The five-star Howard Johnson Grand Plaza Bucharest Hotel has a new general manager, Tinu Sebesanu, starting 15th of January 2005. Prior to the hotel opening, Tinu Sebesanu was project manager and was appointed deputy general manager after the opening. The management was changed after the contract with former general manager, Antoni V. Kuhnen, came to an end.

The new general manager intends for the following years to maximize the hotel's accommodation and events organization potential on the luxury hospitality market of Bucharest and the target for 2005 is an increase of the occupancy of minimum 65%, revenues of at least 11 million Euros, human resources development and increasing unit's market share.

Tinu Sebesanu is 39 years old and has a rich experience of over 15 years in hospitality industry. He was borne in Bucharest and graduated I.L. Caragiale College in Bucharest. Mr Sebesanu attended Polytechnic Institute Bucharest, also he has an MBA and tourism specialization at Boston University in USA.

He is appreciated as a complex and dynamic manager, with an innovative spirit.

Opened one year ago, Howard Johnson Grand Plaza is the newest and the modernist five-star hotel in Bucharest. Located in Romana Square, the hotel has 18 floors with 285 rooms and suites. Adding to this is a conference center with over 800 seats, two restaurants and bars, a health center and an underground parking.

Howard Johnson Grand Plaza ended last year with revenues close to 10 million Euros and occupancy of almost 60 %. From this, over 30% is representing F&B and over 60% - the rooms' revenue. The statistics regarding the nationality of the guests show that from all guests accommodated at Howard Johnson Grand Plaza, the first ten positions are occupied by guests from Great Britain, France, United States, Romania, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Austria. The foreign guests represent over 85% from all people accommodated in hotel during 2004. Also the percentage of the Romanian guests is significant (15%), especially through the fact that business tourism on the luxury hospitality market is growing

Howard Johnson Grand Plaza Hotel brand which is used by the hotel from Bucharest on a franchise contract basis, represents the highest rating of the five divisions of the international chain, the other four being Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, Howard Johnson Hotel, Howard Johnson Inn and Howard Johnson Express Inn.

Howard Johnson brand is represented also by franchised hotels in United States, Canada and other countries from Central & South America, China, Israel, Malta, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The Howard Johnson chain is part of the Cendant group, the world's largest tourism franchiser, which groups together over 6400 hotels with over 540,000 rooms. The other brands of the group are Days Inn, Travelodge, Ramada, Knights Inn, Super 8 Motel and Wingate Inn.