing accommodation. Almost all hotels offer comfortable terms for travelling with children. The family rooms are provided by 14 of 17 hotels including one five-star («Russian seasons deluxe hotel»), four four-star hotels («Green house», «Veyler», «Marince Park Hotel», «Parus»), seven three-star hotels («Adelfia», «Paradise», «Flamingo», «Ac-hotel», «Sochi Breeze Hotel», «Zhemchuzhina», «Tulip inn») and 2 two-star hotels («Mirit» and «Nairy»). Animation for children, children rooms and babysitters are offered only by 3 from 17 hotels: 1 four-star («Parus») and 2 three-diamond hotels («Zhemchuzhina» and «Tulip inn»).

Types of meals offered in hotels are less important because it is though the guests are going to spend all free time in Arena or outside of their hotels. Only 2 from 17 hotels do not provide meals, there is «Valentin» and «Okhotnik». All left over hotels promise to feed their guests. Let's consider offering meals below (tab.2):

Table 2

The types of meals

As we can see, almost all Sochi's hotels offer only breakfast as many European hotels. This is due to the visitors spend a little time in their rooms and if desired they can eat in the restaurant of their hotel.

The next criterion is depending the price from location of the hotel. The questions given to the respondents was: «What do you think about the foreigners, are they willing to pay more for the hotel's proximity to the site of the Games?". And generally the answer was positive. However in the real the cost of accommodation depends from the providing facilities and the renown of the hotels more than location. More details are in the table below (tab.3):

Table 3

Dependence of the price from location of hotel

Let's consider the hotel «Tulip inn» separately because it's single one from this selection located in the mountain cluster that is why it is senselessly to explore depending the cost of accommodation from the distance from coastal cluster. The average price of standard double room for one person is about 115 euro. As we can see this price is middle for three-star hotels.

The last criterion is additional facilities offered by the hotels. The selection of this is different in each hotel and it often helps to choose visitors the hotel. All hotels and their additional facilities are below (tab.4):

Table 4

Additional facilities

Besides such standard additional facilities, hotel can provide such special service as ski room with boot warmers provided by «Tulip inn» hotel. During the Games the main function of hotels will be not entertainment. And as we could see earlier if the hotel offer more diverse facilities than the price is high. Therefore, it is probably the low price hotels are going to filled firstly independent from the additional services.

The individual point is offered transfer for the visitors. In mu opinion it is the most important additional facilities showing the high level of the hotel. And all of the interviewed hotels provide it. The guests can book the shuttle absolutely wherever they want: in the airport, in the railway station, to the Arena, etc.

When I was making this research I had the aim to find out if the Sochi's hotels had been ready to host Germans. In conclusion I can say that most of Sochi's hotels meet the basic European requirements. Only one minus is the possibly lack of the high level of knowledge not only German but even English. Excluding this Sochi has hotels for every taste and the choice is going to depend from the wishes and the capabilities of hosts. And if our hotels would match to German requirements the Olympic will show.

References:

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rialy V Mezhdunarodnogo forusa «Morskoj turizm», Sankt-Peterburg 4–5 ijulja 2013, — www.confspb.ru

2. The federal agency of statistic,- www.gks.ru

3. The free encyclopedia «Wikipedia»,-www. wikipedia.org.

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