Metropol Hotels Increases Employee Costs Amid Rising Demand
This year, Metropol Hotels has increased its employee expenses by 25%, a logical and expected move given the demand for hospitality workers along the Adriatic coast. In this context, hotel revenues have risen by 15%, while costs have only increased by 6%. Despite existing losses in the pre-season, these losses are nearly 30% lower than last year.
The largest hotelier in Ohrid, Metropol Hotels, managed to achieve a better performance in the first half of the year, particularly during the pre-season quarter. For the first six months, Ohrid hotels Belvi, Metropol, and Tourist generated nearly one million euros in revenue. Compared to the same period last year, these hotels have recorded a revenue increase of 15%, amounting to 134,000 euros more than in the previous year.
Despite the improvement in pre-season results, this tourism company reported an operational loss in the first six months, although it is significantly lower than the loss experienced during the pre-season last year. For the first half of the year, Metropol Hotels reported an operational loss of 194,000 euros, which is 25% less than the same period last year.
The company’s operational costs for the six-month period totaled 1.17 million euros, which is a 6% increase from the previous year. The largest expense category in the company’s expenditure structure is employee costs. For this, the company paid 583,000 euros, representing a 25% increase compared to the same period last year. It is evident that Metropol Hotels has prioritized its staffing policy and focused on retaining and better motivating its employees, especially now that there is a significant challenge and demand for quality hospitality staff on the Croatian and Montenegrin coasts.
To mitigate this risk, managers and owners of these Ohrid hotels have likely been generous towards their employees. The second largest expense category consists of costs for raw materials and other supplies, for which the company allocated 300,000 euros over six months.
Metropol Hotels finished the first half of the year with a loss of 175,000 euros after offsetting operational losses with the positive difference between financial income and financial expenses. Notably, from an investor interest perspective, this company has doubled its exposure and obligations in the first six months of this year. By the end of June, these obligations amounted to 1.2 million euros, compared to 585,000 euros at the end of June last year.
Metropol Hotels stands as the largest hotel company on the Riviera, boasting over 770 beds. The dominant owner of this company is the Skopje-based freight forwarding company, Fersped.
