The Karlovy Vary Thermal Hotel will begin renovations at the end of the year

Karlovy Vary - The reconstruction of the Thermal hotel in Karlovy Vary is expected to begin by the end of this year, according to current estimates. The hotel has now issued a tender for the contractor of the project documentation. This was reported by Zdeněk Vojtěch, spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance. The hotel, which is annually the heart of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, is owned by the state and managed by the Ministry of Finance.

"The company's board has signed the documents for announcing a tender for the supplier of the project documentation, with the selection to be completed by March 2018. The total budget is approximately 450 million CZK," Vojtěch stated. The anticipated start of the reconstruction is planned for the fourth quarter of this year, with individual phases of repairs to be carried out while the hotel remains operational.

The hotel renovation was originally scheduled to take place after the end of last year's film festival, but it has been delayed. The first phase should concern the hotel itself and does not include the reconstruction of the adjacent pool.

The hotel, designed by the Machonin couple in the 1970s, has undergone only partial modifications in recent years and needs a complete renovation. Last year, the Ministry of Culture refused to register it as a cultural monument, partly because, due to its location in the center of Karlovy Vary, it is already subject to heritage protection.

In 2016, the hotel operated at a loss of 1.64 million CZK, with a net turnover of 174.1 million CZK. The loss was partly attributed to the write-off of a receivable of 3.3 million CZK for unpaid parking fees from 2011 to 2013.