The reconstruction of the Thermal hotel will be managed by Vladimír Novák

Karlovy Vary - The new director of the Karlovy Vary hotel Thermal, owned by the state, will be Vladimír Novák. He will start at the beginning of October, replacing Michal Kočarek. He will also be responsible for the renovation of the hotel and the swimming pool, which is set to open in June 2021. The renovation of the hotel will cost 580 million crowns. The state will repair the pool for 110 million, but it will be operated by the private company Saunia, Finance Minister Alena Schillerová (for ANO) told reporters today.

According to Schillerová, the preparation of the hotel renovation involves heritage conservationists from the Karlovy Vary city council and the heritage institute in Loket. "We are trying to ensure that the hotel is as much as possible as it once was, with the same color scheme, same hallways, and similar doors. But we cannot have endless debates about whether something should be this way or that," said Schillerová.

So far, the Thermal, which is not a cultural monument, has had its roof over the congress section and the fire-damaged spa center repaired due to its critical condition. A tender for the insulation of the hotel has also been announced. According to Schillerová, the planned construction of a wellness center by the outdoor pool will not compete with the spa center, as they provide different services.

The future hotel director Vladimír Novák stated that currently, Thermal lives off clients from the Middle East, Russia, Germany, and in fourth place are Czech clients. He would like to try to attract more Russian clients again and, in cooperation with the pool center, also Czech clients, including families with children.

Jan Holeček, a representative of Saunia, said today that the study for the renovation of the pool still counts on preserving its original layout, that is, with a length of 49.7 meters. The facilities will include a sauna and wellness center with two dining operations, with one serving only the center's visitors and the other accessible to the public from outside.

The Karlovy Vary hotel Thermal ended last year with a post-tax loss of nearly 9.7 million crowns. In 2017, it achieved a profit of 4.4 million crowns. The hotel’s financial results, which is owned by the state and managed by the Ministry of Finance, were impacted by the consequences of a fire in 2017 that severely damaged the spa section of the hotel.

According to polls among city residents, the Thermal hotel and the outdoor pool, which has been out of operation for several years, are one of the city's biggest problems. It is indispensable for the film festival, for whose needs it was also built.

Significant concerns about the upcoming renovation of the hotel were expressed at the beginning of July by the grandchildren of architects Věra and Vladimír Machonin, based on whose design the brutalist-style building was constructed in the 1970s. They labeled the current state of the building as systematic destruction.

Even today’s press conference did not fully convince the descendants of the Machonin architects. They appreciated the declared effort to preserve the colors and materials, but criticized the fact that the hotel section renovation still lacks an architect. "New photographs of sample rooms confirm that their design does not reflect the original ideas of our grandparents in any way," they told ČTK. They also objected to the Finance Ministry not publishing visualizations of the hotel's sauna operations, where the biggest changes will take place.