Great season for Hunguest Hotel Erkel in Gyula - Hungarian tourism employees started speaking Serbian due to many Serbian guests

Hungarian spa complex in Gyula was once a very popular destination for tourists from the former Yugoslavia. Good location and being only 330km far from Belgrade has made it attractive to Serbian visitors, especially during the vacation season.

This little town with with the population of 30,000 residents is renowned for its tourist resort and spa complex. A heated hallway directly connects the Varfurdo bathing complex with the Hunguest Hotel Erkel. The guests of the hotel, which is named after a famous Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel and is situated in the vicinity of a medieval Gothic castle and Almasy Mansion, can choose between 20 swimming and thermal pools. Beside the healing waters, the complex has a pool with artificial waves and foam,“water paradise” for kids, giant water sliders, a 50 meters-long Olympic pool which is open during winter too and other sections of entertainment and fun for the whole family.

In 2013, Aquapalota aqua park was opened in the Erkel hotel to the joy of the youngest visitors.

– Our greatest novelty in the hotel in the past year is the new playroom for children, where trained professionalstake care of the little ones so the parents have free time at their disposal to enjoy wellness treatments or have dinner. We also made some adjustments to our Food and Beverage section. We are trying to keep up with the times and offer a rich variety of dishes for dinner, Zoltan Boros, Assistant General Manager at the Hungest Hotel Erkel in Gyula told eKapija.

Our collocutor said for eKapija during our visit to the Erkel Hotel, that this facility was open for all tourist groups and that the types of guests depend on the season. The hotel can house more than 700 people.
– During the summer, when children are out of school, we mostly get families here and we are a popular place for a family vacation. Later in the year, from September onwards, we get mainly elderly guests during the working week who enjoy our thermal and rehabilitation pools and on the weekends we receive mostly families again.

Hunguest Hotel Erkel is a notable spot for organizing corporate gatherings and business meetings as well as team building events due to its exceptional conference halls. Local companies and officials often organize their meetings at Erkel hotel.

– We have a large hall with seating capacity for 300 people. Our hall is unique in the region because there isn't such a quality space with such a capacity in the 100 km range. Also, we organize smaller meetings in several section rooms and we also offer family gatherings and celebrations, Zoltan Boros said.

– Hunguest Hotel Erkel building has two wings, Munkacsy Building and Dürer Building, with three and four star rating respectively. The guests in both buildings can enjoy airy and comfortable accommodations. Four-star Dürer wing has 173 standard two-bedroom apartments, 3 junior suite rooms, 5 rooms overlooking the castle and four rooms for persons with disabilities.
Some of these rooms have balconies overlooking both the castle and the lake. Three star Munkacsy wing has 122 apartments – 97 two-bedroom apartments, 22 "superior" rooms with air-conditioning and two apartments for persons with disabilities with bathrooms suited for wheelchair users.
– Orchidea and Nosztalgia restaurants with seating capacity for 450 people, serve Hungarian and international specialties whereas in the Café "Violin" guests can indulge in a wide assortment of quality beverages from various Hungarian wine regions. Tourists will find peace and relax in the hotel`s Harmony Wellness center and its saunas, steambaths and salt cabins or get all kinds of massage.

– Erkel Hotel provides many discounts and special offers either during the week or for extended weekends. But since Gyula is a mainly tourist destination, there are various activities and events organized in the town such as festivals and all kinds of gatherings, even on international level. During those periods we present special package deals for our guests that include tickets or rides to these events. We have a good cooperation with the local government and tourist organization since we promote each other and work together to bring in tourists, eKapija collocutor pointed out. He added that there`s an intensive campaigning directed at Serbia at the moment and accordingly, the local tourist guides and museum curators in the castle and the Almasy Manor have learned to speak Serbian.
Zoltan Boros said that the Hunguest Hotel Erkel management was very pleased with this year's results, especially with the business during the summer season.

– We have the occupancy rate larger than 90% during the entire summer and we accomplished good attendance in the pre-season too. For this September we already sold out weekends and scheduled events because business meetings will start soon. When it comes to tourism, both Erkel Hotel and the whole Gyula are developing immensely and year after year, our numbers are growing. Maybe we are not too popular in Serbia but we are working on it and we hope that we will be able to talk about hundreds, if not thousands of Serbian tourists in the upcoming years, Boros announced optimistically.
Marko Andrejic

Hunguest Hotels Zrt.

Hunguest hotel Erkel

Gyula

Gyula spa

Varfurdo bathing complex

Aquapalota aqua park

Gyula castle

medieval Gyula castle

Almasy Mansion

Ferenc Erkel

playroom for children

rehabilitation in Gyula

corporate gatherings at Erkel Hotel

business meetings at Erkel Hotel

team buiding events in Gyula

Munkacsy wing

Dürer wing

three-star hotel

four-star hotel

Orchidea restaurant

Nosztalgia restaurant

Café Violin

tourism in Hungary

tourism in Gyula

tourists in Hungary

Serbian tourists in Hungary

Serbian tourists in Gyula

Zoltan Boros