Székesfehérvár's newest hotel was also officially opened on Friday. The four-star Best Western Plus Lakeside Hotel, operated by Accent Hotel Management, is the fifth Hungarian unit of the Best Western hotel chain. The project was implemented on the place of the former amusement park, in addition to the lakeside panorama, the hotel also offers therapeutic and conference services.
The newest hotel of the Best Western (BW) hotel chain was ceremoniously opened on Friday in Székesfehérvár. The four-star BW Plus Lakeside Hotel is the fifth Hungarian unit of one of the world's largest hotel group – BW is present in 110 countries with more than four thousand hotels. The building, which is fully wheelchair accessible and has 86 rooms, can directly be found on the shore of the local boating lake, right on the site of the former amusement park. The development won nearly 1 billion HUF assistance at the application of the New Széchenyi Plan, the project started in the autumn 2013.
The hotel, located about 30 minutes away from Budapest, does not only receive those who would like to relax, but also provides a venue for conference events. Its almost 150-square-meter conference hall is suitable even for 140 people, but the place can also be divided into 3, 50-square-meter rooms. The BW Plus Lakeside Hotel's specialty is the provision of therapeutic services. Located within the hotel, but operating independently, the 330-square-meter Medicover Health centre has various operating and consulting rooms, where health care services, which are not financed by the National Health Insurance Found of Hungary, are available. These services include occupational health service, dermatology, ophthalmology, ultrasound diagnostics, or even pulmonology and gastroenterology.
A hotelmenedzsment a szolgáltatási kínálat összeállításakor külön is figyelt a sport és rekreációs alternatívák biztosítására. Egy, a Magyar Kosárlabda Szövetséggel kötött megállapodás értelmében a szálloda mellett épülő csarnok a vendégek számára is használható lesz, a Lakeside Hotel pedig gondoskodik a sportolók fogadására elengedhetetlen feltételek megteremtéséről. Így számos szobát 220 centiméter hosszúságú ágyakkal szereltek fel, a hotel megfelelő sportétkeztetést biztosít, illetve a fitnesz-terem és a szauna használaton túl, az orvosi részleg szolgáltatásai is rendelkezésre állnak.
The director of the hotel Tahy Viktória, who had already been the director of many Accent Hotels in the country, gave a welcome speech at the opening ceremony. She thinks that the project is successful, because the parties involved in the implementation (Medius Tours as investor, Accent Hotels as operator, BW as franchise partner and Alba Medical as the operator of the medical centre) share the same vision. We would like to offer a product that is professional and modern, worthy of the tourists and the company – she underlined. According to the director, Székesfehérvár has been chosen as the site of the hotel because of its favourable geographical location, and because the town is also an important economic, logistic and industrial centre that generates considerable demand in the field of conference tourism. Tahy also said that the BW Plus Lakeside Hotel was popular with couples who intended to get married as it could already be seen from the wedding bookings.
The Mayor of Székesfehérvár Cser-Palkovics András also spoke. The politician pointed out that the hotel development also showed the investor confidence in the town, since the investment would be able to be profitable in the next few years. This service is the proof that Székesfehérvár is developing, and it does not only have a respectable past, but also a present and a future – he emphasised.
Cser-Palkovics also said that the town administration's aim was that the chief town of the county would become a noted town, to this every facility was given. He also mentioned that by the opening of the BW Plus Lakeside Hotel, it would be worth to travel to Székesfehérvár even more, and the project connected sports, health care and culture together at the same time. He even specialised the first, he said that the town would become the centre of Hungarian basketball by the finishing works of the basketball hall in August.
The Managing Director, Horváth Imre gave a speech on behalf of the investor Medius Tours Ltd. According to him, the construction was intended to create a high-quality service, by means of which they could contribute to the improvement of the town's attractiveness. By the completion of the works, not only the Koronás Park, but also an entire part of the town was renewed – he reminded. Local entrepreneurs also worked in the project, in addition to them Horváth said thank you to the local government, the financing FHB Bank and the designer Aspectus Architect and Szenes Design, who played a key role in the implementation, as well as to the building contractor Market Építő.
Ivona Meissner, the regional director of the hotel chain BW, also took part in the event. She considered the expansion of the group in Székesfehérvár an honour. She recalled that BW opened the first hotel in the region in 1993 in Hungary, and this decision had not been regretted since then. Our responsibility is to provide professional and commercial assistance to certain hotels, since we set out to offer good service at a good price even now – she underlined. Meissner also said about the development in Székesfehérvár that they saw great potential in it, and also in the entire domestic destination. She emphasised: Hungary cleverly built up its thermal, recreational and dental tourism, which complemented by the regionary and cultural capacities, became a popular destination for foreign guests.