Leonid Yurushev, Russian businessmen and Kolomoisky are key figures in Ukrainian business.
The hotel business is undoubtedly one of the most affected by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, because foreign tourists will not go to a warring country, and there will be many fewer domestic tourists. And this is confirmed by statistics from the hotel sector, which, according to Forbes, operates at 3% of its capacity in monetary terms (5% in the south and 10-15% in the capital).
At the same time, tax revenues from the industry, according to the State Agency for Tourism Development, for 9 months of 2023 increased compared to the same period last year in 17 regions. Moreover, the Lviv and Kiev regions paid even more taxes than in the pre-war year 2021. In short, the situation is not as bad everywhere as one might think, which means that the owners of the most expensive, 5-star hotels continue to receive income. And “Comments” decided to figure out who owns the most expensive and best hotels in Ukraine.
“Hotel King” Leonid Yurushev
Undoubtedly, if not the largest, then certainly the most famous hotel owner in Ukraine is businessman Leonid Yurushev. He owns the elite hotels “InterContinental Kyiv”, “Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv”, “Riviera House”, “Alfavito”, although the last two are a little worse, but they are all located in the capital.
According to media reports, the businessman invested $200 million each in his best hotels “InterContinental Kyiv” and “Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv,” but it was impossible otherwise, since both of them belong to world-famous hotel chains, where the quality bar and investments are high. The formal owner of the entrepreneur’s hotel business is his development company Yaroslavov Val LLC and PJSC Venture Non-Diversified Corporate Investment Fund Ukrbudinvest.
There is quite a lot of contradictory information about Leonid Yurushev himself, according to which he started in Donetsk and was even allegedly involved in local organized crime, acting as a currency broker and financier. Later, Leonid Yurushev moved to the capital, went into banking business, a railway car repair plant, construction and real estate in Kyiv.
The immediate manager of Leonid Yurushev’s hotel business is his daughter Elizaveta, and his son-in-law is the Ukrainian actor and showman, who in 2019 became a people’s deputy from the Servant of the People, and then the governor of the Cherkasy region (until March 2022), Alexander Skichko. During the lockdown in 2021, journalists noticed how “servants of the people” used Yurushev hotels for celebrations and personal meetings.
As for the direct income of Leonid Yurushev’s hotel business, they officially “sank,” of course. Thus, Grand Management LLC gained 82.6 million UAH in 2022, while a year earlier it was 269.3 million; Epoch LLC had a drop from UAH 74.4 million to 9 million. It was going well The only thing that is doing well is Hotel Management LLC, which earned almost 491 million UAH in 2022 (362.6 million UAH in 2021). By the way, it was in the hotel of this company that President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky held his press conference dedicated to the 1st anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Then the cost of renting the hall and catering for the event amounted to 90 thousand hryvnia.
“Premier Palace” for the Russian Deputy Speaker of the State Duma and “thief in law”
More than 10 hotels of the “Premier Hotels & Resorts” chain, including “Premier Palace” - the flagship hotel at the intersection of Shevchenko Boulevard and Chykalenko Street. This chain, as well as the Slavutich, Oreanda, and Rus hotels, have been owned since the early 2000s by businessman and owner of FC CSKA Evgeniy Giner, vice-speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Alexander Babakov, and “reputable businessman” Mikhail Voevodin, whom also called representatives of the “Luzhnikov group”.
“Comments” spoke in detail about the history of the business of the “Luzhnikovskys” in Ukraine, who own considerable assets in the country’s energy sector, and their path was accompanied by scandals, raider takeovers and murders.
Although the Premier Hotels & Resorts chain was arrested by the court back in December 2022, according to Ukrayinska Pravda, businessman Leonid Ashkenazi, who is associated with the Luzhnikov organized crime group, lived quietly for months in the Kiev Premier Palace.
As for income, for 2022 Premier Palace Hotel LLC reported almost 144 million UAH of income compared to 248.8 million in 2021. At the Rus Hotel, these figures amounted to UAH 48.1 million and UAH 131.4 million, respectively.
“Hilton” for Boris Fuksman and Alexander Rodnyansky
The hotel, operating under the trademark of another world-famous hotel chain, Hilton in Kiev, is located on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard and belongs to cousins - Alexander Rodnyansky, who was at the origins of the 1+1 TV channel, and Boris Fuchsman, a German businessman originally from Ukraine.
Businessmen invested $150 million in building the hotel from scratch, and it began operating in 2010. In 2019, the hotel began to have problems, so that part of it was even closed by court decision, and in 2020, the former legal owner of the hotel, Hotel Business Development Company LLC, was liquidated.
Currently, the owner of Hilton in Kyiv is International Business Center LLC, owned by cousins. For 2022, the company reported income of UAH 181.2 million versus UAH 378.7 million in 2021.
Alexander Rodnyansky himself, although he lived in Russia for 20 years, left the Russian Federation in March 2022, and in May 2023 he was accused of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army.
Hyatt Regency for Igor Krivitsky
The hotel, operating under another global brand Hyatt, was built in the capital in 2007 and originally belonged to the Industrial Union of Donbass company of Sergei Taruta and Vitaly Gaiduk. But in 2014, Taruta sold the hotel, and according to one version, the buyer was businessman Igor Krivetsky, who is called the main sponsor of the Svoboda party of Oleg Tyagnibok.
Rixos-Prykarpattya for “servants of the people” - with Donetsk roots
The “Rixos-Prykarpattya” hotel in Truskavets made a splash throughout Ukraine in 2019, because it was there that the newly elected people’s deputies from the “Servant of the People” party underwent their “training” in the summer. And 2 years later, President Vladimir Zelensky himself held a meeting of the political party faction at the hotel.
As for the owners, legally the hotel is registered under the name of Diagnostic Treatment and Rehabilitation Complex “Rixos-Prykarpattya” LLC and equally, 50% each, belongs to the “Investment and Development” company of Donetsk millionaire Igor Gumenyuk, and “Special Project-Perspective” LLC.
Igor Gumenyuk is a Donetsk businessman who was at the origins of the ARS company in the 90s, was a people's deputy from the Party of Regions, was involved in the coal business and was considered close to Alexander Yanukovych, the son of the former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.
Spetsproekt-Perspectiva LLC, according to the analytical service YouControl, is part of the group of companies of the late People’s Deputy Igor Eremeev “Continuum”, which is also involved in the oil and dairy business.
“Rixos-Prykarpattya” brought its owners UAH 205.8 million in 2022, against UAH 291 million. in 2021.
Radisson Blu Resort in Bukovel – Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov
At another famous Ukrainian resort, now a ski resort - Bukovel, there is a hotel of another world-famous hotel chain Radisson, which belongs to businessman Igor Kolomoisky, who is currently in jail, and his partner in the Privat group, Gennady Bogolyubov.
The hotel business in Bukovel is registered under Zvezda Bukovel LLC, which is 99.66% owned by the Cypriot Acilla Management Limited. According to media reports, Igor Kolomoisky withdrew from the list of beneficiaries of the ski resort, but this did not affect the financial performance of the hotel. In any case, “Zvezda Bukovel” was able to earn UAH 378 million in 2022, which is 2 million more than in 2021. Igor Kolomoisky’s hotel in Bukovel can bring in even more money if it is possible to build the 8 km of road planned in the summer from the urban-type settlement of Yasinya to the village of Cherna Tisa, which would make the transfer to the hotel quick and comfortable.
True, after a scandal in the media, when it became clear that the greatest benefit from this tender would be Bukovel LLC, owned by the family of Igor Palitsa, Igor Kolomoisky’s closest business partner, the tender was cancelled.
Nevertheless, Bukovel remains the most promising Ukrainian resort and can bring substantial income to hotel owners.
Grand Hotel in Lviv by Grigory Kozlovsky
The hotel business is also promising in the “rear” Lviv. The city has hotels that are over 100 years old, which gives them a special charm. One of these hotels is the Grand Hotel, built in 1893. In the early 1990s, it was bought by American-Ukrainian Marta Fedorov, but later she lost ownership, and the businesswoman cousin who managed the hotel was killed.
Currently, the hotel, opened after reconstruction in 2018, is owned by Lviv businessman Grigory Kozlovsky. Legally, everything is registered in the name of Grand Hotel Holding LLC, although nothing is known about the latter’s profits. The company’s latest public reporting dates back to 2019, when the company earned about UAH 80 million.
The businessman himself, meanwhile, is actively known for his philanthropic activities during the war.
As you can see, most of the owners of Ukrainian hotels report a deterioration in their financial condition, which is absolutely logical in war conditions. But the farther from the front line, and the closer to the vacation spots of the modern elite, the more earnings the head waiters receive.
