Features

Pole star

26 Feb 2009 by Sara Turner

It’s capitalism, not communism, that rules in Warsaw today – and all around are signs that it’s bucking the recession trend. Jenny Southan reports.

Poland’s capital, Warsaw, has come a long way. While there are few physical reminders of the past – 85 per cent of the city was destroyed during the Second World War – there is a tangible sense of the journey it has taken. Nothing here is more than 50 years old. Even the “Old Town”, which was flattened during the war, has been carefully rebuilt, earning it a spot on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list.

Yet there is one landmark that is an inescapable reminder of Warsaw’s history. The imposing 42-storey Palace of Culture and Science was a gift from Stalin, and defiantly stands just off the main road of Aleje Jerozolimskie, within sight of the last remains of the Jewish ghetto wall off Zlota (located in a gated residential compound). Erected in the mid-fifties, the edifice is studded with mean little windows, typical of the Soviet style of architecture. For 20zl (£4), you can take a lift to the 30th floor, where stepping on to the outside walkway will give you a panorama of the city.

From all four corners of the tower, you can see signs that communism is long gone and capitalism is in full swing. There is a huge amount of construction going on – cranes, building sites and the tall skeletons of office blocks are dotted around the ever-changing centre.

To the left stands the sleek 518-room Warsaw Marriott, the first big chain hotel to open in the city in 1989, when communism ended, while on the right is the 326-room Intercontinental Warsaw, a five-star property that opened its doors in 2003. (It looks like it has had a giant slice taken out of it, so it is easy to spot.) Beyond that is the two-year-old Hilton Warsaw Hotel and Convention Centre, offering more than 300 bedrooms and three floors of meeting space, the most in the city.  

Funda Eratici, director of business development for the Hilton Hotel and Convention Centre, relocated here from Istanbul. She says: “When I was told I would be moving to Warsaw I imagined a grey, depressing place, but when I got here I was surprised. Everything is so new.” Standing in the shining glass-walled lobby of the hotel, you can see several blocks of luxury apartments going up next door (due to be completed this year), and from the higher floors you can spot areas of scrubland opposite already designated for further development.

But Ewa Binkin, acting director at the Polish National Tourist Office, says the city is also doing its best to preserve what remains of its past. “Warsaw is gaining in character as lots of old buildings have been adapted to hotels and boutiques,” she says. “Hotels that were once landmarks in the communist era have been refurbished and now have luxurious interiors adapted to the needs of the modern traveller.”

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, Warsaw has seen a lot of investment, and many overseas firms have relocated here because Poland remains relatively stable economically compared with those countries struggling under the impact of the financial crisis. Firms such as Motorola, IBM and Dell, which has moved part of its production from Ireland, all have branches in Warsaw. Even Cadbury Schweppes has a base here, producing the country’s famous brand of chocolate, Wedel. (To try it, head to the charming Wedel chocolate shop and café on Ulica Szpitalna 8.)

“Strangely enough, I think the global downturn brings particular opportunities for Poland,” Binkin says. “The impact is more muffled here because our banks did not invest so heavily in international markets. Poland is not in the euro as yet and we have a better rate of exchange from pounds to zloty than from pounds to euro. Prices are also not as high as elsewhere in Europe, and lots of business people recognise that.”

Warsaw is being used by more and more business travellers from abroad as a hub for meetings, thanks to its gateway position between Eastern Europe and Russia. It is also easy to get to, with more than 140 daily international flights serving the destination, including nine a day during the week from London. (LOT, Easyjet, BA and Wizz Air all serve the route.)

Pawel Mirski, PR and marketing manager for the Hilton Hotel and Convention Centre, has noticed a growing trend for return visits: “Not many people would choose to come here on holiday, so first-time visitors tend to be business people coming for a convention, for example. But then they find they like it and come back in their own time,” he says.

Ewa Binkin has also observed Poland’s growing popularity. “Business travellers in Britain are savvy – they have been to all sorts of places around the world, yet many of them have not been to Warsaw,” she says. “People want to be more prudent with money but don’t want to drop their quality of life, so are looking for destinations that offer entertainment, comfort and luxury at a reasonable price. And I think that is what Warsaw offers.”

Polish culture is known for not being terribly expensive, as Binkin explains: “Going for a good meal is not as backbreaking in Warsaw as it is London. Go to a club here and you can have the same Belvedere vodka, which costs £200 a bottle in the UK, for much less.”

As well as the Polish National Tourist Office, there are two other organisations working to promote the city – the Warsaw Convention Bureau and the Warsaw Destination Alliance, a private organisation working in association with five-star hotels. “The biggest problem we have is the image people have of the city, and we’re working hard to change this,” Hilton’s Mirski says. “The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship and the bicentennial celebrations of Frederic Chopin’s birth next year will help, because these will attract many people and create a lot of media coverage.”

When it comes to fun, there is one thing that the large Warsaw hotels all have in common, and that is gambling. The Hilton Hotel and Convention Centre, the Marriott, the Sofitel Victoria and the Hyatt Regency all have on-site casinos, which are proving to be quite a draw. At 1,500 sqm, the Hilton’s 24-hour Vegas-style venue offers roulette, blackjack, slots and bars that never close. Mirski says: “Hyatt organises big poker events and when it does the city is packed, so we might start doing it too. We also have a lot of guests from Israel flying in on El Al who come to explore their roots – they love gambling.”

Before the Second World War, 30 per cent of Warsaw’s population was Jewish, but when Soviet troops liberated the city on January 17, 1945, only 200 Jews remained. Of the three million Jews living in Poland before the war, 200,000 managed to emigrate to the State of Israel as well as North and South America. So not only is Warsaw a thriving business destination, it’s also a place of pilgrimage for Jews who come for the annual March of the Living every April – a two-week journey following the route between Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps to mark Holocaust Memorial Day and Israel Independence Day.

If you are looking to visit at this time but find you are stuck for somewhere to stay, one alternative to the big chains might be one of the many boutique properties springing up all over the place. On Koscielna 12, the five-star Le Regina, in Stare Miasto (the Old Town), is one of the most well established. The luxurious 61-room Mamaison-branded property was restored in 2004 to its former 18th-century glory, and has meeting space for up to 150 delegates and a cosy fine-dining restaurant.

Also part of the Mamaison brand is Residence Diana, a 46-suite serviced apartment property, which opened in 2005 and is situated a few minutes’ away, off the popular Nowy Swiat on a quiet passageway. Agnieszka Tucharz, its general manager, says: “Warsaw is filled with chain hotels so we decided to invest in something totally different.”

Whether you’re after the intimacy of a boutique hotel or the facilities of a well-known brand; hearty Polish fare or exquisite Italian cuisine; or simply a place where your money will go further, you will find it in Warsaw. The past five years have seen it evolve at a rapid pace, and with its recession-defying attitude and thirst for growth, it is only going to get better.

For a review of Hilton Warsaw Hotel and Convention Centre click here.

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