Editorial
Dear Insiders,
Oliver Bonke fell out of the hospitality sky to the surprise of everybody six months ago: As CEO Deutsche Hospitality, he succeeded Marcus Bernhardt. In Central Europe, the industry knows him from his time at Starwood Hotels, then he moved to the United States and finally to the CEO chair of Shangri-La in Hong Kong. The latter position should now help him to develop the German hotel subsidiary of the Chinese Huazhu Group just as owner Qi Ji would like.
Oliver talks to us about his adapted strategy for the first time today: soberly, matter-of-factly, without a magic bag in his hand. He remains cautious, but is stepping on the accelerator. He has tailwind here from the historically good 3rd quarter, which gives Qi Ji hope for cash for the first time. The €300 million that was talked about two years ago for rapid global expansion is now forgotten.
All the more urgent is the mission to create even leaner structures, to screen each hotel brand for its profitable core and to grow both in and outside China. Oliver, be agile! Qi Ji is agile too. He has been cranking up the marketing cosmetics in order to drive forward international operations stealthily and smartly: Huazhu is now H World.
Non-profitable hotels will not survive even at tour operator FTI Touristik. It is rethinking its hotel division, reducing hotel brands and strengthening their distribution through the power of the tour operator. "Less is more" is how Hotel CEO Sabine Dorn-Aglagul describes the path to significantly more revenue. This no longer works through bed occupancy, but through prices and quality.
Macy Marvel introduces us today - after Extendam last week - to another rather quietly operating French company with expansion plans into neighbouring markets: Covivio, formerly Foncière des Mûrs. He is the largest hotel owner in Europe, with close ties to AccorInvest and B&B Hotels.
Europe's hotel investors are on the move. This can also be seen in Peakside which is on the road in several countries and has acquired the now vacant luxury hotel Hessischer Hof in Frankfurt's prime location. Who will become the operator?
Within the CEE markets, Budapest has emerged stronger from the crisis. And in London, ADR growth has even outpaced inflation. The mood is positive in Italy too, albeit still in a small growth area: student housing. Investors sense opportunities.
Yesterday, the headlines were made by the Adlon family, respectively their heirs: They want the property and the hotel building of the Adlon in Berlin back; both had been unjustly expropriated by the Federal Republic after the war. The Administrative Court of Berlin dismissed the lawsuit immediately after the hearing yesterday.
We'd like to close today by referring to something of our own: our new Think Tank video, shot at this year's HITT in Berlin. Let yourself be inspired by this spirit: "HITT - The Film" can be found on www.hitt.world. Or better yet: book now at hitt.world and benefit from Super Early Bird rate! Enjoy reading and watching the film!
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
On 23 November, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German daily newspaper Welt that "for this winter, Germany's energy security is guaranteed." According to recent reports from Usedom though, this is not true. Rolf Seelige-Steinhoff of Seetel Hotels and other hoteliers received a letter a few days ago from their regional network operator officially "informing" them that the gas supply in their area may be "threatened" or "disturbed" in the future. Do utilities really send such warnings to entrepreneurs when energy security is assured? In the background, a delicate legal dance is already beginning.
We are republishing this article today and making it available for all to read on our page 1. And please share it further! As a provider of quality media, hospitalityInside is not about headlines or clicks, what matters to us is content. As so, beginning today, I will be doing one thing: I will subject all political promises to a reality check! It’s quite incredible how ambiguous words can be used to put pressure on entrepreneurs and at the same time transfer political responsibility to them too. Behind this terse letter stands an avalanche.
I, too, will probably be told again this week that "everything will be fine" and that we shouldn't panic. Nobody wants to panic - but panic can be avoided through awareness, forward thinking and a frank word. Professional journalists have a duty to point out grievances and developments that are getting out of hand, but few have the backbone to do so today. We’ll stay alert to the issues on Usedom and the experiences of the hoteliers there. Our research continues.
Fortunately, things are less dramatic in the serviced apartment sector. Concepts of the "new kids on the block" somehow also mirror our current crazy world though. A new brand wants to make every day Party Friday with its event, bar and store model! Wow. Let’s celebrate everything and not question anything any more.
It can always get better! Some things even still happen in silence. The second largest owner-operator in France is Extendam. Since June 2019, when the group had 180 properties, it has grown by about 60%. And that through the corona pandemic! Growth triggers for the new hotels outside France are the 60 hotel partners.
The next one to grow is Hyatt. With Dream Hotels, they are further expanding their Lifestyle Leisure segment internationally. Hopefully there won't be a nightmare. Hyatt currently counts 26 brands. IHG with Iberostar last week just announced its 18th brand. But the chain remains buoyant, as a brand update from IHG manager Mario Maxeiner showed in Munich on Wednesday.
Austrian hoteliers also enjoyed the super summer of 2022, but they remain cautious: They look to the current cost increases with concern. They could spoil everything in 2023. With that in mind, it’s good to keep your feet on the ground!
Many people do a reality check automatically, e.g. new GMs or investors and developers today. And for the non-German readers, we have briefly listed resolutions and plans that are currently being talked about in this country.
Take a look at AOHIS, the new investor conference in Madrid in mid-January on our page 1. We support this event as a media partner because it also wants to reflect reality.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Five days after the opening of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar is the place where power and manipulation became visible worldwide. It is pathetic and shameful. Sport connects the world. Football must not die, FIFA should. And Qatar, a still largely undiscovered, beautiful tourist destination with kind people, has ruined its great opportunity. For years to come, the destination will endure the stigma of having bought the World Cup. Billions of dollars won't change that.
Behind the scenes, many people have worked hard to make the event happen. This includes the team led by Marc Descrozaille, COO Middle East for Accor. Around 120,000 rooms will be available in Doha during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 67,000 of which will be managed by Europe's largest hotel chain - and it will ensure that these houses and apartments are also returned to the housing market after the World Cup ends. 14,000 employees have been recruited and trained by Accor for this purpose. The group holds a key to the fan beds in their hands. Not many people are likely to know that. Sarah Douag put many questions to the COO.
From a Western perspective, many questions also arise when looking at China. The government is once again risking 20% of GDP just because the Omicron variant of corona is now taking hold - in small numbers - and because they are unwilling to abandon their zero-covid strategy. Accordingly, European hotels will have to wait even longer for the world's biggest-spending tourists. Also, the Chinese government is once again calling off Chinese investors from Europe: They have been expressly instructed to de-invest! China is "muted".
Is this good or bad news for the industry? In the near term, a bad one. It means a loss of consumer revenues and parts of the supply chain in this country. In the medium and long term though, the end to the globalisation craze is also a huge opportunity.
Though not everyone with money worries can borrow "from the future" at the moment. Only the German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, can do that, handing out millions each month. Meanwhile, hotel CEOs and CFOs are poring over their budgets and despair as they conclude: Budgeting for 2023 is sheer impossible! Old methods no longer work. Susanne Stauss asked Austria's Verkehrsbüro Group, IHG, Motel One, Numa, Lindner Hotels and Art-Invest how they approach the subject.
An issue full of questions, it really is. Why is GBI AG, Germany's largest hotel developer, selling the majority share of its business? Why is the big player IHG getting together with the small Iberostar from Spain?
Meanwhile, two-thirds of those who were travelling before Covid are now travelling again. And there will certainly be more. Project plans are starting to thin out a bit, as we can see from our news mix, but the growth isn't stopping yet.
We’ll keep an ear to the ground for you...
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Qatar and the 2022 Football World Cup: Sarah Douag has done in-depth research and highlights both good and other more critical elements. Without a ticket, nobody will be allowed into the country; the Hayya Card must be loaded on the smartphone, and only then will it be possible to access public transport. In return, the Qataris gain access to everyone's data. For this, the state has capped hotel prices to keep accommodation affordable, but when the last 70,000 rooms were recently released, prices exploded going up to eight times higher... There are definitely many controls and many rules, even for hotels.
From Sunday and until 18 December, we will see, hear and read how the first World Cup winter football matches will go and how the Qataris will deal with the million fans they expect to arrive in the small Gulf state. They will be judged by their honesty and their hosting skills; though for that, media would also have to be just as honest, less one-sided and less moralising in their reporting. In any case, we will certainly have some hot games in the middle of the desert winter.
In Spain, the summer was also hot - in the most positive sense. The tourism association has now provided figures to prove it. KPIs have increased, but inflation has eaten into hoteliers' margins. Luxury hotels suffer somewhat less than mid-range properties.
In terms of popularity, Spain is hard to beat as a tourist destination. That's why even German tour operators are staying cool: For the Canary and Balearic Islands, they do not expect any big dramas next year, but they do face smaller budgets. And all-inclusive is becoming the new old hit. FTI, TUI, Arabella Hospitality as well as Grupotel and Barceló as Spanish groups in this round remain mercilessly optimistic.
The British also have their place in the emotional roller coaster that is today's issue. The industry association UKHospitality is appealing to politicians: Hospitality companies are considered "high-risk" and therefore have to pay inflated prices for fixed contracts. Over a third of the hospitality sector in the UK is reportedly at risk of going bust in early 2023.
Worldwide, Serviced Apartment operators are performing as they did before the pandemic and want to continue growing. But the current crisis situation is already slowing down the pipelines, particularly in Germany. Figures from the So!Apart serviced apartment congress in Leipzig yesterday.
Positive news again from the caravanning and camping sector: In 2021, they generated almost €15 billion in revenue for Germany's tourist regions. They are now encouraging federal, state and local government as well as the destinations themselves to work more closely together to do sustainable good, including for rural areas.
And in our personnalia today: Accor is getting a new CEO for Raffles and Orient Express, as we've learned from reliable sources. And our News Mix also includes many exciting new projects.
You should also keep an open ear for AOHIS, the new investor conference that will make its début in Madrid in mid-January. We will be supporting the event as a media partner. Instead of PR and window dressing, organiser Hoftel has taken up the cause of quality and clear statements. More on this can be found on our page 1.
We'll talk again next Friday, as always with quality and clear words.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Today is the official start of carnival in Germany. Yet we have enough clowns and strange spirits in the country even without this 240-year-old tradition. HR professionals at the hotel groups are currently facing their own struggles with the ghosts...
Oh sorry: It’s no longer "HR", but "People & Culture". Sounds friendly, in contrast to these new creative titles: There are now professionals for "Permanent Placement" or "Heads of Active Sourcing". It sounds a little rougher, but the terms show exactly where the new challenges are.
Things get really crazy with "ghosting": the unpredictable souls who submit their application, do interviews, even sign the contract - and then simply disappear into thin air. This trend is now intensifying, admittedly not at all, but at many hotel groups. What can be done about it? Bärbel Schwertfeger did the research.
Employees are the new gold, even if the vast majority of investors have not yet developed a finer sense for this and want to shift all responsibility to the operator. To my mind, this is quite out of touch with reality. After all, what's a hotel worth without employees? Nothing! Zero sales, zero profit, zero increase in value.
"I want to be a stakeholder, just as important as a shareholder!" This was a statement from 26-year-old Patrizia, who burns with passion for the industry but was ready to throw in the towel in a moment of frustration through the corona crisis. And she's right in her demand. That's why I brought Patrizia’s voice on this topic to the Expo Real this year and invited her to the stage - to confront the numbers geeks among you with the value-added "soft facts" in this people business.
Massimiliano Sarti describes how sexy the industry still is, against all odds, from an Italian perspective - unfortunately in a rather unsexy way, laden with facts and figures. The number of 5-star properties has increased from 410 in 2013 to 652 in 2022, resulting in the opening of 51 new hotels this year. And not only the luxury hotels in premium locations, but all of them - in every destination, even the hinterlands - will make a killing in the coming years. ADRs of €500 and more are possible. Industry analysts agree on this.
Motel One is currently reinventing itself: the "fireplace" will no longer exist at the second brand The Cloud One Hotels. With the first US project - in New York - the group is playing in a different league. In the future, it will be more attracted to conversions and takeover projects and even more to top locations. Motel One is also getting into development itself. Yesterday, company founder Dieter Müller explained to us the first details of the strategy that literally leads upwards - into the "cloud".
And no week would be complete without sustainability and energy topics: Through its second Sustainability Report, RICS has seen how desperately investors and others are looking for measurement tools whose numbers will nudge them in the right direction.
We also prompted a few people to think last Friday: No LinkedIn post so far has brought us as much feedback as the interview with Rolf Seelige-Steinhoff, Seetel Hotels, about his own personal, perhaps imminent, gas drama. The article is still open access to all on our page 1. The scenarios that the hotel entrepreneur sets out are also spooky in parts. But he thinks ahead, thinks through all the links in the chain. And unlike the ghosts, he knows: He can't disappear.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
There are too many "ifs" in the political assessment of Germany's gas crisis. Will companies survive or not? Three of the 16 resorts of Seetel Hotels in Germany are on the German Federal Network Agency's closure list. Owner and operator Rolf Seelige-Steinhoff has been put on stand by to close operations on the beautiful but thoroughly gas-dependent Baltic sea isle of Usedom within 8 hours. The family-run company fears a chain reaction of the most negative kind: from millions in operating revenue losses to downgrades at the next credit inquiry to mouldy real estate next spring.
Rolf Seelige-Steinhoff, a successful entrepreneur and excellent analyst, predicts the road ahead for him - and perhaps also for you. We have removed paywall restrictions on this interview today because we too want everyone to understand just how serious the current situation is and continue to put on pressure. You can find the article on our page 1 - and please share it with as many people as possible.
Swiss hotels now also fear closures: According to the survey, the scale of the energy price increase is causing serious financial difficulties for almost half of the businesses surveyed. If energy prices were to triple, half of the affected businesses would have to close at least temporarily. 2023 will not be fun.
Despite all the super negative news, many executives continue to work consistently toward a sustainable future. That's what I saw three weeks ago in London, at the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance's 30th anniversary event: It has doubled the number of its member hotels this year alone. 22 global and national chains now sit together with many partners from the value chain. Even America's largest hotel association, the AHLA, is on board. Experiencing so many renowned names and like-minded people in one room was new and beneficial.
The chains alone now make up 40% of all rooms worldwide! Contracts with the WTTC and the UNWTO ensure a close relationship with politicians. This network SHA has the potential to become a global voice of the industry.
Whether the German Lindner Hotels will keep or lose their voice in the market is not yet certain. An obscure press release from the Düsseldorf Group on the "2022 financial year" irritated me this week. The press release, which various "media" sources simply reported 1:1, is so unnecessary that we haven’t even published it. I'd rather give you some background and details from my conversation with Lindner CEO Arno Schwalie yesterday. He had announced a distribution deal with Hyatt at Expo Real in early October to nudge Lindner Hotels out of "small-scale Germany" and into the big wide world of Hyatt's reservation system.
I now nudge you into this issue, which again offers a lot of news and a lot of background, also on the rental portal Airbnb, which is benefiting from inflation. There has been a massive increase in the number of hosts now renting out even more beds to pay their own rent, especially in Europe!
Pay attention to the subject of energy, but also make sure you maintain your own energy.
After all, you might still need it to attend the new investors' conference AOHIS in Madrid in mid-January. The acronym stands for Atlantic Ocean Hotel Investors Summit. The organiser is the British national Simon Allison with his investor circle Hoftel. The event has an honourable objective: He wants to make a new, quality-oriented event for Europe, with limited number of participants. HospitalityInside is happy to participate as a media partner. The date is has been cleverly chosen: AOHIS will take place two days before the tourism fair FITUR. Initial details and links can be found today on our Page 1.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
I live in Augsburg, home to the world's leading robot manufacturer Kuka until 2016. A German company, typical of the nation’s Mittelstand. Then Midea arrived, a Chinese firm that offered ever more money to entice shareholders to sell. Eventually they buckled, and Angela Merkel gave her blessing to the sell-off of German expertise to China. Now Olaf Scholz is doing exactly the same with the port of Hamburg. It’s outrageous to sell even 24.9% of the port. Though Xi Jingping certainly has time: He will definitely govern longer than Scholz.
How is anybody supposed to find motivation in this permanent crisis? The Chancellor is throwing this country into a black hole. And we see a reflection of this in the hotel industry, even in our investment BAROMETER: "The subdued economic outlook" is what's putting the brakes on the hotel investment market - its impact is greater than the higher interest rates and even the Ukraine war and energy costs!
It is therefore all the more positive that the industry remains confident. The results of the HospitalityInside mood barometer, which we have carried out for years together with Union Investment and always run over the Expo Real period, can be found on our page 1 today. Subscribers receive the full evaluation in the magazine.
Perspectives come from Italy. There, 2022 could still be a record year for hotel transactions. Financing, albeit expensive, is still available, but new alternative capital providers are also emerging. Our correspondent Massimiliano Sarti has felt the new pulse.
And even in the difficult topic of ESG, which we also addressed last week, there is a future. But for this you need to learn a new vocabulary again: Madaster. A database for the material cycle. A huge topic for conversions! Who'd have thought that you can save money and even earn money with recycled scrap material. Sylvie Konzack learned more from Madaster CEO Dr Patrick Bergmann than he revealed during the Expo Real panel discussion.
In Austria, this summer outdid the 2019 numbers, but when it comes to winter forecasts, people are squirming. Will the day ski pass prices, which have shot up to €65, keep families and day trippers away? The Germans are expected to save the Austrian snow business once again, but I think it's wrong to base today's forecasts on the super numbers of winter 2021/22, when there was "only corona" and the wallet was still full. The energy monster is tearing a huge hole in that right now.
At the big chains, wallets are filling up again: Premier Inn, Accor, Hilton, IHG, Pandox, Scandic and Wyndham all made massive gains in their first half of business or Q3. Finally! Are things looking up? In spite of all the crises?
Probably not. But there are still plenty of new windows to push open, for example in the digital world, whose innovations we report to you today in our Digi News, and in our Market News, which shows that there are still many new hotels, brand transfers and changes of ownership.
Austria lost an important hotel patron last week: Dietrich Mateschitz, the man who made Red Bull big in Europe, earned billions himself, and poured many millions of that into tourism, hotel and restaurant business. Fred Fettner has shed light on the lesser-known tourist side of the late businessman.
I suggest: We all continue straight on our paths, look right and left, and search for trustworthy partners. Chancellors come and go.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Do you know how I feel when I occupy myself with the topic of ESG? It feels like learning vocabulary. First, you learn words, then you build sentences, but my counterpart does not understand me yet as I used a wrong word at a wrong place. But I just keep going through this nebula: At some point, I will find the correct word for the perfect phrasing.
Your colleagues are certainly able to explain to you, what articles 6, 8 or 9 mean in EU taxonomy language, for example. In panel discussions such as the ones at the Expo Real, you already got to know what parts of this gigantic set of regulations are valid or which ones do not make any sense. In addition, I think it is good to know that even leading people from investment, real estate and hotel operations admit moving through this topic with great caution. Everybody is learning vocabulary.
Therefore, the hints and clues provided by Theodor Kubak of Arbireo Capital, Karl-Heinz Pawlizki of Arabella Hospitality, and Andreas Ewald of Engel & Voelkers Hotel Consulting regarding their everyday lives are even more valuable for you. Here is one of the findings: Only hybrid lease agreements are suitable to integrate sustainability criteria.
And everybody needs to talk more to everybody! Much more! Good communication between investors/owners and operators increases efficiency. This was the finding of my colleague Beatrix Boutonnet from a panel discussion about contractual adaptations and this motivated her to describe the importance of speaking to each other among you Excel sheet freaks. People, who speak clearly, appear convincing and transparent, and can modify the vocabulary during negotiations more easily.
I can see that the first ones among you – bored by my words – are already beaming their Excel tables to their screens! The topic of communications is not as trivial as you might think. The Motel One Group just received an offer for its first hotel in New York because of this topic.
The consumers do not need to learn to talk but they must learn to keep their promises. Tourism scientists are slowly detecting signals that the consumers are ready to pay more for sustainable travel. The willingness to pay CO2 compensations is increasing. Eco labels in hotels, however, fail to have the desired effect.
This week's announcement of KlimaLink is praiseworthy: The new association, comprised of 22 travel companies and associations, wants to define a uniform standard for the definition of the CO2 emissions, and this for all travel providers, also including hotels.
On Wednesday, I visited the new Scandic Hotels in Munich: chic, nice, cosy and sustainable. Actually, such concepts should be located right in the city centre and not in the outskirts, even if this is part of a mixed-use quarter. Whether the ITB Berlin 2023 will be able to take the leap from the virtual world into the real world again or not, remains open after this week's press release. Renowned destinations are returning with a stand, but information about the hotel world is not available. Didn't this industry used to be one of the trade fair's pillars!?
Four Seasons has a new CEO – we have to wait and see if he is able to force the hotel expansion. The HR Group in Berlin dismissed both Managing Directors of Success Hotels; the mutual trust was no longer existing, they said.
You will find these topics and more, with many facets and background information, in today's edition! As always, we will provide you with the latest market news in compact form.
Finally, this is our last call for the participation in our Investment BAROMETER! Next Monday, we will be closing our autumn survey! The evaluation will then be ready next Friday… So please click here!! Just two minutes of your time for more insights and more communication!
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
It takes a week after Expo Real before you really notice how contradictory the hotel industry’s current situation is: Transactions are at a standstill, development is advancing at a snail's pace, banks are refusing finance, but hotel yields are rising. All the same, the hotel has now been downgraded to risky again - as happened in 2009, as Prof. Christian Buer points out today in his commentary on the current Q3 transaction figures. Operators are just consolidating among themselves or making hot expansion plans; many are still basking in their super rates, though others are already looking anxiously at their gas meters.
The trick now is to read between the lines or pick out the subtleties from the discussion rounds. Today we have summarised two important sessions at the Expo Real for you. On the one hand, there are hungry investors with clear exit concepts, but even in the crisis they still encounter self-confident and agile operators. The latter are nevertheless aware of where their interest rate limits are, where their own asset management is lacking and why they are still pushing ESG to the back of the queue. Pro-Invest Group, Soravia, EY and Seetel Hotels made for fascinating questions and answers that focused on and questioned the value of capital.
The other discussion round brought together owners, operators and lawyers in the form of IHG, Motel One, MHP and Jung & Schleicher. They all drew important lessons from corona, satisfactorily resolved their lease payment dispute 80% of the time, so that they now - together! - are looking to tackle the next issues: even more flexible variables, cap clauses, shorter contract terms and contracts with negotiation clauses. The latter "force" the parties to talk to each other when things get tight. You see, it does work!
It's the small things that now pave the way to the future. And I see from these two discussions rounds alone how much the hotel industry has professionalised in real estate and finance between 2009 and 2019. The larger operators have done their homework and are now negotiating on an equal footing with investors and developers, despite all the burdens. The operators have also become more self-critical; that suits them well.
David Etmenan, founder and CEO of Novum Hospitality, has never lacked in self-confidence, but he has also worked on himself and the Novum strategy: He is now shifting from quantity to quality, in small steps. He has adjusted the portfolio by 5,000 rooms since corona and implemented internal rebrandings to sharpen the brand profiles. He is also building up his own PropCo and wants to get out from the protective umbrella of the German Economic Stabilisation Fund at the end of 2024. "Our goal is to deleverage in a healthy way and then grow sustainably.”
Union Investment and mrp hotels have produced a white paper for resorts, there is a new brand ranking for Germany, and the EU wants to force short-term rental companies to register and disclose data before the end of the year. Did you know that drones can build houses like bees? That's worth a look.
Our photo animations from Expo Real are definitely worth a look - from our lively joint stand World of Hospitality and our relaxed networking event BRICKS & BRAINS with many high-caliber guests.
Last chance to participate once again in our Investment BAROMETER! Two minutes and you help to gain a better understanding of the world. You have your own opinion, don't you? Those who participate receive all results in detail.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
The hotel industry has defied the crisis and showed its colours with about 50 exhibitors at the Expo Real in Munich. The industry did not show any signs of depression but was rather contemplative and concerned. The turnovers are good to very good in 2022, the inflation helps to establish higher rates; mostly, the bookings until November are very positive. This means, the glass is half-full!
However, the glass can tip over any time, but this applies to all industries. The waiting for a clear signal from Berlin concerning energy costs is wearing everybody down; the mental strain is enormous. As long as there are no political guiding principles, no financing is available for classic hotels. Investors and developers are keeping still. Serviced Apartments are more attractive, however, and are now overtaking the classics in hospitality.
Remarkable: After corona, the operators are moving closer together with their owners/investors. Moreover, the industry still has its fans in the financial world! So far, the market adjustment has only started among the operators. There are no insolvencies on the horizon yet.
Changes are only visible in niches and in the small print. This year, many people want to know, what the others are thinking what and what their plans are: Therefore, the panel discussions at the Expo Real Hotel Conference were all full or even over-filled; the participants listened so attentively and silently that you could hear a pin drop. More so than last year, everyone was looking for the exchange of information, even if the conclusion was in many cases: Everybody knows that the others do not know more.
Our exhibitors and other exhibitors drew a large crowd! For two days, the interest was very high! In addition, the Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Building, Klara Geywitz, was looking for collaborations with the entrepreneurs during her Tour d'Expo Real: She also stopped by at the "World of Hospitality" stand.
Because we all only returned from the trade fair last night, we summarised the basic mood concerning the hot topics of hotel financing and development today, and we bundled the latest, trade-show related expansion news. More will follow next week, in word and image.
We are even more interested in your opinion after the discussions at Expo Real. Please take two minutes for our current autumn survey. The Investment BAROMETER 2022 in cooperation with Union Investment is still running! You will receive all the results at the end... Vote - go directly to the online barometer here!
The hospitalityInside SPECIAL on Expo Real remains available online. Browse through the e-magazine here, which also describes the co-exhibitors of the World of Hospitality in a bundle.
Lindner Hotels is starting a distribution cooperation with Hyatt Hotels. The core brand Lindner as well as the smart sister brand me and all hotels are now part of the Joie de Vivre brand and are listed in the entire Hyatt system, including a loyalty programme. However, Lindner's clientele is mainly from the German-speaking countries. Does this deal make sense after all? CEO Arno Schwalie says yes.
With our two contributions about tourism strategies in Amsterdam and Israel, we are pointing out again two extremes in tourism: The Dutch want to keep away day tourists and over tourism with a tax of 30%, Israel is trying to double its numbers of tourists now. What is sustainable about the latter?
And there will be an abundance of other news ready for you, which is not related to the trade fair but equally worth reading.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com