A room style for each lifestyle

Munich. The change has also taken hold of the hotel industry and in a tremendously fast tempo. Among other things, this has been made clear by the rapid brand development over the last decades. Yet now, it is a matter of keeping pace with the dynamic changes from the IT world. During Expo Real in Munich at the beginning of October, Dirk Bakker, Head of Hotels EMEA with the international consulting firm, Colliers International, summarised the current trends.

Munich. Chinese investors have discovered the European hotel market. Yet deals aren't so easy since culture and 'wavelength' have an enormous role to play. Despite all the differences though, Chinese interest in Europe remains high. One extremely well-attended panel of the "Hospitality Industry Dialogue" hotel conference at the Expo Real Munich looked at the intentions and expectations with which the Chinese seek to become active in Germany and other countries and how these investors think.

Munich. Hotel properties have become presentable. Germany's hotel investment market, regarded as a "safe haven", is heading for a new record result of three billion euros. However, especially the vast amounts of cheap money provided by the central bank lead to massive increases in property prices while the number of available properties decreases at the same time. And the number of investors, which are new to the industry, is increasing too. This, in combination with higher risk-taking, is not a good precondition for long-lasting and sustainable investments! At least this was the opinion of experienced hotel experts taking part in the panel discussion at Expo Real's hotel conference in Munich last week. They criticised the current, unhealthy situation in the market and see different solutions to this dilemma. However, without knowledge of the hotel industry, failure seems inevitable.

Amsterdam. A new player has entered the niche segments of the "lifestyle hotels" and "Serviced Apartments": Zoku. A hybrid between an apartment and a hotel room invented by the two Dutchmen, Hans Meyer and Marc Jongerius. Meyer comes from hotel operations and was a founding partner of citizenM, Jongerius comes from the investment industry. A good combination for a new product with 25 square metres for the modern nomad that relegates the traditional hotel thinking to the conservative corner. The first Zoku will open in Amsterdam during the last quarter of this year.

Madrid. The Olympic rider Kike Sarasola has been revolutionizing Spanish hospitality for years. In 2005, he founded Room Mate Hotels, a hotel chain based on design, location and service, which he chairs as President. It counts 27 hotels today. In 2014, he created BeMate.com, the first international combined offer of hotels and tourist apartments with additional hospitality services that led to the acquisition of Alterkeys, another peer-to-peer property rental model. Sarasola strongly believes in the sharing economy and that it is here to stay. His hotel and apartment network is growing and overcoming Spanish borders meanwhile.