Budapest Bouncing Back: A Géza Q&A with Suze Collings
While Hungary still hasn’t quite opened its doors to tourists, we’re starting a new interview series profiling the people who make the tourism industry in Budapest and in Hungary so special and so damn fun.
This week, we talk to Suze Collings, who has owned and managed hostels in Budapest for over a decade. She and her business partners are gearing up to start a new wine business called Bortodoor (“bor” is wine in Hungarian), and for four years have been hosting groups at their wine house in the village of Etyek. At Géza, we can set up a wine outing at the Etyek house where you can sample some of the best wines in the country, dine on some of the best farm-to-table fare you can get, and live it up with Suze. Start planning your post-Covid grand tour today!
Suze, what’s this past year been like for you as a business owner and as, you know, a human?
Well, let’s start with me as a human. Before the pandemic, I’d set out on what was going to be a six-week trip to Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Istanbul. And after my fourth day on the road, I got stuck in Australia and spent two months waiting for my residence permit. I was basically locked out of Hungary and in lockdown in Australia.
It was terrible timing, certainly as a business person, but also because that’s when the lockdown in Hungary set in. So from Australia, my team and I had to make the terrible decisions about standing down staff and working out redundancies. Across our hostels, we had about 50 members of staff including volunteers, many of whom aren’t from Hungary. So having to lay them off didn’t just mean making decisions about their jobs and livelihoods, but we’re also making them have to leave the country and telling them to go home.
We didn’t know of course how bad it was going to get, and we didn’t know when or even if we could offer jobs back. It seemed like things might come back online, but then in the fall the borders were shut and it’s basically been that way ever since. Eventually, when it seemed like the industry wouldn’t just bounce back, we realized we would lose three of our six hostels in October, and people decided enough was enough and decided to go home.
That was the year in a nutshell for us. Now there’s just four of us left from the original crew, but we’re always looking forward to the next big adventure and are already making some big plans.
Hungary’s still struggling with the pandemic, and tourism is nowhere near back—but the country’s vaccinating more and more people and starting to lift some restrictions. How are you feeling about the months ahead?
Fucking excited. I mean, I’ll start with the negatives. The negative is that 40 percent of businesses in the hospitality and catering industry have declared bankruptcy, which is devastating. The other negative is that the rich just keep getting richer. There’s never been a better opportunity for the rich to sweep up old businesses. You’re going to see a lot of generic chains coming in and owned by the same person.
The good news is that it’s a hell of a time for change. No one knows what the city is going to look like, and there are a lot of people who are full of hope. And they’re being opportunistic. They’re seeing cheaper rent or securing better rental deals. I’m hoping we’ll see a return of the ruin bar culture [Editor’s note: ruin pubs or romkocsma are squat bars that opened up in abandoned or empty buildings in Budapest’s city center. We’ll take you to the city’s best.]. Basically landlords might be willing to negotiate, give someone a one-year contract instead of a ten-year contract. In an ideal world, then, we can negotiate, let our staffs come back, get their feet on the ground, and the city can encourage new businesses to come in. It’s a good deal for the landlords who get rent rather than leaving their properties abandoned, and then we’ll see some good businesses coming through.
As you know, Budapest is a tale of two cities: There’s the Buda and Pest sides of the city, but also the summer and winter sides. There’s no way Eastern Europe doesn’t flourish in the summertime, because basically bars, restaurants, and cafes become ten times the size with outdoor gardens and terraces. In the sixth district of Budapest, the government is being progressive, offering up free terrace spaces. And we’re going to start see that opening up. It’s like what we saw last summer when all the old commie bars on the körút [a ring road surrounding the city center] were given all this outdoor space and were swarming with people.
What’s the city like right now with fewer tourists around?
I think the lack of tourism has of course been devastating for the industry, but at the same time it’s been great for locals. Budapest and other cities like it have become swamped with travelers, so in recent months, you’re seeing cities like it become far more comfortable and fantastic to be in. Of course you have to exercise caution. People have to get vaccinated, stay socially distant, and keep wearing masks. You’ve just got to be smart about it.
I think in the months ahead, as tourists return, we can be smart about it. We can learn from regions like Southeast Asia that has endured pandemics with masking and clever use of space. If Hungary takes that route, we can see a more kind of responsible tourism emerge. You all at Géza are trying to do that, create a tourism that’s sustainable not just from an environmental perspective but about being sustainable in a place, supporting locals and the local economy, and finding a good coexistence.
So now that things are looking more optimistic, what are you and your business partners up to?
Well there have been a few of us who’ve been sitting around being funemployed for a year who need to get off our asses and learn what a job is again. But really, we’re just three good friends who are passionate about wine. So we’re getting our wine delivery service Bortodoor off the ground. The idea is to make wine as accessible and enjoyable for everybody. We’ll be promoting Hungary’s fantastic wine country and the wine regions, but also bringing more foreign wines into the country to share with Hungarians as well.
We’re also angling to open a bottle shop and bar as well [Editor’s note: Suze spoke to Géza from the soon-to-be-opened space in Budapest, once site of the infamous bar B.City.]. We’ll do blind wine tasting and tours. And of course I’ll have my office surrounded by wines so we’ll see how my liver fares.
Finally, tell us about the wine house out in Etyek.
Etyek is about 28 kilometers from Budapest, very easy to access. We’ve been running tours there for the past four years. You can even take public transport as long as you have a guide, or even take a taxi for 40 bucks, and of course Géza will organize all that for you. And then once you’re out in the countryside, there are two hills. The old hill has the big old estates like the ones you might see in Napa or Australia, like Haraszthy with its swimming pool and such. But then you have the new hill that has all the real mom and pop places.
Our neighbors are truly fantastic. Anikó and István make pancakes. Csaba and György put together big farm-to-table meals with pork and deer. Feri Basci [uncle Feri] has a really old wine cellar and even has his own healthy, non-evil pálinka [a notorious fruit brandy that has gotten the founders of Géza into plenty of trouble]. I say non-evil because it’s sort of green and good for you. But overall Etyek is a wonderful place that feels miles away from the city, a great place. You’ll fall in love with the area. And even if you’re like me and love wine more than pálinka, you’ll still want to indulge.
Otherwise, we’re just excited to get back into the tourism game. We’re hopefully opening a new hostel this year that will be sociable and have a place for live music. We’re just counting on opening up soon, at a safe distance and of course with plenty of hand sanitizer.
Want to meet Suze, try wines, and sample non-evil pálinka? Get in touch with us today and we can set it up.