Editorial
Dear Insiders,
The Rhodes wildfire disaster is yet another reminder to take climate change seriously. The fire has destroyed not only large tracts of the natural landscape but livelihoods too - and is likely also to mean some island residents must flee. The number "climate refugees" is therefore increasing. I first heard this term over 20 years ago. Now, it is taking a frightening shape.
This makes it all the more important to focus on sustainable concepts that reduce emissions - e.g. buildings made of wood. Many are able to warm to the wooden hotel: The wood conveys a sense of comfort and well-being, from high-rise buildings to resorts. But not everything is made of real wood, as Karla Walther writes today. The first green-washing suspects are already apparent. There is also still a lack of much needed clarity in (German) legislation, and this is accompanied by a lack of concrete data for comparisons.
It is striking that Austrian private hotels in particular are ahead of the game here, implementing their projects with bold architects and demonstrating CO2 savings. The "wooden age" has begun, and with it the discussion about one of the most valuable renewable raw materials.
The human resource is not one that simply grows, at least not in the hospitality industry. Many employers are therefore happy that many employees are accepting their offer of the 4-day work week. Work environment researcher Jutta Rump from the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences, on the other hand, surprises us when she says: I think the 4-day week is fatal. She thinks it will have a devastating snowball effect.
Two committed German hoteliers, on the other hand, have set a very different snowball rolling: They travel regularly to Southeast Asia to bring young talent back with them to their hotel or to other hotels they are in close personal contact with. It works because they use their good name and sensitive approach to gain the trust of parents in Indonesia or Thailand and help their children get a solid education. The rules of the game are clear on both sides and a word is a word. And help also means helping people in Germany - including with German authorities.
What David Depenau from the Hotel Weissenhäuser Strand on the Baltic Sea and Wolfgang Nickel from Saxony-Anhalt achieve deserves great praise. Nickel's commitment here has given rise to a specialised recruitment agency. Both hoteliers decided to act because they have been waiting far too long for politicians to get things moving with Germany's new immigration legislation, which has still not been signed off.
At our Think Tank four weeks ago, HRS and Siemens revealed their plans to step up their joint "green standards" (Gree Stay Initiative), for both corporate travellers and hotels on the OTA's website. Now Booking.com is taking the next step and, thanks to clever software, is comparing Green Labels with the information provided by the hotels. And so the story repeats itself, as with bookings, as the OTAs once again attempt to remain masters of the hotel data.
In Amsterdam, hoteliers are fighting hard against the renewed increase in the tourist tax. For them, it is the wrong way in the fight against Overtourism. If necessary, they plan to take their battle to court. In Germany, the debate about 7 or 19% VAT in the catering industry continues, despite the summer vacations. And just before the vacation month of August, IHG is once again making a name for itself with a "carbon-free" hotel in the UK.
HospitalityInside will now also take a summer break. We will be back in the office from 21 August and our next issue will be published on 25 August. We wish you all a good summer season and/or a relaxing vacation.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
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
Dear Insiders,
What’s the state of the German hotel finance and real estate industry as we go into the summer break? Looking at the semi-annual transaction figures from international brokers and consultants yesterday, the conclusion can only be "in the basement". Nevertheless, hotels remain an interesting asset, our financial specialist Beatrix Boutonnet claims, having surveyed a range of hotel-critical experts on the subject. At the moment, no asset class is scoring well in Germany: Investments and transactions have jumped nowhere this year.
Yet the renewed high tourist demand means the industry is still scoring plus points. On the other hand, cost pressures are now intensifying and brokers are already forecasting real estate sales from late autumn, along with bankruptcies and value discounts. Some are also preparing further acquisitions in the background. Inflation and interest rates are the biggest threat. And there are no signs yet of the trend reversing.
In another background conversation this week, I heard that there are fewer and fewer investments in Germany coming from Germans; foreign investors are knocking, with a victory smile on their faces. This is how incompetent politicians destroy entire industries and undermine Germany as a business location.
Dirk Iserlohe has decided the only way is to help himself: The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Honestis AG, parent company of Dorint Hotels, is taking legal action in 14 German states to recover tens of millions of euros in Corona bridging aid promised by the government but still not paid. Iserlohe has decided to see this through alone, because the hotel lobbyists are focused only on saving the reduced VAT rate. Everything else has been forgotten. Corona is long gone.
Should Iserlohe win his court battle, all other medium-sized hotel groups would also benefit. Yet there's not a sound from them. Solidarity is a foreign word in this industry. Instead many of them run from event to event this summer, partying with their buddies and simply counting the years until retirement.
The Italians are moving very smoothly through the crisis. Giuseppe Pagliara simply doesn't care about rising inflation. The CEO of the Nicolaus Group just gets on with it. Massimiliano Sarti discovered this unknown group and its Valtur sub-brands. Similar to the market leader Alpitour, they are pushing their expansion now, of all times, in the middle of the crisis, via the hotel division and new brands. A new story from tour operator to vertical tourism group.
At the beginning of the second half of the year, the personnel merry-go-round is spinning again everywhere, and despite the low mood, there is still plenty of news from the real estate market. Why not boost your spirits with a look at the world's richest people and highest-paid CEOs? Or let the slots in the casino ring and go home with $40 million like Robert Goldstein, CEO of Las Vergas Sands Corporation, did last year.
Yours,
Maria Pütz-Willems
Dear Insiders,
Inge Huijbrechts, Senior VP Sustainability, Security and Corporate Communications at Radisson Hotel Group gave her first speech in the EU Parliament last week. And she spoke for the entire industry. A unique opportunity, even if she was only allowed to speak for a total of 13 minutes. "I was able to show that our industry has answers - both for society and for the planet," she reports with relief. The issue she spoke about was of course sustainable tourism and CO2 reduction activities.
Her appearance as a newbee and the personal talks with the MEPs afterwards motivate her immensely. Today, she provides encouragement for her hotelier colleagues and, in particular for the partners in the real estate industry to more collaboration here today and again. In fact, Inge was also supposed to talk about teamwork that day at our HITT Think Tank. Her colleague Sven Wiltink took over and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the industry with Glenn Mandziuk from SHA and Willem van der Zee from Pandox.
And this debate at the end of the Think Tank also ended with an appeal: "Collaboration is essential and will need to be fixed in contract," predicts Tony Williams of Buro Happold. And Eric Hofmeister of Siemens was one of the first to call on hospitality leaders to make a voluntary commitment. Only then can things get rolling, and only then can leaders be measured in their responsibility.
At this HITT we felt for the first time that the circle of Movers & Shakers is growing. They want to push their industry boundaries now! But when I look at my personal wish list of HITT guests, I’m still missing a few. In Europe, floods and storms are becoming more frequent, Spain was already suffering from the summer heat in the spring, and Saudi Arabia is expecting a daily temperature of 60 degrees Celsius for the first time this year.
The report on the final discussion at the HITT is again freely available on our page 1, garnished with a second collection of photos from our 6th Think Tank.
Sustainability is not for cowards. Olaf and Rainer Kerssen from the Ringhotel Teutoburger Wald in northern Germany have now made the family hotel self-sufficient in terms of energy. The two brothers have created their own mix of photovoltaics, combined heat and power plants, electricity storage and intelligent load management using normal common sense, without any ESG pressure at all - with huge energy savings. This is best practice at its best! The chains are welcome to take a look. There are more of these movers and shakers in the SME sector.
Unintentionally, this issue focuses once again on sustainablity, but in its many facets. The EU Court of Auditors is urging individual countries to be more transparent following its latest report on the achievement of climate targets. Some believe they can get away with buying green certificates. Patrizia AG, a large investor in Germany, has stated: Investments will be fewer this year, but they will be greener. And business travellers are becoming more conscious of ecological travel, says another report.
The DZT (German National Tourist Board) also celebrates itself in managing to make tourism data digitally accessible in the year 2023. And for the Dehoga Bundesverband, the final tug-of-war over the hoped-for extension of the 7% VAT rate in the restaurant industry in 2024 has begun.
At Deutsche Hospitality, CEO Oliver Bonke has been promoted to CEO H-World International (ex Huazhu). Though the territory for which he's responsible has not grown. Is this perhaps where the framework for something new grows first, something we don't yet know about?
I wish you an exciting read, our issue today has a great deal of pragmatism in it.
Yours,
Maria Pütz-Willems
Dear Insiders,
The tourism industry and hotel industry are the CO2 scapegoats and climatic beacons of hope at the same time. Hotels are firmly located in an economic and social network: this puts them under fire from all sides. The pressure is increasing massively. Solutions are provided by digitalization and AI or by governments – by cutting knots by law. Businesses, which are not prepared for ESG, will have no chance to survive.
The statements of renowned sustainability experts on this matter at this week's HospitalityInside Think Tank in Berlin were very clear. And the reaction of the participants showed: This group is willing to implement sustainability and realise it with more speed. And the rest?
Sophie Herrmann, Partner at the transformation consulting Systemiq, advised the industry in her keynote: "The industry has to bundle its forces to scale sustainable solutions and also make them visible, first of all." And Florian Huber of EYCarbon pointed out with the following sentence that sustainability applies to EVERYONE and EVERYONE has to take action: "During reporting, Thyssen Krupp will report the same figures as Arabella Hospitality."
This HITT was another highlight with its honest and open discussions, which were praised by experienced experts from outside the industry to the skies. Today, you will find a first summary including photo impressions on our page 1, available for everyone as we want this message of sustainability to be multipied further! More photos and more content next week.
While we all had exciting times on board the ship and absorbed many new things, Macy Marvel analysed the refinancing process in the hotel transaction market for us. Within the next few months, a growing number of distressed assets will appear; however, funds and private equity are already lurking around the corner to join in the debt financing at the "most appropriate" time.
The slump of the hospitality sector actually helps young players such as Bob W. With its mixture of all serviced apartment types, full-service hotels, F&B, lifestyle, all-round digitalization and hotels with only a single employee, the Finnish group around co-founder and CEO Niko Karstikko is well on the way to becoming a jack of all trades. You can simply enjoy this article. It almost contains no figures at all, and all the more, we are looking forward to an update with Bob W. in a few months to find out what goals can be realized in what way. After all, Bob W. stands for "The Best of both Worlds".
Despite their vulnerability, hotels remain a valuable asset during the crisis. Meanwhile, hotels relevant for investment now drive the entire market volume. There is also positive news from the world of business travel: large companies are sending significantly more employees on business trips!
Nonetheless, depending on the location, category and concept, many hotels should still be careful: All across Germany, the number of insolvencies is on the rise, even in construction. In the whole of Europe, an increasing number of companies are introducing robots – even in catering. These are two indicators for a coming period of consolidation.
This is why the DZG think tank's lobbyists went to the German Bundestag in Berlin last week and talked to members of parliament. My colleague Frank Tetzel, who has one foot in politics, took a look at the event.
We will go on right in the spirit of the think tank and and continue to reflect, among other things, on this hyper dynamism that is leaving the industry just as breathless as it did during the Corona standstill.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
Dear Insiders,
Operators are looking forward to a good to very good summer season, also in the cities. This prompted many to think about more. One of them is Italy's Alpitours World, now a billion-dollar company that builds value through its own tour operator, airline and hotels, among other things. This "mini-TUI" is now also driving hotel expansion by developing, buying and checking out European capitals. The hotel division is small but big in its value creation for the Group.
Alpitours CEO Gabriele Burgio and Voihotels CEO Paolo Terrinoni gave our correspondent in Milan, Massimiliano Sarti, a detailed insight into their plans, concerns and challenges. Two Italians on the move with a clear strategy.
Others have been nudged by corona - for example, to think about what strategy to pursue in order to ensure a good price on sale in a few years. In the case of prizeotel though, it is not quite clear whether the budget/midscale group itself, its parent Radisson or the Chinese owner Jin Jiang are cleverly engineering the whole thing.
My conversation with prizeotel CEO Connor Ryterski was prompted after I read three full-page text ads in a newspaper in which the company advertised itself. Suspicious. Also because prizeotel is increasingly being integrated into the Radisson structures. Connor responded by stating the facts; I added a touch of speculation.
Naked facts from the Austrian Hotel and Tourism Bank (ÖHT) show that upscale hotels are currently clipping their own wings: Investments have been declining massively since Q1, and applications for subsidised loans are shrinking. Not a good sign from the fragmented hotel landscape of this great tourist destination. Hoteliers are also likely to avoid new loans because their terms also require them to take new sustainability measures.
This brings me to an important point: The transformation to a sustainable world is no longer driven by technical innovation, but by government regulation! Concern here is justified, in particular if the issue is not actively addressed.
We will probably be able to allay the fears of our participants at the Thinks Tank next Monday/Tuesday in Berlin, because we have experts on board who will tell you how to steer your company ship - safely through the biodiversity ravines, through the certification jungle and into the world of meaningful measurement instruments. Our "climate activists" in the nave of the ship are motivated and curious and will be glued to the speakers' words.
The HITT will be a hit again, the ship's nave will vibrate with so much expertise. A real experience, also a highlight of the year for our team. In the meantime, you can read this complete issue with lots more news at your leisure and vibrate towards next Friday when we will report on the 6th edition of the Thinks Tank.
In addition, we are already looking forward to the next, big event, Expo Real in October. The number of exhibitors at World of Hospitality has now risen to 25. But there is still room on the stand. We have updated the corresponding article on our page 1.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
Dear Insiders,
Politically motivated violence has now also reached the German hotel industry: Activists of the "Last Generation" recently destroyed the bar of a 5-star hotel on the German isle of Sylt. Prior to the destruction, they had daubed a private jet with orange paint and later also attempted to plant trees on a golf course. They blame the rich and their lifestyle for climate change. This is not only too short-sighted, but counterproductive too. Such destruction certainly runs counter to the whole idea of sustainability?
How have the Severin*s Hotel & Spa and Hotel Budersand on Sylt, the Fairmont Vier Jahreszeiten Hamburg, the Breidenbacher Hof Düsseldorf and the Kempinski Vier Jahreszeiten Munich reacted? They’ve locked doors, set additional security, activated alarm buttons on their apps and are raising awareness among employees and guests.
Paul Moxness from Canada, the former, long-time and extremely crisis-experienced head of security for Radisson Hotels, says: "As climate issues become more pressing, activism, unrest, vandalism, and disruption are more likely". The hotel industry is not even the main focus of this vandalism, but the model is easily copied - worldwide. So there is no all-clear, rather a call to assess one's own risk - or even better, to avoid risk. Moxness has a suggestion.
The police took the activists away and then released them. Courts are powerless. I wonder as a citizen: Are we now choking on our own tolerance, are we blindly allowing the dismantling of our democracy? The latter also concerns me as a journalist. Our profession is coming under increasing pressure, partly because more and more people in Germany no longer dare to speak their minds openly. If we all let ourselves be robbed of our freedom of expression, then we will be the last to live here in peace and freedom. Is that what you want?
On the subject of employees - the industry's perennial hot topic: Nobody has a solution for the acute misery, not even Susanne Kraus-Winkler. The Austrian Secretary of State for Tourism - herself an entrepreneur and hotelier - took the time for an interview with Fred Fettner and provided transparent figures. But she too is struggling with conservative political structures and the massive pressure of change. She paints a realistic picture. And this is reflected, with a little delay - not for Austria, but for all of Europe - by an industry that for decades has been unable or unwilling to think outside the box.
This makes it all the more important to look at what politicians and industry representatives are doing. In this respect, I am grateful to the think tank “Denkfabrik Zukunft der Gastwelt” for publicly analyzing the lobby register for Germany. In 30 years, I have never seen Dehoga do anything like this.
Accor is bubbling over with ideas. With its current announcement for a massive push of Branded Residences in Mixed-Use Developments, Accor links Hotel with Lifestyle with Private Residence. Now there are Mama Shelter Residences! Wow, something new again. Chief Business Officer Jeff Tisdall answered our additional questions.
New framework conditions are emerging at the level of EU law for dealing with artificial intelligence and in Germany with the Whistleblower Protection Act.
We are also drumming loudly again today for our HITT: A week from Monday, the think tank will launch. With exclusive news, only for our participants. With the announcement on our page 1 today, we hope to make you curious once again about the results of a hospitality-wide study on, among other things, changing consumer behaviour in terms of sustainability: Baby Boomers get down to things, whilst Gen Y/Z prefers to talk, BVA BDRC has found. And Prof. Arlt presents his new index for "Meaningful Tourism", here too the hotel results are exclusively for us, or rather, for you.
Ten days before the event, there are only a few seats left, so we could still bring you on board. www.hitt.world
Till next Friday!
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Today, we are starting with ourselves: It's only 17 days until the 6th edition of our HITT. Everything is set and we are looking forward to this event. You too? Do you know the most recent research findings from the industry for the industry with respect to changes in consumer behaviour? Do you know the criteria for "social", the meaning of biodiversity, the effects of measurement data on your real estate and operations? HITT is one big package of knowledge. We still have a few places available, you can still join us on board! Register now at www.hitt.world.
After all, our Think Tank is increasingly becoming an international, cross-industry platform for a sustainable community, which in the meantime is continuing to network with each other and is already collaborating in some cases. Today, we can already announce a new success for 2023: 14 out of 16 speakers will be staying on board together with the participants for two days – more than ever before. A huge chance for you!
"Through the Think Tank, hospitalityInside provides a great alternative to the huge conferences", praises us Patrick Mendes, CEO of Accor Europe and North Africa. Europe's largest hotel chain wouldn't have to sponsor HITT, but it has been doing so for six years now – to learn for itself and help the entire industry. Companies like Accor have a pioneering function in the market. And in the same way, the remaining sponsors overcome competition and national borders: Drees & Sommer, Arabella Hospitality and now also Haefele from the suppliers' side. Since HITT's premiere, we have been collaborating with Expo Real and Hotelschool The Hague as well.
Today, these businesses explain why they support the Think Tank. And all companies, which have already supported us during the last few years, have done so because they are likewise convinced. Thank you very much!
Tourism will flourish again. Hoteliers who adapt to new flows will benefit enormously. ForwardKeys from Spain, which analyses airline tickets, stated the following two days ago: In July, business travel flights will overtake leisure flights for the first time again, and until September, the gap to 2019 will even have closed.
So please realign yourself with what is coming. The White Label operators are currently experiencing a momentum, as Macy Marvel shows. The Americans want to grow in Europe just like Cycas from the Netherlands.
Italy is also feeling the upwind but according to the industry association Federalberghi there are still high obstacles – on the state's side – to take the hotel industry up to new heights. The most important factor is staff shortage, which is even increased by – statistically proven – illegal activities in the market. Massimiliano Sarti reports, also about the new and weak tourism minister Daniela Santanché.
Israel is tackling everything, despite all crises and street protests in the country. So far, the new and still old tourism minister and the hotel association still agree on the fact that tourism will return to the prosperity of 2019. And everyone does everything towards this goal. The investment program for investors continues, new concepts want to distribute the tourism flows over the country. Sylvie Konzack, who likes to travel in Israel herself, observed the development for months and presents an interesting summary today.
In our news section, we collected – apart from personnel news – the weekly market news, aptly complemented with news from the world of sustainability and the world of digitalization today. And we imagined the meagre breakfast at new economy brand Scandic Go. The Swedish have revealed more details from the concept, but still no price for an overnight stay or now even the new food concept.
Have a great week.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Digitalization is supposed to alleviate cost pressures and increase efficiency in the hotel. Ruby CEO Michael Struck confirms that. He has been thinking digitally for ten years already, since very beginning of the Lean Luxury brand in fact. Meanwhile, digitalization, automation and centralisation have become so closely intertwined that efficiency has increased by a factor of two. Yet he also spends a lot of money on it - and today gives you an insight into the processes and systems. It's certainly not easy, but the journey is the reward. Let it motivate you!
A little more strategy might be expected from the EU. The Commission has undertaken mega projects in order to help destinations and SMEs and to enable them to obtain green certificates. What emerged at the well-intentioned "Green Tourism Conference" organized by the Austrian Hotelier Association in Vienna, though, was chaos, intransparency and inefficiency. EU labels are literally raining down and overlap considerably with national equivalents. Individual examples from the hotel industry are encouraging, but the actual reduction of emissions is still impossible to measure, as ÖHV Secretary General Markus Gratzer admitted dryly at the end. Fred Fettner attended the event.
Looking for the needle in the hospitality haystack is Martin Egner. He has recently launched a new brand, The Porter - a classic hotel, but populated exclusively with serviced apartments and features from both worlds. Egner wants to run everything himself - from coffee shops to co-working, from podcast studios to yoga studios, from meetings to food markets. Ambitious! A new hybrid in line with the trend, Sylvie Konzack concludes.
In Zurich, two young founders are delighted with the spontaneous positive feedback on their Switzerland Hospitality Financing platform. Neither has a banking licence, but both match capital providers and loan seekers. With system and digitality. That sounds promising. Bea Boutonnet interviewed them.
Good networked booking platforms are serving South Tyrolean hoteliers extremely well right now. Vacation bookings are already coming in three months in advance, and brokered sales have skyrocketed by 40%. A good sign!
The EU Parliament sent a special signal yesterday when it passed the European Supply Chain Law with a large majority: It is stricter than many national regimes. Companies would have to ensure that child labour, slavery, labour exploitation, pollution, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss do not occur in their supply chain.
Every week now we see reports of this kind. The implications are absolutely serious and will impact on the hotels as well. I'm all the more surprised then to note week after week who is still not interested in sustainability and climate protection. Of course, this is now the perfect moment to refer you once again to our HITT Think Tank, whose experts bring solutions and provide guidance to you, dear leaders!
The keywords for this have been mentioned today and here in the editorial: It's about measurement, data, digital control, certificates, efficiency and collaboration. Inge Huijbrechts from Radisson, Willem van der Zee from Pandox and Glenn Mandziuk from the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance make a passionate plea for "collaboration", for a borderless, open togetherness. And they will also clearly address the weak points.
I introduce you to the trio on our home page. By the way, most of our 14 experts will be on board for two days - a novelty and proof of their confidence in this high-profile event.
Our HITT event has been showing ways for an implementable transformation since 2018. Are you with us? We still have a few places available on our ship. Register at www.hitt.world. Or send me an email.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Germany officially slipped into recession yesterday, with consumption slowing. This will mean anxiety for tourism and the hotel industry again: Will the good booking figures for the summer continue?
Operators are coming under increasing pressure. Increasing costs are the key reason, but there's also the fact that many property owners who do not want to help operators for a second time. Owners probably only see the increasing revenue, not full and true picture: Room rates in Germany have increased by about 12%, but costs have outstripped these gains are are up by 15-18%. How can this gap be bridged?
Four insiders from BNP Paribas, Deutsche Hypo, Engel & Völkers and Härle Consulting give tips, but they all stress that EVERYTHING should be reassessed. F&B and various services still offer savings potential, also the revenue managers and digital professionals should step in. This is the only way solutions will be found. Fewer but better employees was also encouraged... Together, the four of them went through it all. Their advice: check everything. Check, control, and check again. "And when I'm done readjusting at the back, then I have to start all over again at the front," sums up Alexander Trobitz of BNP Paribas.
The only thing that counts is focus, as Sébastien Bazin would say. The Accor CEO chose exactly these words for his company and they mean it too. I met him last week during the IHIF. It's almost a ritual: It was my seventh interview with him in nine years, and - unlike other CEOs - he still doesn't dodge any questions. This time we talked less about numbers and more about strategy, change fatigue around the recent restructuring, differentiated responsibility, AccorInvest, leases and the inertia of Germany.
I found phrases like "I'm not driven by margins," "I can have 100 brands," and "Everyone is faster than Germany" interesting. He didn't reveal everything, of course, because he's planning on opening the eyes of his finance community at the big Accor Capital Market Day on 27 June.
And while we're on the subject of a clear view, the sector should wipe the smoke from its eyes caused by U.S. headlines about a - possible - impending acquisition of Wyndham by Choice. How realistic is that? I spoke confidentially with a very experienced transaction specialist who sees bored bankers behind the smoke, inventing new games again in the crisis. If the rumours were serious, then there would have to be an ad hoc announcement to the stock exchange.
Our other contributions this week deal with less spectacular issues: During a visit to the - lesser known - Mooons Hotel in Vienna, my colleague learned that the operator Munich Hotel Partners now wants to grow with this lifestyle brand in Central Europe. Italy's Bluserena Hotels, backed by Azora, is also looking to expand strongly. The new owners of Aareal Bank bring a lot of hotel experience with them. And U.S. giant Meta plans to fight the EU's €1.2 billion fine for data breaches. Just as colourful are our personalia today and our News Mix, the mirror of the market.
A colourful four weeks are also ahead of us - until the HITT! The expert briefings are all done, the wording for the impulses is in the works, as are the handouts for the participants. On 26 June, we will board an anchored ship in Berlin, the day after that the "Floating Forum" will set out over Berlin’s waterways... And to make sure you don't end up swimming in the wrong direction, our top-class experts with practical experience will show you the way through the jungle of trade fairs.
Today I'm going to introduce the second trio of focus measurement so that you can face the flood of data, certificates and measurement tools with confidence. Xenia zu Hohenlohe of the Considerate Group and her customised concepts are already familiar to many of you, as is ecologist and sustainability expert Tony Williams, who now works for the global engineering company BuroHappold. This time, he brings with him a colleague from London, Anthony Tuffour, a man of geospatial science and an expert in data-driven and technology services. Don't be intimidated so much expertise! What did Tony say to me about Anthony? "He explained to me in four slides how to manage it all." All profiles of our speakers and the programme can be found at www.hitt.world - and the short editorial introduction to today's session on Page 1 of our magazine, www.hospitalityInside.com.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com