Varese changes skin and the hotels close

Crystal, Best Western four-star hotel right in the centre of Varese, closes at the end of the year. In the same period also the historic Acquario Hotel, in Viale Borri area, should close. At Sacro Monte of Varese, "Il Gallo e La Stella" already closed, (the telephone does not work anymore), while in Induno Olona both Porro Pirelli Villa and Castiglioni Villa do not work anymore (since last March: even if it seems it will reopen, with a new management, in the first months of 2013). A bad newsletter for Varese hotels, which pours out Federalberghi Varese president Guido Brovelli: “Unfortunately we imagined it in the province. Since Ata Hotel, with a high number of business rooms, opened, we realized that the offer would have exceeded the demand for rooms in the city a lot. Obviously, it is not Ata Hotel fault: it works very well. But the demand is what it is.”

It is due to a transformation of the type of tourists who arrive in the city: “Varese has always lived thanks to business, thanks to people who came for business, for conferences. All things that drastically reduced due to the crisis”. If Varese is no more a city for business tourism, it still also does not have an alternative identity: “The hotels have not been converted into a difference space yet. For example, the bike hotels idea was born, which is very promising and it opens a space to all the possibilities in order to transform Varese Hotels into green hotels. It is a long way: the hotels must change skin. There must be a reposition in the offer, also as far as economic demands are concerned. It is also necessary to change the services: for example, the business hotels were all without restaurant, but now there are different requirements”. The displeasure is diffused but “it is sad that hotels, also historic ones, close: because when they close, they often do not reopen anymore. They become apartments or whatever.”

Varese situation, of course, it is not comparable to Malpensa situation: “There it is a real problem. Tens of hotels have been built and now it is nearly impossible to complete and occupy them”. However, there are some positive features: "Lake Maggiore area keeps on working. Here also, in order to attract tourists, hotels have to offer something new and they should work on it. Objectively, there is a territory and a greater attraction and the tourist however succeeds in catching the positive sides of their stay”.  Beyond this: “The hotel offer in that area is undersized: there would be still space for new structures, the lake could receive more. Instead, the new constructions are in Malpensa…” In reality, some new construction forecasts are also in Lake Maggiore area: “Now they are about to open a hotel in Laveno, in the big constructive area in the former-Ceramics. 60 new rooms have to be built”.