Luxury hotels are heading to Prague, construction will be started by Le Royal Meridien

PRAGUE - Luxury hotel chains such as the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Rocco Forte, Ritz-Carlton, and the French Le Royal Meridien are heading to Prague. The latter company is expected to build a high-standard hotel in the former IPB headquarters at Prague's Senovážné náměstí, where ČSOB currently operates, by 2009. This is reported by the weekly Euro in an issue that will be published on Monday. The reconstruction of the building is expected to cost 1.3 billion crowns.
The French company has signed a contract to build the hotel with the development company J&T Global and the Belgian real estate firm Buelens Real Estate. The design for the reconstruction is being prepared by the Belgian studio M&J-M Jaspers, J Eyers & Partners in collaboration with the Czech office 4A architekti.
Prague's historic buildings are also attracting other chains. Rocco Forte, which specializes in transforming historical buildings into luxury hotels, wants to attract tourists to the former St. Thomas Monastery on Letenská Street in Malá Strana. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is reportedly seeking to redevelop a former 14th-century monastery on Karmelitská Street. Ritz-Carlton plans to build a hotel in the U Sixtů house at Old Town Square. These projects are currently in the preparation phase, Euro stated.
According to Euro, there are 7,839 accommodation facilities in the Czech Republic, among which there are 239 with four stars and 27 with five stars. "I don’t want to be overly optimistic, but I believe that in the long term, Prague will become a European destination in the same spirit as London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona," quotes the weekly the director of the Central European hotel division of the real estate agency CB Richard Ellis, Stewart Cogganse.