Nikola Milic - CEO & Founder of Casa Del Mare

The end of the year is a time when we tend to reflect and look back at our achievements. In that sense, what were the most signifi cant milestones for Casa del Mare and how will you remember 2022?

Without any exaggeration, I can say that Casa del Mare team has been really busy in 2022. With the pandemic subsiding, it was a genuinely active year filled with events in virtually every domain of our business. Along with a positive financial yearly result, certain milestones have particu larly stood out.

We are pleased to announce that we are growing our company through new hotel contracts outside of the Kotor Bay region. Our recently es tablished management company, Casa Hospitality Management, will assume the position of a condo hotel operator as part of Wolf Condominium, a new premium tourist complex in Kolašin. This project, our first in the northern part of Montenegro, will be a chance for us to keep implementing the highest quality hospitality standards in our country while boosting the local economy in the process.

Additionally, as part of this year's expansion plans, Casa del Mare is on its way to welcoming its first five-star luxury hotel in Budva, the tourism metropolis of Montenegro, which will open in time for the coming summer. In a somewhat more dynamic setting, just a few meters from the sea, this addition to the Casa del Mare family will offer a unique touristic experience and add a new note of diversity in Budva.

Another novelty of the business is its intention to expand the capaci ties of its existing premises in Kamenari by launching a new beach & restaurant concept in close proximity to our hotel Mediterraneo and its Bocasa Beach & Restaurant. Inspired by Mediterranean motives, every part of this gastronomic experience will be accompanied by excellence and refinement.

We end the year with a special recognition. The Montenegrin Chamber of Commerce awarded me with the Award for Advance ment of Management, which is a testament to the quality of our work and inspiration to develop, make ongoing progress, and as pire to higher objectives. Casa del Mare Hotel Group cherishes this recognition highly since it demonstrates that people who influence the economic environment of our country have taken notice of our efforts to hone our collabo ration and leadership skills. I wish to reiterate that this is an award that I share with the entire Casa del Mare team, whose unwavering dedication, hard work, and diligence keep our business afloat.

In summation, this year was rewarding in many ways, mainly due to all the aforementioned accomplishments as well as many others that are truly too many to mention and we will remember it with fondness.

You mentioned that you established Casa Hospitality Management company this year. What are the future plans for the aforementioned business?

As a newly established company with a clear goal of generating new value in the hospitality domain, Casa Hospitality Management remains adamant about using its managerial expertise for those projects that have a long-term perspective. This is why we are cautious when select ing the right projects to engage in and work on, namely those that align our goals, business principles, and quality standards.

When it comes to concrete plans in the pipeline, in addition to the condo hotel project in Kolašin that is well underway, we are currently working on a new project in the Kotor Bay area. We are currently ac cumulating conceptual and technical data as part of the project's early phase, and we hope to have some concrete news in that regard soon.

The boutique hotel industry from the perspective of your company seems to be thriving with all the planned developments. What is the Casa del Mare Hotel Group's future trajectory?

Our plans are clear - we want to profile ourselves as a management company for hotel management, through our now well-known Casa del Mare brand, but also through Casa Hospitality Management, which manages hotels according to the white label brand principle.

In addition to the above-mentioned projects, we are also planning to open our first boutique hotels on Croatian and Albanian coasts, for which there are already indications and plans. We have a strong desire and commitment to introduce our Casa del Mare brand to travelers outside the borders of Montenegro. This may come off as being unduly ambitious, but my coworkers know me as a big dreamer who hopes to see Casa del Mare grow into a well-known hotel chain with locations all over the Mediterranean.

Fostering talent through different educational and internship pro grams in the field of tourism and hospitality is also something that we will continue to do and encourage in the time to come. As a company that gathers different stakeholders and is actively collaborating with very versatile businesses, we remain determined to continue serving as a plat form for the growth of smaller local companies in order to create a more economically stimulating environment.

Casa del Mare is frequently described as being all about and for the community. In that regard, what actions have you taken so far or do you intend to, in order to ensure that your local community benefits from your business?

In our business, the interest of the community is always at the fore front. Whenever we consider the different ways in which we can support and influence positive change in our environment, we make sure to lis ten to the needs of the community and act in their best interest. During the last 13 years, we tried to provide tangible support to different causes and serve as a forum for exchanging ideas and experiences. This year was no different. One of the projects that we launched was Artists in Casa, a residential program for established artists from Montenegro, in order to give praise to and recognize those in our society who, through their creative work and unique expression, contribute and further en rich our cultural heritage. Our company's core value is social respon sibility and this is just one of many projects we are working on in that vein. We also regularly help our local community by hosting fundraising and donation events where we bring together our brand’s partners and friends and collect resources—both monetary and non-monetary—to be given to people in need. Giving back to the community and nurturing its development will continue to be our priority in the future.

T: +382 (0) 69 700 702 W: casadelmare.me