Английский язык. Любинская Н.А - 7 стр.

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       The city has 36,000 hotel rooms, but a large number of hotel renovations
means that 2,700 rooms have been subtracted from that total, according to the Hotel
Consulting and Development Group.
       Accommodation is difficult to find even in four- and five-star hotels.
       About 30 percent of Moscow’s hotel space is not used for its “core” purpose,
said Marina Smirnova, deputy director of the Hotel Consulting and Development
Group.
       Out of the capital’s 162 hotels, 56 were under municipal and six under federal
government ownership at the end of 2003, according to Moskomstat figures.
       For municipal hotels, the decree comes into effect on Feb. 1. Those hotels that
are only part-owned by the city have until the summer of 2005 to come into line with
the decree, and all other hotels should do so in the first quarter of 2005.
       An exception will only be made for hotel rooms that have been granted an offi-
cial permit to be redesigned as office space.
       Hotels that have a large number of lettings to businesses include the 3,000-
room Rossiya Hotel near the Kremlin, the Kosmos Hotel, the Izmailovsky complex
and hotels with multiple buildings near the All-Russia Exhibition Center.
       Hotels on the city’s periphery also have significant lettings.
       However, hotel managers and tenants appear unconcerned about the future of
their business Arrangements.
       Gennady Lamshin, managing director of Russia’s hotel association, said at the
end of the 90s, the city government granted many hotels the status of Hotel-and-
office complexes.
       The manager of the Rossiya Hotel confirmed that the majority of its 350 rooms
that are leased out as offices had been redesigned as office space with City Hall’s
blessing.
       Kosmos’ first three floors were transformed into an office complex, said Ma-
rina Levchenko, general director of the Tari Tur travel agency, which rents space
there. She therefore hopes that her company and other tenants will not be affected by
the mayor’s decree.
       With demand for room space often outstripping supply – the average vacancy
rate in Moscow hotels in 2004 was around 30 percent – using hotel space for its de-
sign purpose is more profitable than renting it out to commercial tenants.
       “Tour agencies are forced to turn away tourists simply because there is no ac-
commodation for them,” said Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Russian Tourism
Union.
       Renting hotel rooms is currently not very attractive for small businesses given
the current lack of competition on the hospitality industry market, according to
Vladislav Kochetkov, spokesperson for Magazin Gotovogo Biznesa, which brokers
deals between buyers and sellers of existing businesses.
       According to the Hotel Consulting and Development Group, hotel rental rates
are not very affordable, ranging from $400 to $700 per square meter per year.