Lorand Szarvadi, owner of Grand Hotel Balvanyos, is expanding his portfolio in the hospitality industry with an estimated EUR 10-11 million investment in a new five-star hotel near Băile Tusnad. The entrepreneur thus continues its development in a growing tourist area, while optimizing existing operations in the province and the capital.
The new hotel project will have 61 rooms, a restaurant and a spa and wellness center. The investment involved taking over a 20% construction site from other investors, but the original plans were deemed unfeasible, necessitating a drastic redesign that took about a year. Construction work resumed last fall. This new establishment joins the largest asset in the contractor’s portfolio, the Grand Hotel Balvanyos, which opened 18 years ago and now has 180 rooms, two spas and four restaurants.
In terms of operational performance, Balvanyos recorded an occupancy rate of almost 70% last year. Although the beginning of 2025 was marked by a downturn in the corporate segment, caused by the reluctance of multinational companies to spend budgets in the electoral context, activity reached record levels between September and November. Unlike the new hotel in Bucharest, Peakture (formerly K+K Elisabeta), where 92% of the clientele is made up of foreigners on city breaks, at Balvanyos foreign tourists account for only 10%, mainly from Hungary and Moldova. In addition to hotels, Lorand Szarvadi owns the restaurants Gastrolab and Prime Steak House in Bucharest, with plans to relocate and rebrand the former fine dining restaurant Fork into a bistro concept.