Czechs will find peace and beauty in the Sudetenland, promises the owner of Český les

A four-star resort has risen in the village of Železná in the Domažlice area, right in the middle of the local forests. It belongs to a father and his son.

Jindřich and Ondřej Karhan, owners of the investment group FKCG, have converted former military barracks so that their guests can find, in a protected landscape area, exactly what an over-stimulated city dweller looks for most: comfort, stylish accommodation and, above all, absolute quiet.

You can read about the impressions editor Taťána Lysková took away from Resort Český les in the July issue of Forbes or in the premium article.

We also sat down with Ondřej Karhan for an interview. We talked about what motivates him as an entrepreneur and how he explains the fact that we are now willing to spend more on a holiday at home than we used to.

“Tourism in the Czech Republic offers attractive margins. Compared with residential property, where you are talking about single-digit percentages, here it is tens of percent. That was not always the case; only in recent years have Czech tourism prices been high enough to make it worth getting into,” Karhan says of the background to the project.

He knows the property business well: he rents out flats in Moravia and apartments in Plzeň, and in the hotel segment he used to focus mainly on corporate clients. Český les is the first venture by father and son aimed explicitly at leisure. 

So why are Czechs now willing to pay extra for a genuinely luxurious holiday in their own country? Karhan is convinced it is because we have learned to appreciate surroundings that are truly up to standard. “We have had our fill of travelling abroad and are willing to look closer to home. Rather than driving nine hours to Croatia, we would sooner spend two hours in the car,” he adds.

Karhan also admits that he and his father have bet on “new money”. “There are fairly young people here with high salaries who would rather invest in an experience than save up for a flat of their own,” he says.

Originally, though, the Karhans did not expect to have to put such a sum into the project; the figure climbed to 162 million crowns. They expect it to pay off within five to ten years. “We had planned an investment tens of percent lower, because the original intention was an apartment project with a smaller restaurant. In the end we reworked it into a four-star hotel with a wellness area, conference facilities, a bar and a restaurant,” he points out.

One of the big competitive advantages is the resort's location. Compared with Šumava, the Chodsko region is quieter, and you will find beautiful countryside as well as abandoned villages. The Karhans expect to be the market leaders here.

They do have a personal bond with the place, though: the family has created a game park here and the Czech-German park Smíření (Reconciliation). “Our family comes from the Přeštice area near Plzeň and we do business all over the country. But this place is a matter of the heart,” Ondřej Karhan confides.

His father Jindřich has been doing business in this area since 1991. He started with petrol stations, a restaurant and duty-free goods. As his business gradually grew, he built a game park that today covers more than 160 hectares and is home to red deer, mouflon and fallow deer.

“The game park is another spot guests will find worth visiting,” Ondřej Karhan points out. Otherwise, Český les tempts visitors above all with slow, restful tourism.

“In the Czech Republic there is a long-standing idea of active rest: when you are in the mountains you have to set off somewhere, ride a bike or head out on cross-country skis. We want to go in the opposite direction as well and tell people: here you do not have to do anything at all. This region is also widely known as the land of quiet oblivion,” Karhan notes. He is alluding to the fact that while the history here was tragic, the atmosphere and the calm of this place do not deserve to be forgotten.

Among foreign visitors the Karhans are counting mainly on Germany, but they expect the split to be forty to sixty in favour of guests from the Czech Republic.

The size of the property means a lively team-building event can be under way while an individual guest arrives in search of the peace they have been longing for. “We do not want to spoil an individual guest's stay with a corporate-style event, so we will keep the groups apart. At the same time, we already have bookings where companies rent the entire complex and have all the services to themselves,” Karhan says.

Cultural events are on the programme too. “We want to host poetry competitions and evenings with painters and photographers. Stay packages will include yoga and talks on mental health. We have also reached an agreement with a champagne house, so we will be the first official Champagne de Venoge point in the Czech Republic. In future we want to move in an educational direction as well: we are thinking about a lookout tower and we want to create nature trails,” Ondřej Karhan promises.