“Riga should be more advertised in Asian markets” says Vladimir Bessmertnovs.

The Baltic Times (TBT): What is Hotel Justus?
Vladimir Bessmertnovs: Hotel Justus is a four-star boutique hotel with 45 individually decorated rooms located in the heart of the old town of Riga by the walls of the famous Dome cathedral. The architectural area around the hotel is protected by UNESCO. The hotel’s site possesses high historical value, since it was part of the plot of land selected by Bishop Albert as the location for his Baltic residence back in 1210.

The medieval wooden housing was nevertheless destroyed by the fire in the 17th century. Therefore, the architectural ensemble comprising Jauniela Street dates from the XVIIIth century. The facade of the hotel itself underwent the last major alteration in 1874.

The building hosted a tavern in the early XIXth century, later replaced by typography and lithography services. In the XXth century, it was occupied by artisan workshops, laboratories, and a cinema gallery and offices.
The charming architecture and historical atmosphere made this place a favorite shooting spot for the Soviet movie-makers. Scenes from the famous Soviet twelve-part television series, Seventeen Moments, were shot in Riga on Jauniela street and, in the hotel. This film shoot gave the name ‘‘Justus” to the hotel. ’’Justus” was a codename of a Russian spy in Seventeen Moments.

Hotel opened its doors in april 2009. Before the opening of the hotel, the building was in poor condition and the owner rolled up his sleeves and took part in renovating the building. The charm of the genuine brickwork was retained.

How is Hotel Justus reacting to the weak ruble and the Russian sanctions?
Last few years from late December until the second week of January you may see mostly Russian tourists in Old Town of Riga taking pictures, attending shops, museums and restaurants and they gave a serious revenue boost to hotels in Riga them to survive the quietest period of the year for industry (mid-January until early March). This year was different.
Unfortunately, shortly before New Year’s eve, the ruble dropped to a record low against the euro and we were affected as much as other hotels in Riga. The local market was not ready for such a situation and most hotels kept the usual higher  holiday rates until the last moment.

Guests started to cancel their bookings in massive numbers. Only then did hotels  started to adjust rates to increase their occupancy at the last moment. Customers could book a room for a New Year’s eve for an unsually good rate. This year was a record low for such booking date.

Those hotels that did not differentiate the prices in advance suffered the most. Luckily, we had lots of rooms booked with prepayment conditions during that period (“non-refundable reservations”), a discounted room rate with no option to cancel. We nevertheless recorded an approximate drop of 20% in occupancy during that.  The upcoming perspectives seem much brighter.

In 2014, Riga was the European capital of culture. Thereby, we saw large increase from such markets as Germany (20%!), United Kingdom and France. We adjusted our distribution channels in order to strengthen these markets. The results of such adjustments are very promising. Our average occupancy last year was more than 65% and we are looking forward into another great tourism season this year despite the ruble trouble. We are also offering more flexible and special conditions to Russian tourism agencies. Russians cannot yet afford to travel so much. It always takes time for customers to adapt to a crisis like the rubble one.

What marketing actions is Hotel Justus running to keep Russian clients attracted?
One of the action is to develop the story on the movie Seventeen Moments of Spring scenes shot in the hotel. I would like to mention that some episodes of a Soviet version of Sherlock Holmes were filmed also on Jauniela street by the hotel area. Our hotel due to its historical value is one of the tour guides destinations. Guides are coming with small groups spreading our story.

Is Hotel Justus orienting efforts more towards international markets such as Japan, China, India?
The potential for markets such as Japan, China and India is indescribable. This question is to be addressed at the national level. Riga should be more represented and advertised as a travel destination in those growing markets in the future. We nevertheless have made some first agreements with some Asian travel agencies already.

Hotel Justus
Tel: +371.67.21.24.04
[email protected]
[email protected]