
Tenants Instead of Tourists. Hotels in Prague Are Offering Long-Term Housing
Despite the decrease of the anti-epidemic system PES, tourists have yet to start visiting Prague and certain hoteliers have decided to respond to the coronavirus epidemic on their own terms.
Offers for long-term renting of hotel rooms that would otherwise stay empty seem to be on the rise. These include rooms situated on Wenceslas Square or in the greater area of the city centre. Smaller low-cost apartments, as well as those on the larger side, have been available for rent.
Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the cost of rent in the capital city has consistently decreased by a few percentage points, nonetheless, accommodation in Prague still ranks as the most expensive nationwide and accommodation availability continues to be a topic widely discussed by Prague politicians for several years.
Hotel chains that have started with long-term renting are bound to shake up the real estate market. During a time when a number of hoteliers have been spending the past few months counting their losses, others, for example, Czech Inn Hotels, have turned to long-term renting. 500 of their rooms have been repurposed for long-term renting, approximately 200 of which have already become occupied.
Tourists aren’t returning any time soon
According to the managing director of the establishment, Jaroslav Svoboda, such rooms should be available for a year at minimum, as he certainly doesn’t expect any significant improvements for tourism in the near future. He believes this type of accommodation could be interesting for people who are headed to Prague for seasonal work, or even students.
The hotel chain is offering rooms with its own equipment, including a kitchen unit from 20 to 50 square meters. “Studio flats starting at 6500 to 9000 CZK per month have garnered the most interest, however, the same could be said for fully-fledged 2 KK for 11 000 CZK. Lease agreements with months-long notice periods and low-interest rates have only added to the appeal of the offer,” Svoboda added.
Living on Wenceslas Square
The hotel chain is offering rooms in Holešovice, Strašnice, but also on Wenceslas Square. This permits access to smaller apartments in the heart of the city for approximately 10 thousand CZK. “The first few apartments were rented out by companies to provide corporate housing and offices for its employees, currently the biggest demand stems from people who wish to decrease their personnel expenses, ranging from 20 to 40 years of age,” stated the company’s marketing director, Petr Chábera.
AVE Hotels chose a similar strategy providing long-term rentals in Prague during the first wave of the epidemic in Spring. They’re currently offering hotel rooms in Prague 3 and Prague 8. According to business manager Libor Kovařík, people have been praising the possibility of a swift move-in and flexible conditions for extensions and terminations of lease agreements.
They’re offering rooms for 7000 CZK a month with an additional 1000 CZK for every occupied bed. Finding subleases with fees lower than 10 thousand CZK on real estate websites in Prague 3, for example, is quite difficult to come by.
Even this hotel chain plans to perpetuate the rental system for the upcoming year. “The majority of our service users are primarily Czech, nevertheless, we also have several foreign clients who are working in Prague and couldn’t be happier with hotel accommodation. At present we plan on having long-term rentals until March of 2021 at the very earliest, with possibilities of extension according to the present situation,” added Kovařík.
Laundry is taken care of by the hotel
Hotel accommodation offers a variety of niche services that other types of accommodation simply don’t offer. Seeing as the apartments are located inside hotel buildings, a reception, as well as the possibility to have your laundry washed in the hotel’s facilities, is regularly at your disposal.
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