Classy hotel opens on old dump

  • 2001-07-12
  • Virgilijus Savickas
VILNIUS - A new economy-class hotel going by the name of Baltpark recently opened on the outskirts of Vilnius near the smooth international highway to Riga - on a site known to Soviet-era residents as a municipal dump, which has been converted into an up-and-coming section of the capital.

The Baltpark is run by the joint-stock company Baltijos Parkai, a foreign capital enterprise controlled by the Liechtenstein-based Baltic Hotel Investment Trust.

The company has plans to build similar hotels in Latvia and Estonia, as evidenced by its logo of three flying seagulls. Bizarrely, to symbolize the logo's premature nature, only one seagull so far has a head.

But before it ventures into the other Baltic countries, the company first plans to build a hotel in Klaipeda.

The hotel in Vilnius occupies 40 acres of an 80-acre plot Baltijos Parkai bought from the state. It can accommodate up to 250 guests, and company officials predict a 50 percent occupancy rate in the first year of operation.

The rate for a double room is 199 litas ($50) per night. A business class room is 299 litas per night.

Most of Vilnius' hotels are situated in the city center. But Baltpark's location caters to short-term visitors and businesspeople.

"Most of our customers have business in town, so they have a good choice of restaurants there," said Osvaldas Markevicius, general manager of the hotel. "For our clients we offer only breakfast at 9 litas per person."

A one-way taxi ride to the Old Town is about 15 litas.

Baltpark also caters to conferences with a 200-seat meeting hall.

Information at the hotel is available in eight languages, including English, Estonian, German, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Swedish. Japanese will be available soon.

"This is a 10 million litas investment, provided by Liechtenstein-based Baltic Hotel Investment Trust, and we hope it will pay off in five to seven years of business," said Linas Pucinskas, director of the hotel.

Baltpark is the only hotel in Lithuania that is a full member of the International Hotel and Restaurant Association.