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A celebration was held in Hvar last Saturday to mark the opening of the newly renovated Palace Elisabeth, hvar heritage hotel. The grand opening was realized by Marie Vitek, wife of Radovan Vitek, owner of Sunčani Hvar. The speakers at the event were Gordana Tomičić, CEO of Sunčani Hvar, Gari Cappelli the Minister of Tourism and Martin Nemeček, CEO of CPI Property Group.
"The opening of the Palace Elisabeth further lifts the existing offer to a higher level and at the same time contributes to the attractiveness of Hvar as a destination that offers high quality tourism," said CEO Gordana Tomičić.
The history of the Palace Elisabeth goes back to the 13th century. In 1898 the hotel was rebuilt and named Spa Hotel Empress Elisabeth, after the Austrian Empress Sisi who was a generous patron of its construction. The history of this oldest Hvar hotel and Empress Sisi were the inspiration and motive of the hotel opening. All of the guests were able to take pictures with the elegant models dressed in original Sisi dresses that reminded us of the rich heritage of this timeless hotel.
Sunčani Hvar invested HRK 100 million, making Palace Elisabeth the first 5-star hotel on the island. It is also part of the elite hotel association of luxury hotels, The Leading Hotels of the World. It is an investment of € 300,000 per room, which is one of the largest investments in the Croatian hotel industry.
"Of all the hotels we have, hotel Palace Elisabeth is very special. This was not an easy project to realize as it had to be handled with special care given its cultural heritage. We plan to invest in other Sunčani Hvar hotel capacities in the future,” said Martin Nemeček, CEO of CPI Group.
In addition to local journalists, many international journalists attended the opening party. There were reporters from the New York Times, Robb Report, Vogue, National Geographic, Conde Nast Traveler and Architectural Digest, who actively reported on the event. Along with a number of notable guests, the opening was attended by the Minister of Tourism Gary Cappelli, State Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism Tonči Glavina, Director of the Tourist Board of Split-Dalmatia County Joško Stella and Mayor of the City of Hvar Rikardo Novak.
Enjoy the gallery of the opening event below: