The patrons of Mamaia, the revelations of the most sought-after hotel manager in the north of the coast

Starting today, funkytravel.ro invites you to discover the piquancy of the hotel industry in RomaniaThe texts are written by Razvan Good, one of the most sought-after hotel managers on seasideRazvan is 40 years old, has been working in tourism for 17 years, and in Mamaia for 14 years. His first job in this multi-million euro industry was as a courier, and for many years he has been a manager and runs only 4 and five star hotels in Mamaia, the most famous resort in RomaniaCurrently, Razvan is preparing to open the newest four-star hotel (he says it will have five-star amenities) on the northern coast. I thought I'd start with the patrons because they are an important ingredient of a successful or unsuccessful vacation. Actually, not them, but the spaces they own. Now is not the time to discuss how they came to own these spaces or the land beneath them, that is another discussion that I do not want to get into. Let's talk a little about these spaces. In Mamaia, as you know, there are several types of accommodation spaces: hotels built during the communist years, most of them around the 70s-80s; relatively new hotels that appeared after the 2000s; many apartment blocks built after 2005 and some very new ones that appeared after the 2008-2009 crisis subsided. And it is still being built... I specially put an older image so you can see the difference and you will also find the renovated version below.     The hotels Now, depending on the types of accommodation above, let me tell you a little about each type of owner. First of all, we find those who took over the old hotels immediately after 1989. How they took them over is none of my business, I was little then, but if I were older, I would have taken one too. Because it "went" to everyone. Anyway... After they took them over, they milked them until the beds started to break and the lime started to fall off the walls. Some of them didn't give up and continued to milk them until recently when the expansion of new accommodation spaces didn't give them any chance. And the renovations began. Some of them renovated the hotels several years ago and they gained from it, but here too there is a lot to discuss. Because they didn't have money for a total refurbishment, they changed the beds in one year, the linen in another, the carpet in another, etc. Because of this, there have always been reasons for tourists to complain about certain aspects. When the bed was ok, the pipes would burst, when they had new linens, the air conditioning wouldn't work or it would drip on them. For these reasons, you will always see in the reviews of these hotels the various problems related to certain aspects of hotel accommodation. In the second hour, however, when they woke up without tourists, they realized that they can't do things by halves. Almost all the very old hotels in Mamaia Resort have been or will be undergoing total renovation (or at least partial, meaning floors or wings). Which is very good, especially since the size of the room built according to other standards under communism will never help them. Below you can find a good example of a hotel renovation. Because I worked there, I know how much was invested in changing its image from 2 to 5 stars. However, it is very difficult to make such a change, many just add one star, maximum two.    

Holiday apartments

Let's move on to another category now. Let's talk a little about holiday apartment owners. And I'm not thinking of those who bought their apartments for themselves but of those who want to exploit them from a tourist point of view. There is a general trend all over the world to rent apartments instead of hotel rooms. You can save some money or you can afford a certain vacation that you would have had a hard time spending in a hotel. I did this too when I was on vacation. It is clear that there will be an increase in this type of accommodation in the coming years. I also think that most of the apartments in Mamaia are well and very well equipped. However, there are also a few disadvantages, one being the unfair competition they make to hotels by not taxing their income (I don't want to generalize but I find it hard to believe that there are many who declare it). There are also, from what I have seen through reviews, a lot of unserious owners. Cancel reservations and they'll give you your money back without caring that it's the weekend and that if you find something, it'll probably be almost double what you paid. Some don't clean properly, some don't give you all the information and tell you that you have a sea view even though you see a strip of a few centimeters between two other buildings. By introducing these spaces for sale on online channels, this practice of not declaring income is stopped because serious sites like booking.com or airbnb.com force you to have some tax data, accounts, etc. It would have been even better if there were some regulations from a tourism point of view for these, but I don't think they'll appear soon. The tourism law being debated these days is trying something but doesn't know how and only comes out nonsense that, on top of that, doesn't encourage tourism. Who do you complain to that you didn't have hot water or it was a mess. Reviews on booking aren't enough to leave them without tourists. Another disadvantage would be the comfort that hotels offer you through housekeeping services, breakfast, restaurant, bar, etc. but, I repeat, there are quite a few who give up this comfort for a lower price or other services specific to apartments such as a kitchen for cooking. When searching on booking sites, you find 454 apartments and only 120 other accommodation spaces, which says a lot about this trend.    

HOUSE

I continue by telling you a little about the guesthouses in the north of the Mamaia resort. Which are actually in Năvodari, but here is another discussion. All present themselves as being located in Mamaia Nord or at least Mamaia Sat. None of these officially exist yet. The most correct is to write Traps. In the last 6-7 years, with an emphasis on the last 2-3, hundreds (yes, I'm not exaggerating, hundreds) of guesthouses have appeared in this area. Some small, some large, some brightly colored, some not. An amalgam of colors, heights and breezes that do not work well at all. The areas have been parceled out to the millimeter, they are built next to each other or on top of each other without thinking about the comfort and relaxation that a guesthouse generally provides. It is already becoming an urban agglomeration that I hope will not end up like the northern area of ​​the Sunny Beach resort with abandoned villa neighborhoods. Finally, because yes, this long digression is ending, I want to draw some personal conclusions about the owners of Mamaia. Please note that I am not putting everyone in the same pot, but I am trying to show the perception of the majority of them. I would divide them into several categories:

• owners of old hotels trying to keep up with the new constructions, but losing ground more and more due to the appearance of hotels with large accommodation spaces and latest generation equipment/facilities. It's hard to put central air conditioning in a hotel that wasn't built for it. What to do? Maintaining a real classification of the hotel somewhere at 3, maximum 4 stars with prices that justify the quality of the spaces and services they offer. And the liberation from their old meteahna, "let it go as it is" which will lead them slowly, slowly towards less income.
• patrons of new hotels. There are those who built the hotel according to modern standards with a design in mind, but sometimes forgetting or being ill-advised about the functional aspects of the hotel (like where employees or goods enter). They are more read, more traveled, maybe with more money, but they must be very attentive to the services offered to create a location as attractive as possible for tourists. The fact that you spent tens of thousands of euros to make a room does not necessarily bring customers to your door.
• real estate developers. Those who smelled the potential of the area in time and built apartment blocks, either for sale or for rent. There's not much to say about them except that they don't take into account AT ALL the privacy of whoever will be occupying the space by actually gluing the blocks together.
• guesthouse owners who made some money from other businesses and didn't have enough money to build a hotel. Some try to manage them by themselves, which is a big mistake, 80% of them don't think they know anything about tourism.

And now some conclusions about the problems of the owners in this area:

• lack of minimal knowledge to many of the patrons about how a location like this should work. And here I mean first of all the construction: when you make a window of the room that sees 4 meters into another window it is not right or you don't make windows or a good ventilation system in the bathrooms (you also know how some unventilated bathrooms smell)
• despair to those who make guesthouses to make as many rooms as possible at the expense of a green space where you can arrange a nice place to relax. Basically, this is why people choose guesthouses, for privacy and to avoid the crowds in hotels. I think they would have more to gain by slightly increasing the price of the room but having a relaxation space like the garden, the lounge as attractive as possible
• lack of knowledge in the field of tourism and sales. We all know about tourism, don't we? How difficult is it to create an account on booking.com and infopensiuni.ro. The rooms are sold anyway during the 3 weeks of the full season. But what do you do during the rest of the summer season? You wait and wonder why your guesthouse or hotel is not full. Or the fact that you have walked through many hotels in the world does not mean that you know how to do tourism and dictate policies, rates and management.
• distrust that they have in people with experience. How can I leave my hotel in his hands. I know how to manage it better, I just have the experience business for decades. Sound familiar?
• the low wages they offer. Here is a general problem in the industry, but Mamaia, being very affected by seasonality, does not manage to solve it. How I see the solution: a very simple one already applied by many who try to keep their people good. Loyalty system and bonus based on performance + generalized benefits at employee level.
• It will take some time for them to realize that if they pay them better it is possible for them to earn more money through the return of tourists, the services bought

Razvan Good, hotel manager