5-star Radisson hotel will open in Gudauri in 2017

Local Real Estate Development Company (Red-Co) is bringing the iconic Radisson brand to Georgia’s winter wonderland Gudauri to develop the winter resort and make it more attractive for tourists.

Radisson will open the area’s first five-star hotel in 2017, stated the agreement signed today between Radisson and Red-Co.

Red-Co will invest $15 million USD to open a 105-room hotel featuring a restaurant, spa and swimming pools.

Chief project manager of Red-Co Malkhaz Kunelauri told Agenda.ge the company purchased an existing building at the base of Gudauri ski gondola from Tbilisi City Hall last year and started transforming it into a hotel in autumn 2015.

All works will be completed in 2017 and the Radisson hotel will be ready to open its doors for hundreds of guests. We want to contribute to developing Gudauri as a winter resort,” Kunelauri told Agenda.ge.

Gudauri really has the potential to be one of the best winter resorts in Europe. It just needs more development and more investments. We are here to build new hotels and new apart-hotels in Gudauri and make the resort more attractive for visitors.”

After opening a Radisson hotel Red-Co will have five hotels in Gudauri. Kunelauri exclusively told Agenda.ge that Red-Co planned to build "five more hotels in Gudauri”.

Before signing its agreement with Radisson, Red-Co negotiated with Sheraton hotel brand to open a five-star hotel in Gudauri however this ended without success.

We wanted to open the first five-star hotel in Gudauri. For this purpose we started negotiations with different world-famous hotel brands including Raddison and Sheraton. Both brands were interested in coming to Gudauri however Radisson’s conditions were more favourable for us,” Kunelauri said.

Gudauri is 120km north of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi and travelling from Tbilisi to Gudauri usually takes about two hours by car.

The winter resort offers top slopes for learner or expert skiers or snowboarders. The slopes of Gudauri are completely above the tree line, are favourable for free-riders and are generally considered to be avalanche-safe. Tourists also can enjoy heli-skiing in Gudauri.

The ski season lasts from December to April.