Occupancy rates are strong, with annual increases in profits; 2025 was set fair. But geopolitical tensions are bringing significant new challenges, as general manager Stephan Interthal tells the Budapest Business Journal.
Interthal strikes everyone who meets him as a meticulous planner. He says of himself that, though he is not a micromanager, he is into detail. “I look into the details very much, but I don’t deal with the details. If I see something, I delegate and follow up.” That’s exactly where he finds himself today.
“Since last Friday night [June 14, Israel’s preemptive strikes on Iran], the world has changed for us. We have been badly hit by cancellations from Israel, our second biggest market after the United States,” the GM says.
Currently, no flights are departing from Israel. Hungarian carrier Wizz Air has suspended all its flights to and from Tel Aviv and Amman until Sep. 15. While acknowledging the challenge, Interthal is not downbeat, and Israel-Iran forms only a small part of our conversation. The GM will be 68 in October; in his 46 years in hospitality, he has seen many threats come and go, from 9/11 to COVID-19.
“I still believe that we will reach budget at year-end, or close to it; I trust that we can be better than last year, but now we have to see what the impact is going to be and for how long. […] We have had crises, we will have crises, but this industry will never die. People will always go somewhere to drink, eat and sleep.”
Interthal has become known as a “renovation king,” often finding himself in properties that require a significant overhaul. A EUR 30 million project in Budapest has just come to a close.
“We have concluded a five-to-six-year-long renovation program, and now all 350 rooms and suites of the hotel have been renovated. They were completely stripped back and then rebuilt, including plumbing, electricity, and air conditioning,” he says.
Work was undertaken in Q1 (the relative off-season) on a rolling basis each year, with additional suites added to match growing market demand. As a result, the overall number of rooms has decreased slightly to 350, but the number of suites has risen from 37 to 43. At the same time, the spa, the business center, and the public washrooms were also overhauled.
“We are now planning a very big F&B renovation next year. Once we receive approval from the ownership, we will begin renovating our three kitchens. We want to start with the first-floor banquet or finishing kitchen this year, and next year, we’re going to have a bigger project of about six weeks, which will include the ÉS Bisztró restaurant and kitchen.” He says the plans are ready to go and waiting on approval from the owners.
“ÉS is going to stay as a Hungarian-Viennese culinary concept, but the owners, the Kempinski and my team strongly feel that, after 13 years, the restaurant needs an uplift. We have to give it a new face, a new perception, a fresh new look and feel.”
He admits overhauling a restaurant in six weeks is “ambitious,” but is also confident he has the right teams in place to achieve it. As we said earlier, this isn’t his first time at the restoration rodeo. He is also aware that, to use his phrase, he is in a privileged position regarding the hotel’s owners.
“We have the privilege of making good money, and the owners allow us to spend some of that on the property. They believe in the market, they believe in the destination, and they believe in us.”
Interthal is an area general manager. That means he also oversees a hotel in Estepona, Spain, which, while hardly next door, shares the same ownership. He is also responsible for project development in Central and Eastern Europe, where Kempinski is exploring opportunities in Romania and Slovenia. “I’m looking after current hotels, but I’m also hunting for opportunities,” he says.
The longevity of Interthal’s career with the European hospitality brand is such that he is the only remaining team member from a group of GMs who conceived the idea of the Lady (and sometimes the Gentleman) in Red in a Bedouin-tented camp in Jordan in 2009. The concept, now celebrating its 15th anniversary, aimed to give guest relations a recognizable face and brand.
“Our inspiration was a combination of the iconic Singapore Airlines stewardesses and the white bellboy of the Peninsula Hotel Group, that would be a signature at every one of our 80 Kempinski Hotels worldwide, a very visible lady in a red dress (or a man with a blue blazer, red tie and handkerchief); an anchor point for any kind of question, with the position freed up of other duties to be at the service to the customer. We never expected, when we created this concept, that it would be so long-lasting, so successful, and have such an impact on our company. I’m very proud, to tell the truth, that I was part of this ‘gang’ of seven GMs who invented this.”
The number of luxury hotel brands coming to Budapest is a potential challenge, Interthal accepts, but also an opportunity.
“Don’t forget, we have been here the last 32 years. We were the first international hotel brand. And we were on the market 10 years before the next international hotel operator, at the time the Westend Hilton, came in 2001. We have seen other hotels open, but I must say, we have been able to defend our position successfully,” Interthal comments.
“If you take the W, for example, I consider this hotel an added value to the market. And I also consider it an added value that we’re going to have a Mandarin Oriental Hotel at the Gellert [….], which will be a one-of-a-kind hotel that this city has not yet seen, I am 100% sure,” he says.
“If you had told me 10 or 15 years ago that brands like W or St. Regis or Mandarin Oriental would come to this market, I would have said it was not likely because we are not Paris, or Rome, or London. But now, these brands are interested in the market, and I am positive, there will be more to follow,” the GM says.
“This is a big compliment for the destination; it means that we have an effective environment. And, yes, it is competitive; that is not a threat to me, but a challenge. We are ready to accept the challenge. But I also see the opportunities, and I think that, for Budapest, for this market, things will only get better.”
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of June 27, 2025.
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