The top-end hotel market on the move to Siberia

Irkutsk already has a Courtyard by Marriott hotel, and Kransoyarsk is set to get a 5-star Marriot soon. Under the top range Marriott Hotels & Resorts flagship brand, the 5-star Marriott Novosibirsk will be positioned in a prime location on Lenin Square opposite the city's iconic Opera House. 

'Featuring sophisticated guestrooms, a leisure club, indoor pool and 454 square feet of meeting space, the hotel is expected to be popular with both business and leisure travellers. Additional hotel facilities include a casual dining restaurant, a Lobby Lounge & Bar, and business centre,' said Marriott International. 

'Last October we announced plans to grow our portfolio in Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States by more than 50 percent by 2015 and signing the Marriott Novosibirsk Hotel is another important step in reaching that goal,' said Amy McPherson, president and managing director of Marriott International in Europe. 

'We are excited about the growth in travel throughout the region and the expanding demand for our hotels and brands'.

Marriott stressed the attraction of Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city. 

'Novosibirsk is the capital of the Siberian Federal District and Russia's third largest city after Moscow and St Petersburg. A vibrant hub of commerce and culture, the city is an important centre for governmental affairs and industry but also boasts an extraordinary host of cultural institutions. Known as the cultural capital of Siberia, Novosibirsk's State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Novosibirsk Philharmonic Hall and M.I. Glinka State Conservatory are internationally acclaimed.

Novosibirsk - which currently has a Doubletree by Hilton - is also expecting a Park Inn by Radisson Hotel, part of a huge roll out of hotels across Russia by Regional Hotel Chain, headed by Andrey Yakunin.

Irkutsk, gateway to Lake Baikal and seen as having major untapped tourist potential, is expected to see the arrival of Hyatt and Kempinski, says Commercial Real Estate journal.

'Representatives of Hyatt and Kempinski are limiting their search to land plots for building their 5-star hotels," according to a recent report. 

The Accord Group is ready to build a 3-star Ibis hotel on a site close to the four-star Coiurtyard Marriott Irkutsk. The new hotels are likely to mean an additional 818 rooms in the city by 2015, it is claimed. Hyatt is poised to open two hotels in Vladivostok: the Hyatt Regency Vladivostok Golden Horn and the Hyatt Burny Vladivostok.