Minor International, one of Asia’s largest hospitality groups, which also owns the Spanish hotel chain NH, has decided to end its operations in Romania.
The last NH hotel in the country, which operated in Timisoara, has closed its doors. The NH space quickly found a new owner. In less than a month, the hotel was rebranded and is now called Rivo by Branco. The new owners are the same people who opened the four-star Branco hotel in the city on the Bega in 2023, offering 26 rooms.
“It was a dream of mine to create a local brand. We started with the Timișoara Guesthouse in 2010, which we gave up, and then the Elisei Guesthouse, which we kept and will renovate. After opening Hotel Branco, which we built from scratch, we also acquired the three-star Hotel Classico and Serenity – the former Check-In hotel, which was four stars. For NH we had been in negotiations for some time, for about a year. Initially we didn’t agree on the price, but then they accepted our offer and within a month we closed the deal. NH was renting the space from Incontro. There is no NH in Romania anymore. We haven’t even put the new brand in place and customers have already started coming, even though the NH sites were already closed. We are very happy with how we started,” said Cristian Elisei Farkas, the owner of the hotels operating under the Branco brand.
The NH Timisoara, on Pestalozzi Street, features 80 rooms and three suites, 3 conference rooms, two restaurant spaces, a terrace overlooking the Regina Maria Park, a fitness and wellness area, as well as a spa.