The famous Mardan Palace hotel on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey has been welcoming guests again since April 30. Since autumn 2018, it has belonged to the Turkish hotel chain Titanic Hotels and has received a new name Titanic Mardan Palace. The Titanic Hotels group has already invested 17 million euros in the renovation of the hotel, and it is planned that after completion of all the work, the investment will approach 20 million euros. During the work, the design of the hotel retained all the most luxurious things that it was famous for before. This is gold leaf, which covers 10 thousand square meters of the hotel, 23 thousand square meters of Italian marble and 500 thousand crystals from crystal, decorating the lobby, rooms, corridors and even elevators.
Leading specialist of the authorized agency Coral Travel in Rostov-on-Don Liliya Sarimsakova told the portal Interfax-Tourism that several clients have already managed to relax at the hotel. “We have already sent several families to the renovated Mardan Palace, and they arrived with extremely positive reviews. They really liked it there,” she said.
At the same time, Sarimsakova noted that Mardan Palace, like other premium hotels in Turkey, is not a mass product on the Russian market, especially in the regions, but there are individual requests for them.
The Ufa travel agency “Kreks” also reported that several tourists who had already vacationed in the renovated hotel were very pleased with their vacation there and said that they were considering the possibility of returning there during their next trip to Turkey.
Svetlana Gorshkova, director of the Arkhangelsk travel agency “Ves Mir,” also believes that Mardan Palace, like other premium hotels in Turkey, is not a mass-market hotel on the Russian market, but there are some bookings for them. “For example, two tours have been sold to Mardan Palace so far, and in general, tourists in our region who can afford such hotels still prefer the hotels of the Maxx Royal chain, but Mardan Palace has just opened, so positive feedback from the first tourists is very important,” she said.
Gorshkova noted that the demand for premium Turkish hotels is approximately the same every year due to the fact that almost the same tourists go there. “Another problem that slows down the sales of such hotels is the lack of business class on flights from Arkhangelsk to Antalya for those tourists who prefer hotels of the Mardan Palace level,” the director of the travel agency said.
From Sheikhs to Family Vacations
When Telman Ismailov opened the hotel in 2009, he wanted to accommodate only very wealthy tourists – Middle Eastern emirs and sheikhs, and the interior design was designed to suit their tastes. In addition, the hotel initially did not offer the “all inclusive” system popular in the mass recreation market. The Titanic Hotels brand, which now manages the hotel, primarily focuses on families with children. After the reconstruction, they now have access to a water park, a mini-club, a children's menu in restaurants, a nanny for an additional fee, a center with billiards, bowling and slot machines. In addition, Titanic Mardan Palace is now open all year round.
During the renovation, the beach and main restaurant areas were expanded. A total of nine a la carte restaurants were opened on the premises, one of which is open 24 hours a day for all guests free of charge. Titanic Mardan Palace has 22 bars, and the all-inclusive concept includes only high-quality imported drinks. In addition to the bars, the hotel has opened a three-story nightclub Monkey Club and Mykonos Beach Club in a “relax-style” near the beach. A modern concert venue has appeared on the premises, where famous performers will perform.
In addition, after the reconstruction, according to the correspondent of the portal “Interfax-Tourism”, who visited in Titanic Mardan Palace immediately after its opening, the hotel's design has changed significantly. If before the renovation the interior was dominated by dark colors, now it is light shades with a predominance of turquoise. The rooms were decorated in oriental and European styles, while previously all the rooms were reminiscent of palaces from the Ottoman Empire with wallpaper with golden patterns, heavy curtains and large carpets. Two types of rooms, Pool Dublex Suite and Premium Pool Dublex Suite, received direct access to the pool. During the construction of the hotel in 2009, a canal was dug just outside the windows of these rooms, along which gondolas ran. It was decided to abandon the canal in favor of spacious personal terraces with sun loungers. Now the most inexpensive room is the Premium Room with an area of 42 sq. m.
The main thing is service
In the company Coral Travel, which was one of the first on the Russian market to offer tours to the renovated hotel, expressed confidence that Titanic Mardan Palace will be in demand in Russia. “The hotel will be popular, as it is well known on the Russian market, and tourists were waiting for its return with interest,” Marina Makarkova, head of the tour operator’s public relations department, told the Interfax-Tourism portal.
She said that the absolute leader in sales in Turkey among VIP tourists are the Maxx Royal hotels. “They have proven themselves well and annually note a high return of guests, which certainly characterizes them well. It is impossible to compare Maxx Royal with Mardan Palace at the moment, since it opened a month ago and it is too early to judge the service. Obviously, the quality of the rooms and the variety of offers correspond to the declared high level of the hotel. In our opinion, it is the service that is always the decisive factor,” Makarkova said.
She also noted that each major hotel chain tries to stand out from the competition, but the variety of offers in Turkey is so great that it is almost impossible to come up with something new. “By and large, tourists care about basic things, but their quality should be as high as possible. This is what keeps customers year after year – including in the Titanic chain of hotels,” said the Coral Travel representative.
The goal is to be in the top three
Deputy Head of Sales Department of Titanic Mardan Palace for Russia and CIS Ekaterina Romanova reported that in the first month of work the hotel devoted mainly to receiving travel agents from Russia and CIS countries as part of advertising tours. At the same time, one of the largest delegations was a group of agencies of tour operators Coral Travel and Sunmar. More than 700 participants from all over Russia came to the joint forum of networks of travel agencies of tour operators from May 12 to 16 to the hotels Titanic Beach Lara and Titanic Mardan Palace.
"We have taken all steps to present the renovated hotel in all its glory. Numerous travel agents from Russia could see for themselves that we are fully prepared for the high season," she said.
According to her, at the beginning of June the hotel is filled to approximately 30%. Romanova noted that Titanic Mardan Palace will not offer promotional prices. “We want to see returning customers. If we give special offers, then “one-time” tourists will come to us, for whom a vacation at a normal price next year will not be available,” the hotel representative said.
She reported that the management of Titanic Mardan Palace has set a goal to make it the third premium deluxe hotel on the Antalya coast, along with Maxx Royal Belek and Regnum Carya. The cost of a seven-day holiday at Mardan Palace in June starts from 211 thousand for two, including accommodation in a standard room with all-inclusive meals, transfer and flight. At the same time, the cheapest room at Maxx Royal Belek for the same dates will cost 370 thousand rubles.
Romanova also expressed confidence that the hotel will primarily attract tourists from Russia, the CIS countries and the Middle East. According to her forecast, about 60% guests will be from Russia and the CIS countries.
History of Marian Palace
The Mardan Palace Hotel was built in the Ottoman style in May 2009 by the former owner of the Cherkizovsky Market in Moscow, Telman Ismailov. Immediately after its opening, it was recognized as the most luxurious in Europe and the Mediterranean. The area of the facility is 180 thousand square meters. Gold, crystal and Italian marble were used in the decoration. The official opening ceremony of Mardan Palace in May 2009 was attended by stars Sharon Stone, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Monica Bellucci.
The hotel's problems began in the summer of 2015, when the hotel was put up for sale due to Ismailov's debts to Turkish banks in the amount of 2.2 million Turkish lira ($800 thousand). Later, the complex was acquired by state-owned Halkbank for $123 million, which was half the initial valuation. Since the hotel required high maintenance costs, the new owners failed to make its operations profitable.
In 2017, due to numerous debts, Mardan Palace stopped booking in August, at the peak of the tourist season. The hotel had power and water outages. In the fall, Mardan Palace management announced that it was ceasing operations. The hotel was not operating throughout 2018. Last fall, the Titanic Hotels group won a tender to lease the Mardan Palace hotel for 15 years.
Source: tourism.interfax.ru