Dieter Bock sells the building 'Am Zwinger' in Dresden

Dear Insiders,

Summer drama revolving around the Atlantic Kempinski Hamburg: thanks to the supposedly "lost 5th star", the run-down building of the luxury hotel has entered the limelight. Now Kempinski, the operator, is putting pressure on the owner Bock. And this brings us to the key question: how long are owners allowed to let their hotel buildings bleed white?

There is another drama behind the scenes at Best Western: supposedly eight million guest data were offered for sale in the cyber underground. Data theft has occurred at the Marriott Vacation Club in the US or Sol Kerzner as well in the past. The alarming fact though about Best Western is that the group does not tire to claim that the originator of this news is unreliable, and at the same time admit that there was a hacker attack at a German hotel. Best Western does not officially deal with the issue in detail.

The different explanations for the delay of the MBA for business travel management are just a minor summer drama. The Business Travel Association of Germany was seemingly informed too quickly and badly. Our editor Baerbel Schwertfeger received some strange answers.

Our real estate specialist Karin Krentz has had a sceptical eye on business methods of rating agencies. Although not too many hotel groups are listed at Moody's and similar agencies, you will get a highly interesting insight into the working methods and backgrounds of analysts who decide on the fate of real estate through a thumbs up-thumbs-down procedure.

And finally, we pose the question today as to whether life is better with or without the stock exchange. Stock exchange newcomer Rezidor thinks positively about it of course, while stock exchange veterans like Moevenpick or Four Seasons are of a different opinion.

And in the end, our smaller news show that the summer holidays seem to be truly over....

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief

Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com