‘The way we see it, putting up another premium class hotel in Yekaterinburg is a mere brand race. Yekaterinburg actually has more four-star hotels per head (of a local citizen) than any other Russian city, whereas the demand forecasts are not as rosy as we’d like. It’s simply impractical to put up another big hotel just in order to host guests during once-a-year international event like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit last summer. Moreover, such a hotel is obviously unnecessary downtown where as many as seven high-class hotels are already located, including the international chains like Park Inn and Novotel,’ the Moskovskaya Gorka Hotel’s Commercial Services Director Marina Karlova said to UrBC reporters.

Nevertheless, the construction of a Radisson SAS is about to begin in Yekaterinburg at the intersection of Malyshev St and Krasnoarmeyskaya St. The project is to be developed by Atomstroycomplex; the company has announced the construction will be finished by the end of 2013.