R URAL D EVELOPMENT T OURISM /S ERVICES Tutor: Magdaléna Pichlerová Elina Puustinen Heidi Tuominen Petra Vachova Elena Zamcu Paul Ivan Innovation in Nature Based Tourism Services Suceava, Romania 26. April- 7. May 2010

Creating innovations for Conacul Domnesc which is located approx. 5 kms from Sucaeva city center hotel, restaurants and other services are located around the old mansion house target group: businessmen and tourists Romanian (90% - March 2010), Italy, France, Germany, etc. The complex offers: conference hall, additional conference rooms for smaller group meetings 40 luxury rooms with 78 beds, deluxe 2 bedroom apartment with living room, bathroom restaurant with 250 seats, winehouse, fitness centre, swimming pool and tennis courts and high-capacity hall Description of the case study

SWOT Analysis Strenghts Constant prices (for 3 years) Space potential Winehouse (crama) Park Lake Potential of surroundings Opportunities Potential of surroundings Sport area Multifunctional use of the hall Park Cooperation Teambuilding actions Weaknesses Competition Advertisement Permanent arrangements Transportation Language limitation Intensive aroma of the spaces Cooperation No specific image of the place Threats „SPA“ even if it is only the pool and sauna Road to the lake Equal approach to guests

Selling more drinks in a restaurant „empty“ weekends – weekend packages can’t be sold Use of winehouse (crama) General suggestions for innovations Problem definiton

Influence of the economical world crisis

Personal recommendations of the drinks (e.g wine suitable for choosen meal) Standing brochure with special suggestions of drinks + pictures Innovation plan Selling more drinks

Winehouse (crama) use Open hours longer than in restaurant Happy hours Pub style Table games (chess, cards), darts, billiard Small snacks

Sport suggestions: instructor (tennis), tournaments, rush hours for „empty“ hours at the tennis court Big hall suggestions: fair trade, permanent events/exhibitions Alternatives: remove the permanent decoration and make it more multifunctional or promote it more for specific markets Weekend packages can’t be sold + General suggestions

Very general suggestions Better information about possibilities/ activities in the surroundings (e.g. monasteries, outdoor activities) Cooperation with taxi agencies and other partner (horse sledge) Discounts for returning clients Useful information for tourist (map) Theme events + concerts Target group – older couples, nature-loving/willing people, businessmen and companies Better use of the park - refresh a vegetation in the park

Finland  We did not see too much common applicabilities between Conacul Domnesc and our pre-cases so we decided to compare this company to our home countries- Romania, Slovak and Finland. Conacul Domnesc has really attractive and fancy meeting rooms and their clients have also picked up this point. In Finland hotels´ haven´t invested much to meeting facilities and to atmosphere of these places. The meeting rooms are usually full of technology (computers, smartboards, monitors..) and this can create very sterile and cold spirit of the place Because of that they have a huge risk to loose some of the potential customers for the competitive enterprises, which has better and more stimulating and attractive meeting spaces. Conference tourism is growing all the time and that’s why hotels should find their weak points in services for businessmen. Applicability

Slovakia  This hotel was built in western european style which reminded us, that many places are trying to copy this style and by that they are loosing their unique and personality It is very good example of making business with indifferent target group Applicability

Romania  The ideas from our innovation study and our final report can be perfectly applied for Conacul Domnesc and not just for it. But establishing new target means more services and more resources that the company has to offer. We think that the returning clients program it’s a great idea for all this kind of businesses. Developing of the wine house (crama) in a pub style can make Conacul Domnesc a big competitor for other pubs and restaurants. In time, spending the evenings there can became a habit for a lot of people from surroundings, especially for the young ones. Applicability

Thank you for attention=)

Finland Romania Slovakia Finish: Kiitos! Slovak: Dakujem! Romanian: Mulumesc!