According to Shalva Alaverdashvili, founder of the Hotel Business Federation, reports a nearly 70% drop in hotel operating profit since the pandemic began.

Speaking on Commersant radio, Shalva Alaverdashvili points out that in the off- season, chain hotels drop prices to unbranded hotel levels. He describes this as a dumping policy, which ultimately puts unbranded hotels at a disadvantage.

For those who've been in this industry for ages, life is split into two parts- "before Gavrilov's night" and "after Gavrilov's night" that hit us the hardest followed by the pandemic. It's completely reshaped the reality. The numbers we saw previously and our current situation are like night and day  – operating profit has plummeted by nearly 70%. The main thing is that back in 2017 there were 8,000 hotel rooms in the city, and now there are over 40,000. The level of competition is extremely high, branded hotels, especially in the off-season, lower their room prices to non-branded levels. This dumping policy places non-branded hotels in an unfavorable position, despite the fact that 'this is business and competition,' states Shalva Alaverdashvili.

In his words, over 5 years the number of quests has increased by 10%, the number of hotel rooms has increased by 100%. At the same time, room prices declined, industry wages sharply doubled, and products became more expensive.

"Accordingly, the profitability of the hotel business has definitely declined. For hotels to generate adequate revenue, hotel room prices in Tbilisi and other cities must at least double," Shalva Alaverdashvili stresses.