Another famous hotel may close in Hungary

The energy crisis takes a toll on aspect every of life. Its newest victim may be the famous Hotel Lövér in the city of Sopron. For the winter they do not accept reservations anymore, but reopening is still in limbo.

The hotel’s management informed regular guests and subscribers that from the 1st of November they did not accept reservations any more, reports hvg.hu. They wrote that the future was still uncertain and they followed the examples of other hotels that also closed down for the winter. However, unlike other facilities, Hotel Lövér’s letter hints at the possibility that they might not be able to reopen. October is possibly the last month you can visit the hotel.

“The unexplainable price and energy chaos has arrived and it forces us to our knees, maybe for good.”

In the letter, signed by the hotel’s managers, they say the prices are unreal and unmanageable, they cannot pass the burden on to customers. As such, the future is uncertain, but they promised to keep the public informed.

The scale of the problem

Such closures are not isolated cases. As Index.hu wrote beforehand, even the legendary Graben restaurant will shut its doors after 33 years of service. The government fails to provide sufficient help for businesses in trouble, says Tamás Felsch, the president of the Association of Hungarian Hotels and Restaurants (Magyar Szállodák és Éttermek Szövetsége). Utility costs have risen ten times in the case of electricity and eight times in the case of natural gas. As an example, he mentioned that the cost of running a hotel with 150 rooms has increased from HUF 12-15 million (EUR 3,000-3,500) to 150 million (EUR 38,000). Obviously, this is a hit that only the most profitable business may survive.

Even the Covid pandemic did not cause such a great problem. Although there were maintenance costs and the hotels did not generate any profit, they could still use their reserves for upkeep. At that time, the problem was the lack of tourism that could have generated profits. It was a hard time for everybody and many businesses had to shut down as a result. However, what is happening right now is unbearable as it is literally impossible to manage such a huge price hike. Two economic crises right after one another are just too much for the economy to handle. We will have to wait and see how this whole situation turns out and hopefully most businesses will be able to reopen in the future.