Hotel Orbán: How Hungary’s Ruling Family Benefited from the EU Presidency

Flóra Tárkányi (Direkt36)
Szabolcs Panyi (VSquare, Direkt36)
Photo: Viktor Orbán's Facebook page 2025-04-17

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During Hungary’s EU presidency, Viktor Orbán’s government pushed visiting delegations to stay at Hotel Dorothea, a luxury hotel owned by the prime minister’s son-in-law. One of the most striking cases was Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, whose delegation was redirected there by Hungarian organizers despite having booked elsewhere.

“You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave” is the famous last line of The Eagles’ song Hotel California. And if there were a song about the Orbán family’s luxury hotel in downtown Budapest, it might go something like this: “You may not even want to visit, but the government will check you in anyway.”

This is exactly what happened to Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, a longstanding critic of the Hungarian government’s policies. During the EU leaders’ summit in Budapest last November, he unwittingly did a small favor for Viktor Orbán’s family. Orpo and his Finnish delegation stayed at Hotel Dorothea — owned by Orbán’s son-in-law, István Tiborcz — paying €2,800 for a single night.

Despite originally booking rooms at a different hotel, the Finnish delegation was redirected to Hotel Dorothea by Hungarian organizers of the EU presidency, as revealed by a Direkt36 investigation. Orpo’s case is perhaps the most striking example of just how eager the Orbán government was to steer foreign delegations toward the prime minister’s family-run hotel.

The Family Profiting from the Presidency

Last year’s European Political Community (EPC) summit and the EU summit in Budapest, held on November 7–8, was the most important event of the Hungarian EU Presidency, drawing delegations from more than 40 countries to the Hungarian capital. Multiple diplomatic sources confirmed to Direkt36 that the Hungarian EU Presidency recommended a total of five hotels to incoming guests, including Hotel Dorothea (owned by Orbán’s son-in-law) in downtown Budapest along with the Marriott, the Ritz-Carlton, the W Hotel Budapest, and the Matild Palace.

These recommendations did not obligate delegations to stay at the suggested hotels, and guests were free to choose alternative accommodations. However, diplomatic sources said the Hungarian Presidency offered to secure reservations and handle related administrative tasks — but only provided participants registered in time to stay in one of these hotels.

A diplomat from one of the participating countries, who requested anonymity, told Direkt36 that the Hungarian EU Presidency particularly promoted Hotel Dorothea to delegations, emphasizing that the hotel offered “attractive packages.” “The Dorothea was recommended for numerous presidency-related events. I’m curious how much the son-in-law profited off the presidency,” the diplomat said, referring to István Tiborcz, who is married to Orbán’s eldest daughter, Ráhel Orbán.

Source: Dorothea Hotel

Just a few days before the November 7–8 event, Direkt36 checked prices at the five-star Dorothea, which has 216 rooms and still showed availability. According to Booking.com, the cheapest room on that date — with a balcony and a view of the inner courtyard — was priced at over €420 (HUF 172,000) per night, with an additional €40 (HUF 16,315) for a continental breakfast.

It is not clear how many delegations attending the summit ended up staying at Hotel Dorothea, but the Finnish Prime Minister and his entourage were certainly among them. Direkt36 uncovered this detail by asking the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat to file a public information request regarding the Finnish delegation’s accommodation and expenses during the summit.

In response, the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office provided several details about the booking arrangements. Their reply revealed that the accommodation was arranged with assistance from the Hungarian EU Presidency. The Finnish delegation had originally booked a stay at one of the other four hotels proposed by the Presidency, and the cost had been paid in advance.

While the Finnish government did not name the hotel in question, Direkt36 learned from a Finnish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, that it was the Ritz-Carlton Budapest, a hotel linked to one of the world’s richest men, Khalaf Al Habtoor of Dubai. (As of January, the Ritz-Carlton has been renamed Al Habtoor Palace Budapest.)

According to the response provided by the Finnish government, the Hungarian side later informed them that the hotel they had originally selected was allegedly no longer available due to “overbooking.” The Finnish delegation was then offered accommodation at the Dorothea. “Hotel Dorothea was also among the hotels recommended by the Secretariat, and the reservation was made based on availability,” the Finnish reply stated, summarizing what the Hungarian organizers had communicated.

This is how Prime Minister Orpo and his seven advisers ended up at Tiborcz’s hotel, where a single night for the delegation cost €2,800.

The Finnish government noted that this amount also included the cost of security for the Prime Minister, the specifics of which remain confidential. As a result, it’s not possible to determine exactly how many individuals were covered by the total sum.

After the publication of Direkt36’s story, the Ritz-Carlton Budapest — now operating under the name Al Habtoor Palace Budapest — issued a statement expressing surprise at the turn of events.

“We have no information regarding the circumstances under which the original booking was transferred to another hotel, nor do we understand the rationale behind this decision. We are actively investigating the matter to gain further clarity,” the hotel stated, adding that “we will also be reaching out to the Finnish mission in Budapest to ensure they are aware of the elevated offerings”.

Orbán’s Government Continues to Recommend the Orbán Hotel

The Finnish government not only disclosed the cost of the reservations, but also provided invoices. Interestingly, the invoices were not issued by the hotels themselves, but by a Hungarian company called Jet Travel Ltd. According to the Finnish response, this travel agency handled the bookings based on instructions from the Hungarian EU Presidency.

In response to Direkt36’s inquiry, Jet Travel stated that the company was “involved as a subcontractor in managing the accommodation contingents for the event.” When asked specifically about the Finnish delegation’s accommodation, they said they could not provide any substantive answers.

The majority owner and one of the managing directors of Jet Travel is Zoltán Gál Pál, the brother of Levente András Gál, a former influential state secretary in the Orbán government. Zoltán Gál Pál acquired his stake in Jet Travel before his brother began his government career.

The government is continuing to use Jet Travel’s services in connection with an upcoming event bringing together presidents from various EU member state parliaments.

The Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments (EUSC) is held each year in the first half of the year and is organized by the country that held the rotating EU presidency in the previous six months (even though Poland currently holds the presidency). This year, the Hungarian Parliament will host the event on May 11–12. Once again, Jet Travel is responsible for arranging accommodation for the guests. This was stated in the registration form sent to invited participants, which Direkt36 has obtained.

The document also shows that the Hungarian government is offering a selection of hotels in Budapest for this event. The Dorothea is listed first among the five-star hotels available for booking through Jet Travel. This marks yet another international event for which the Orbán government is recommending István Tiborcz’s hotel. Hotel Dorothea did not respond to our questions.

Earlier, when Direkt36 inquired about the Hungarian government specifically recommending the hotel to EU summit guests, the hotel’s owner, BDPST Group, responded: “Since its opening, the Dorothea Hotel has been committed to promoting Budapest and Hungary, so we are pleased if delegations attending the EU summit choose our hotel, alongside other Budapest hotels.” However, they declined to disclose any guest details, citing privacy regulations.

Hotel Dorothea, which opened in November 2023, has also received support from both the government and from government-affiliated business circles in other ways. Tiborcz’s hotel project was designated a priority investment by the government back in 2018, granting BDPST Group special treatment from various authorities. According to Válasz Online, BDPST Group secured loans totalling €105.2 million (HUF 40.14 billion) from MBH Bank — majority-owned by Lőrinc Mészáros, a longtime friend of Viktor Orbán — as well as from financial institutions that have since been merged into MBH. 

Alternative Accommodation? Well…

Remarkably, the other hotels recommended to foreign delegations by Hungary’s EU Presidency also have ties to the Orbán family.

Take the Budapest Marriott, for example. In August 2024, Telex reported that its Czech owner had put the hotel up for sale, with Tiborcz’s BDPST Group possibly among the interested buyers. Marriott and BDPST have collaborated before: in 2021, BDPST Group’s subsidiary, BDPST Koncept — led by Tiborcz’s wife and the prime minister’s daughter, Ráhel Orbán — worked on the branding for Marriott’s newest Budapest hotel. The Orbán family’s Hotel Dorothea is also operated by Marriott International under the Autograph Collection Hotels brand.

Another recommended hotel, the Matild Palace, was declared a project of national economic interest by Prime Minister Orbán in a 2016 decree. The building, sold in 2014 by the District V municipality — then led by Antal Rogán, Orbán’s current chief of staff — was acquired for €8.2 million (HUF 2.6 billion) by the Turkish company Özyer, the sole bidder in an international tender. The Özyer family is known for its support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with whom Prime Minister Orbán maintains close ties.

A fourth recommended hotel is the Drechsler Palace, formerly home to the State Ballet Institute. Although a Portuguese owner acquired the building in the 1990s, it remained abandoned for years. In 2013, while touring the site with then-Budapest mayor István Tarlós, Viktor Orbán publicly remarked, “I would also like to get it back.” Eventually, a Qatari-owned company purchased the palace and converted it into the luxury W Budapest Hotel.

The Ritz-Carlton, now owned by Dubai billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor and supported by the Orbán government during the COVID-19 pandemic, was also among the accommodations recommended to EU delegations. The luxury hotel received €28,000 (HUF 9.6 million) through the government’s Kisfaludy Program, intended to offset pandemic-related revenue losses.

We asked the European Council whether they were aware that the Hungarian Presidency had recommended, among other options, the hotel owned by Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law to EU summit participants. We received no response — nor did we hear back from Zoltán Kovács, the Hungarian government commissioner responsible for organizing EU Presidency events.

Szabolcs Panyi

VSquare’s Budapest-based lead investigative editor in charge of Central European investigations, Szabolcs Panyi is also a Hungarian investigative journalist at Direkt36. He covers national security, foreign policy, and Russian and Chinese influence. He was a European Press Prize finalist in 2018 and 2021.