The people of Žabljak were pleased by the news that works will soon begin on one of the most luxurious hotels in the town — Hotel Durmitor. Aman told us that the works should start at the end of summer and that they expect the hotel to welcome its first guests in two years. Citizens and hospitality workers alike are looking forward to the five-star hotel, saying that the arrival of high-spending guests represents a major opportunity for the town’s economy.
This is what Hotel Durmitor once looked like — a pioneer of Montenegrin hospitality, built at the beginning of the Second World War. The new hotel, Aman promises, will be more modern and more luxurious than many mountain hotels in Europe, while preserving the memory of Žabljak’s pride from the last century.
Although the new owners were not obliged to preserve the appearance of the old hotel, they decided that the new one would fully retain the exterior look of the former Durmitor. They will also integrate 12 luxury villas and bungalows into Žabljak’s natural surroundings.
Since 2021, the transition from rough construction works to finishing works had been awaited, due to arbitration over Sveti Stefan. The first sounds of machinery, as things currently stand, will be heard after the summer, and they will continue for the next two years, when the hotel is expected to open. This is news that has delighted everyone in the town beneath Durmitor.
Mirko Vuković, a hospitality worker from Žabljak, told us what Hotel Durmitor meant to the residents of that town. It was not easy, he says, to justify the title of one of the best hotels in the former Yugoslavia.
Mirko Vuković, a hospitality worker from Žabljak, recalled that top-level guests used to stay at that hotel.
“We had, well, Sophia Loren and Richard Burton slept there, and so on, famous people. At that time, that hotel was a huge institution for Žabljak, and back then Žabljak was ahead in Montenegro when it came to tourism, just as it still is today,” he said.
That is why Mirko has no doubt that the arrival of Aman, one of the most renowned hotel chains in the world, is the right move.
“If only Hotel Jezera and Hotel Planinka could also follow — and we do have some hope that they will soon begin reconstruction as well, and that another chain will come there, one like Falkensteiner, like Kempinski, and so on. So we hope that in the coming period Žabljak will have three serious hotels, just as we have now received Hotel Aleksandar, which also has four stars. We therefore hope that in the coming period Žabljak will have three five-star hotels,” Vuković said.
And the arrival of luxury hotels also means more opportunities for Žabljak’s economy.
“What is good for us hospitality workers in all of this is that those high-spending guests who come here will not stay in the hotel all the time, but will have lunch in our restaurants, buy things at the market, eat blueberries and buy homemade products. So it is a major, major achievement for Aman Resort to come to Žabljak,” Vuković said.
Žabljak lives 365 days a year and is developing rapidly. Thanks to the funds received from the Government, investments will also be made in ski resorts and infrastructure leading to Savin Kuk. Still, they are asking that the town be protected from unplanned construction, as it is under the watchful eye of UNESCO, thanks to which it is also counting more tourists every day.
