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Approximately one third of the envisaged 15.000 hotel rooms to be built in and around Moscow in 2010 will be integrated into a mixed-used development scheme. The synergy between a hotel and other commercial realties is a quite a new phenomenon for the Russian market.

One of the most recent examples of mixed-used schemes in Moscow is the Novotel-City, a 255-guestroom hotel, which opened in October 2002, located in the Meyerhall centre located under the Novoslovodskaya metro station. The project concept integrates office space and a first class hotel, whereby the offices can take advantage of the hotel facilities, which encompasses several conference rooms, restaurant and bar to accommodate visiting staff from outside Moscow. Further the adjacent offices can use the hotel facilities to develop meetings, organize luncheons, evening cocktails and banquets. The location of the complex under a major metro station is also key advantage for the mixed-used scheme as it provides residents of the complex with fast and convenient access to all major points of the Moscow city centre. As a whole, optimal spatial utilization is achieved, because the mixed-use concept enables a strong synergy between office and hotel use.

A less attractive version of mixed used hotel development scheme in Moscow, in our opinion, is the proposed hotel complex adjacent to a mega market. In recent press releases, the Swedish furniture giant IKEA has announced the development of a hotel at the Tyeplo Stan store location in the southern Moscow periphery. The project encompasses the integration of a budget to mid-class 200-guestroom facility to be attached, or built adjacent to the existing furniture store. Already, most IKEA stores provide visitors with cafeteria-style food & beverage outlets with snack bars and children amusement rides. The hotel concept rests on the belief that visitors having spent a full or half-day in this mega-market facility will be too tired to drive home and adjourn their return to the following day. Though this may be the case in some Western European countries, the IKEA experienced usually ends with people queuing at the cash registers, packing their purchased goods and leaving the car park.

Positioning of the hotel product in relation with the target demand seriously requires serious reflection. The clientele of the mega market, which is supposed to fill the proposed hotel, will seek the most economic form of accommodation. Ideally, the hotel type for the average Muscovite shopper should be in the budget category, along the lines of such products such as Formula 1, Etapotel or Ibis, which are part of the French ACCOR hotel conglomerate, though room tariffs at the latter facility may be too high for an average family after heavy purchases. Such hotels offer minimum accommodation in small pre-fabricated guest rooms ranging between 9 m² and 15 m² for two to three people and thrive on high guest volume.

Is the idea good or bad? The feasibility analysis rests on the assumption that the high attendance of IKEA stores will produce a residual flow for overnight hotel accommodation. Factors, which support the viability of the concept as a whole include the climatic conditions, especially in winter and early spring, when darkness, reduced visibility and icy roads can cause shoppers to have second thoughts about returning home and fatigue, as a result of a long day spent at the furniture store. The project orients itself on the average European consumer behaviour, but fails to account that this kind of consumer behaviour still does not exist among local Russian consumers as their spending power is much weaker than their Western counterparts. Based on the above, it will be interesting to see how this form of mixed used development will unfold.