Hotel swap raises eyebrows: How EU delegates were redirected to hotel linked to Orbán’s son-in-law Tiborcz

During the 2023 EU summit in Budapest, the Hungarian government offered five hotels to the participating delegations, including the Dorothea Hotel. This building is owned by István Tiborcz, Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law. The Hungarian organisers were particularly active in promoting this hotel, highlighting “special packages” for foreign guests.

The Hungarian government assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2023, during which a series of prestigious international events took place in Budapest. According to Telex, the Hungarian side also coordinated the hosting of guest delegations and, in some cases, the interests of economic operators close to the government were brought to the fore.

During the visit of the Finnish Prime Minister, for instance, the delegation was directed to a hotel owned by István Tiborcz, the son-in-law of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The Finnish delegation’s trip to the Dorothea

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and his entourage did not originally choose Tiborcz’s hotel. However, the organisers of the Hungarian EU presidency claimed that the original hotel (likely the Ritz-Carlton Budapest) was unavailable due to overbooking. The delegation was then redirected to the Dorothea Hotel, where they paid more than HUF 1.1 million (approximately EUR 2,700) for a single night.

The Finnish government made the details of the booking public at the request of Direkt36. The invoices were not issued by the hotel but by a Hungarian company called Jet Travel Ltd. This company is a permanent partner of the Hungarian government in the organisation of international travel and acts on the instructions of the organisers. According to the Finnish side, the referral to the Dorothea was also made through this channel.

Jet Travel and the Dorothea Hotel

One of the owners of Jet Travel is Zoltán Gál Pál, whose brother, Levente András Gál, formerly served as State Secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice. The company has secured several government framework contracts worth billions of forints between 2019 and 2024 to manage diplomatic trips, conferences, and other international events.

The Dorothea Hotel’s name surfaced not only during the EU summit but was also the first hotel officially recommended by the Hungarian government for the Conference of Presidents of the EU Parliament in May 2024. According to the registration documents, Jet Travel again acted as an intermediary in the organisation of this event.

The Dorothea Hotel project was granted “priority investment” status in 2018, which allows for fast-track approvals and out-of-sequence administrative procedures. The BDPST Group, Tiborcz’s company behind the development, received a loan of more than HUF 4 billion (around EUR 9.38 million) from MBH Bank, which is partly owned by Lőrinc Mészáros. The state is therefore not only recommending but also indirectly financing the hotel.

When contacted by Direkt36, neither the Dorothea Hotel nor the BDPST Group, which owns the hotel, provided any information on guests, pricing, or the recommendation process. The company cited data protection reasons, and the Hungarian EU Presidency did not respond to questions.

István Tiborcz’s role goes beyond a single hotel business. The case of the Dorothea illustrates how government decisions, the organisation of international events, and the economic interests of the Prime Minister’s family members are intertwined. Within this system, state resources, powers of recommendation, and intermediaries all serve as channels that ultimately benefit Tiborcz’s business interests.

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