62 | OPP AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE 2011
BEST DEVELOPER SOUTHERN EUROPE
Gold: Dubrovnik Sun Gardens
What did Dubrovnik Sun Gardens says in its entry form? “The Residences at Dubrovnik Sun Gardens (DSG) is the only existing luxury fi ve-star branded resort real estate available in and around Dubrovnik. The 207 seafront residential units offer a variety of one and two bedroom layouts and interiors from Hirsch Bedner & Associates. Because of the limited luxury resort real estate offering today in Croatia, The Residences at Dubrovnik Sun Gardens offer buyers a rare opportunity to acquire seafront luxury resort real estate in a well-managed integrated resort community. The resort has been priced to sell and does not compete with anyone on a direct basis. In most instances, the resort is priced lower than the competition in Croatia for similar product. Several competing projects offer properties ranging upwards from €1,000 per sqm, higher than our lowest entry-level unit.
The management team at iO Adria has consulted the leading resort real estate experts and have engaged Greg Ashley, ex-President of Playground/ Intrawest in North America, to help with the projects’ market research, positioning, marketing, pricing and phasing. In terms of fi nancial packaging, iO Adria Limited has worked closely with Erste Bank in Vienna to create one of the few 70%
WINNERS
LTV mortgage offerings in Croatia and Europe today, with mortgages available for private individuals looking to buy personally or through an SPV structure. Mortgages are offered on a 12 to 20- year basis depending on the route of purchase with longer terms available. Buyers looking to purchase through an SPV structure can also benefi t from important tax effi ciencies as interest and real estate depreciation is tax deductible and the VAT is refundable. The resort is now in its third year of operation and is quickly becoming the destination of choice for many corporate meetings and incentives as well as families looking to get away with for short and long term breaks. Such increases in occupancy levels is continuing to fuel a very good rental story and we estimate a stabilised yield of circa 4% pre fi nance costs which we believe to be attractive.
Pure investor buyers, who chose to maximize revenue opportunity by renting out 100% of their peak season allocation, and limiting their personal use to the low and shoulder season, may also be able to improve this yield as many units are already demonstrating good rental track records. Croatia has also been confi rmed as an EU accession state by June 2013, which is also a very positive story for Croatia and the potential long term economic growth of the country. To ensure the project’s success, a multitude of marketing initiatives have been undertaken. We have engaged local and international creative and PR agencies to ensure a consistent message and have a detailed plan for direct and
www.opp.org.uk | FEBRUARY 2012
What does Dubrovnik Sun Gardens do?
Dubrovnik Sun Gardens (DSG) is a 5-star fully integrated resort development located 12 kilometres from the historic Old Town of Dubrovnik. It is owned by iO Adria Limited, formerly Jupiter Adria Limited, and is operated under licence with Radisson Blu Hotels & Resorts. iO Adria is the largest inward investor today in the hospitality and leisure sector in Croatia. Dubrovnik Sun Gardens features a 201-room five star hotel and 207 fully furnished one and two bedroom residences. Employing 550 staff, it features 13 restaurants and bars with local and international cuisine, three large outdoor swimming pools and its own private beach. Resort facilities also include The Spa by OCCO, which was recently listed by TripAdvisor as number 5 in the world. The Sports Centre includes a range of facilities ... including a gym, five-a-side foot- ball, three clay tennis courts, squash courts, full-size climbing wall, aerobics and yoga. Also, iO Adria can offer a freehold structure for buyers investing in units at Dubrovnik Sun Gardens. It is one of the few resorts to offer freehold resort real estate in Croatia today.
indirect business channels including broker recruitment programmes. We are constantly looking to improve our online reach and are active with major social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Flicker. Our marketing plan has been established in order to be fl exible and to adjust to changing market/client demands. We adopt 4 key strategic pillars in our marketing:
Well positioned | and well managed - both have been key to the success of DSG
• In-resort marketing – we benefi t from strong occupancy levels throughout the year providing an opportunity to target in-resort guests. A full in-resort marketing awareness campaign has been created. We have the added advantage of a resort database that can enable ongoing marketing and communications with our historical database of guests. We have also established a good CRM platform within the resort for future prospects and existing buyers. • Local marketing and awareness – Dubrovnik is a very popular destination among the international community throughout the year, as such we have a full awareness campaign to capture the attention of the international tourist and drive business to our resort i.e. Billboards at the airport and tactical advertising in Croatian and English speaking newspapers are in place along with ongoing lead referral programmes locally. • Selective Targeting through digital marketing efforts – we have an interactive website for B2C and B2B customers, along with full SEO and SEM strategies implemented and constantly under review.
• Broker recruitment and strategic
partnerships – we have been actively sourcing brokers in the key markets for Dubrovnik real estate, which is already generating great interest in our product accompanied by competitive agent commissions For the past 6 months we have been involved in recruiting top international brokers, specialising in resort real
“In-resort guests provide us with extensive feedback and a continual prospect pipeline”
estate to help us with the sales of the fi rst 25 units. We have created competitive commission structures for our strategic partners, along with full sales training, educational programs and marketing support. Our overall strategy has been to
build and foster long term relationships with our strategic partners whilst developing a comprehensive sales approach with in-resort guests who provide us with extensive feedback and a continual prospect pipeline. During the construction of the
resort, we implemented eco-friendly plans where possible to put in place things like grey water recycling for irrigation, solar energy to power parts of the resort, air-conditioning using seawater via a heat exchanger for the Residences, extensive use of lighting controls, and wood sourced from managed and sustainable forests.
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