The first Four Points Flex by Sheraton hotel in Latvia, Four Points Flex by Sheraton Riga Old Town, will open in Riga in October. It is the first project that Mogotel Hotel Group is implementing in cooperation with Marriott International, one of the world’s leading hospitality companies. The launch of Four Points Flex by Sheraton in the Latvian market marks an important milestone in the company’s development, while adding another internationally recognised hotel brand to Latvia’s hospitality market.
Four Points Flex by Sheraton Riga Old Town is located in the heart of Riga’s Old Town at 49 Vaļņu Street, on the site of the former Wellton Riga Hotel & SPA. It is one of Marriott International’s newest brands, created for modern travellers who value quality service, thoughtful functionality and a convenient location.
Before the rebranding, the hotel underwent a phased renovation, including the refurbishment of guest rooms, updated design and improvements to the interiors of public areas. Most of the investment was directed towards upgrading the lobby, reception, breakfast area and bar. The hotel will offer 174 comfortable, contemporary rooms, the Tapas Tapas restaurant serving lunch and dinner, a breakfast area, as well as the Wellton SPA Oasis with a sauna, jacuzzi and Turkish bath. The hotel also offers a modern conference room for small meetings, presentations and business events, providing comprehensive facilities for both individual guests and corporate clients.
“Renovation is not cosmetic refurbishment; it is the only way to change the economics of an asset: increase its value and occupancy, reduce energy costs, significantly enhance the company’s appeal to employees and minimise staff turnover. We make renovation decisions taking into account the natural lifecycle of equipment, energy-efficiency rules and requirements, as well as the rebranding process. Equally important are the technologies we introduce into the day-to-day management of our hotels. We only use solutions that either free up employees’ time for interaction with guests or directly reduce operating costs. In practice, this means a digital guest journey – online check-in, mobile keys, cloud-based management systems and artificial intelligence in revenue management, which we have been using across every hotel in the group for several years. This is not technology for the future — it is our everyday reality,” says Ivan Dokitsans, Executive Director of Mogotel Hotel Group.
Four Points Flex by Sheraton Riga Old Town will be the first hotel under the brand in Latvia, strengthening the presence of Marriott International’s brands in the Baltic region. The next stage in Mogotel Hotel Group’s development will be the launch of the StudioRes by Marriott brand. This will enable international hotel brands to expand their presence in the Latvian market even further.
“One of the most notable trends today is the affiliation of independent hotels with global brands. In Europe, chain hotels account for around 40% of hotel rooms, compared with around 70% in the US. This gap represents the entire growth potential in a single figure, which is why the largest operators today are growing not through new construction, but through conversions. In Latvia, there is still insufficient awareness that sustainability is becoming not merely part of marketing communications, but a full-fledged criterion in hotel selection. Already 76% of corporate clients include sustainability requirements in their hotel tenders, and a hotel that cannot provide data on its energy consumption effectively loses the opportunity to participate. At the same time, price remains one of our challenges: our revenue per available room is lower than in the other two Baltic states. This cannot be solved through discounts — the answer must be product quality and brand strength. A global brand with hundreds of millions of loyalty programme members becomes a distribution channel that works for a small country’s market every day,” comments Vadim Mukhin, Chairman of the Board of AS Mogotel Hotel Group.
