Dear Insiders,
Chinese groups stumble, Choice gains, Wyndham recovers and Best Western freezes. Finally, there’s movement in the Top Ten ranking of the largest hotel chains by Hotels Magazine. Macy Marvel explains why. A look at the collaborations such as Leading, Preferred, GHA or HotelREZ is interesting: Either they’re struggling or they post massive growth.
The Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group (FMTG) has long since decided that it will be a grower, with a lot of speed and the unconditional will to achieve top quality. The recently announced Falkensteiner Parkhotel Lake Garda will cost €140 million. It will be paid for by the buyers of the 170 apartments in 11 buildings and the guests of the (now only) 97 rooms, 60% of which are suites. A mega project in Salò, with lake view.
What FMTG has practised on a small scale so far will be continued on a large scale in the future: financing by means of quickly available cash from sales and crowdfunding together with the security of prime locations and highly specialised concepts. CEO Otmar Michaeler and Supervisory Board President Erich Falkensteiner have Italy fully in focus - for years to come. Massimiliano Sarti was present at the press briefing in Milan.
The years are passing quickly, and baby boomers are currently giving a lot of thought to where they plan to spend the autumn of their lives. These "best agers" are currently looking for new housing models, somewhere between hotel and senior residence. All the same, Thomas Reisenzahn of Prodinger Consulting warns in his current trend report "Hotel Granny - Being old was yesterday" against lumping all age groups together.
Fred Fettner analyses and also presents some living models. But the supply is currently still far too small and finished projects are far too expensive. The good life in old age will cost you a pretty penny. Otherwise, it’s the old-age home. Is this - socio-politically important - segment also just a business for their shareholders?!? Since the real estate industry is at a standstill right now, one could also think about social responsibility for a few minutes, in the sense of the "S" of ESG...
Leisure and lifestyle are driving business in tourism everywhere, and so the international hotel group association Global Hotel Alliance reports a huge jump in sales in the first half of the year: The guests are spending more than ever before.
Tyrol, one of the very strong tourism regions in Austria, remains pragmatic, modifies its target groups and offers online ecological travel options. That's worth a little "wow" again. The hostel chain a&o has published its first sustainability report. This is their first big step towards transparency for the public. Keep it up - we need more of these positive examples. Everyone will need to start at some point!
Transparency does good. That's why HospitalityInside is supporting for the first time the new global survey from h2c, a valued specialist in hotel distribution, technologies and market research by insiders. Managing Director Michaela Papenhoff is trying to find out what smart systems operators are using to automate the customer experience, what challenges they face and how they want to optimise their strategies. We put the call for participation in the survey on our Page 1 today. With this, every employee of a hotel group can take part (until 16 August) and expect a more in-depth summary as a reward.
Our News Mix has not yet fallen victim to the summer break, so we too will be collecting this market news and more our issue next Friday.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
