Dear Insider,

Lindner Hotel CEO Arno Schwalie disappeared in a flash from the Lindner Group's stage this week. According to our information, no, he is not going to Hyatt, but to B&B Hotels Germany. B&B has so far declined to respond to our enquiries. It remains an interesting development. A person can be CEO for a long time: After his 75th birthday, Karl-Anton Schattmaier, the man who shaped Steigenberger, has left his last stage, that of Welcome Hotels.       

In the midst of Germany's real estate slump, the hotel asset class is increasingly taking centre stage. I was pleased to hear in an online talk with five experts (Acron, CBRE, Arbireo Capital Invest, Commerz Real, Magna Asset Management) how sensitively the hotel industry with all its advantages and risks is being discussed today. Since Lehman and Covid, the dialogue has become much more professional. In the meantime, hotels have even overtaken offices. Who would have thought it? 

The Austrians are also making progress in their regulation of Airbnb. Tough (legal) measures are now discouraging occasional hosts from renting out their properties. The City of Vienna inspected and objected to 2,085 guest beds. Fred Fettner brings us up to date. 

With good ideas and lateral thinking, the young, digitally focused operator Hospitality X (Otto Konstantin Lindner and Tobias Oberdieck) first opened a chic apartment hotel, then took over a classic private hotel and sought synergies. Tradition cannot be translated 1:1 into innovation though.

How do you "translate" markets and development opportunities if you don't speak their language and don't have the local know-how? You look for partners, that’s how. The Thai Dusit Hotels and the European Generator Hostels (including their secondary brand Freehand/Boutique Hotels) will in future jointly search for locations - but always in each other's field - and occupy them with their brands. Details of a first team-up in the geographical cross-over. 

Europe and the hotel sector must remain strong and become more active and better networked. For this reason, Interhome introduced a sustainability label, initially for itself, but has since developed it into a platform for all holiday homes. 

Our personalia and news mix today once again contain interesting information, both large and small. And in our Public Content you will not only find Aroundtown's half-year results, but also record revenues for the international trade fair industry, which will certainly trigger new investments. 

With so much being reported about overtourism, has any portal actually counted which city has the most tourists per inhabitant? Dubrovnik is overcrowded, while Vienna and Munich are "empty"... And the bare figures also show why apprenticeships in hotel management are once again one of the least attractive options. 

There are many stages in this multicultural industry, good as well as bad. 

Till next Friday! 

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief