Editorial

Dear Insiders, Hilton has to prove its patience as well at the moment, as defective steel is delaying the daring construction of two of Hilton's brands at the Airrail Center at Frankfurt Airport. Annoying, but it's too late to back out. The chain needs new flagships for Germany. In Spain, NH displayed its strength this week. For quite a while, it looked as if Hesperia, NH’s competitor, would swallow up NH, and now NH bought Hesperia. We looked into the details of this deal once more. Club Aldiana also thought that bigger presence strengthens power and market position, aiming at more power through more facilities in Austria. But the youngest hotel in the Steiermark region gets its financial power from subsidies. Since last week, Austria’s nerves have been put to the test anyway: Given that German hotels only have to charge 7 instead of 19% of value added tax as from 2010, Europe's leading holiday republic fears growing competition. The crisis is definitely causing a shift in the balance. This also affects relations between operators and investors as summarised in a highly interesting panel at the International Hotel Conference in Venice - highlighting Europe. PKF in Atlanta makes a(n) smug sides blow at the self-glorifying hotel industry. The consultancy has analysed that US hotel managers had ignored all alarm signals of the crisis and continued to blandish their forecast figures. Smile!

Dear Insiders, After many years of pressure, the new German Federal Government will be decreasing the VAT from 19 to 7 percent! This softens the European distortion of competition. German hoteliers should not complain too much. Complaining is relative, as pan-European conferences reveal. At the International Hotel Conference in Venice European hoteliers, consultants and financial experts came together. Their experiences in international markets sometimes sound brutal. The discussions about agreements and financing are the same everywhere. Today and next week, there will be more on this subject.Those who are looking for successful niches might be lucky with health hotels. Nevertheless, even here, development is slower that predicted. Read more about the status quo of the development of medical wellness from the investors' point of view.Concerning Arabella Hospitality Group in Munich, things are on the move again: Wolfgang Neumann, CEO of the hotel group in Munich since April, has set the tone for the future strategy. "Less is more" is the motto; partners and responsible managers will be strengthened.Online giant Expedia harvests global criticism because of its outrageously hard demands concerning Choice Hotels. In the meantime, hoteliers from all over the world encourage Choice to remain tough.

Dear Insiders, The crisis is obviously inspiring investors to demand an increasing say in the operators' business. At least, this is a trend which was apparent in the panel talk about investor-operator relationships at the Expo Real hotel conference. Two other articles deal with the classic form of communication between management and employees today: the Shell oil company and a family-operated hotel from Austria reveal their favourite way of transporting information internally. An interesting comparison between rather dissimilar companies. The American bestseller author Joseph A. Michelli became acquainted with the major ordinations of this communication culture. After his book about Starbucks' coffee culture, he analysed Ritz-Carlton's service culture for one year. A recommendable book, even for industry experts. In our "Small Chains" series, we will introduce Commundo Hotels today, and in our colourful news mix, you will find the latest news from Austria, Switzerland, ITB Asia and about Holiday Inn Express.

Dear Insiders, Between the trade fairs we received an email from Frank Fiskers, CEO of Scandic Hotels, from Stockholm. In the midst of all the talk about investments and yields, he urges us to pause and reflect: in September, Frank participated at the Berlin Marathon and was able to win 20,000 euros with the aid of "his" sponsors. The money will benefit a school in Uganda. "It isn't just about business…", says Fiskers. Thank you for this valuable interjection, Frank!The panel discussions at the "Hospitality Industry Dialogue" during Expo Real, revolved almost always around money or the relations between moneylenders and money receivers. In this issue, we are also summarising the panel discussions concerning different contractis, conditions and yields after the crisis as well as discussions about missing standards and lacking of complete value chains when realising hotel projects.Peter Verhoeven is not yet able to reveal figures. The new CEO of Accor Germany faced journalists for the first time, at the celebration of the 100,000th Ibis room in Munich on Wednesday. Accor Germany is stepping on the gas again - to expand its economy brands.Dr. Florian Schuetz, Co-Investor of the International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef Bonn, is stepping on it as well. A second campus has been opened in Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria and another one!On our "network" page, you will find a photo gallery and comments made by some of the guests who participated in our "Bricks & Brains" networking event during Expo Real. The feedback was very positive and we would like to thank our sponsors and guests for their support and visits!

Dear Insiders, Among the big international trade fairs, Expo Real Munich put up a good fight this year. The commercial real estate fair ending on Wednesday recorded about 21,000 professional visitors, which reflects a decrease by only 15% in comparison to the peak year of 2008. The the total impression we have been observing throughout the entire hospitality industry: quality and rationality are back. On our Network page, you will find a summary of the general mood, detailed reports on the trade fair and the Expo Real hotel conference – partly in this and in the next issue.HospitalityInside and Expo Real launched an exclusive networking event for top-level decision makers and men of action from the world of finance, project development and hotel operators. Regarding the Hospitality Industry Dialogue hotel conference, we will report on the two panel discussions about project development and hotels in municipalities. In addition, the Treugast consultancy published its Investment Ranking for Germany and Austria: several major hotel chains have been downgraded. Read more interesting news - enjoy!

Dear Insiders, The panels and speeches at the Expo Real Munich will certainly bring up new bare figures and hard facts. Hospitality experts will meet at the "Hospitality Industry Dialogue" hotel conference staged at the Special Real Estate Forum between 10 am and 5 pm. Winfried Holleis, an entrepreneur from Austria, had a bad experience with his engagement in Croatia, but nonetheless, the courageous medium-sized entrepreneur is venturing into a new project in Italy. It sounds like a poor joke, but it probably is not one: allegedly, more than 80% of the planned hotel projects are not realised in the Ukraine. The crisis has also led to decreasing revenue at Worldhotels, but at the same time, members demand a more intense exchange of experience and support in terms of purchasing and IT. The new Managing Director - in the office only for a few days - explains the most recent developments. More interesting news…

Dear Insiders, Yesterday, Hamed El Chiaty, the new owner of the Steigenberger Hotels Group, introduced himself in Frankfurt. A smart, wealthy man. In Berlin, the boom continues. A current real estate study reveals that their value is ten times higher than the value of the projects in 2008! The Americans are suffering heavily from the crisis; therefore Preferred Hotels are introducing a new design brand in the "lower 4-star category". The budget eater energy is being very frequently analysed first nowadays. Do you know the model energy contractors? In addition to that a full spectrum of highly-interesting news. Read more.

Dear Insiders, TUI last week celebrated the birth of its "Sensimar" brand with the opening of a new resort in Turkey. The hotel is attractive and shows healthy booking figures. How TUI expects to implement its quality standards across the brand, however, I don't fully understand. Thomas Althoff has negotiated well through the crisis - and sticks to gourmet and luxury, despite any crisis. In Bonn he will also operate the convention flagship in town - a challenge. In Austria, a fine private hotel has difficulties in shedding its image as a "Russian hotel". And in Munich, the commercial real estate trade fair Expo Real will begin on 5 October with the hotel conference "Hospitality Industry Dialogue". 28 experts will discuss current trends in the industry's investment and finance sector. Read more….

Dear Insiders, Bombs destroy hotels, but investors and hotel operators still shy away from making the safety investments that they should. Instead, the first prototype of a "security hotel" is currently under construction in Germany. In Greece, the hotel market is opening new doors for the luxury segment. Women have had much influence holidays for a long time, but travel managers still think far too "masculine". The International Hotel Conference will soon take place in Venice. Starwood Capital and JJW argue, three Marriott hotels announce insolvency, Sol Meliá has a new Germany boss. Please read more.

Dear Insiders, The subjects of this edition of hospitalityInside.com take us to the water: Star architect Mario Botta commences two new projects in Switzerland, a thermal bath and a wellness project. In the Tschuggen Grand Hotel in Arosa water causes a two months' closure of the hotel. The waves of the economic crisis have obviously hit the high-sea cruise business less hard than the riverboat cruise segment. A market report. And an entrepreneur in Berlin operates a paw-hotel - a special story on the subject of target groups. At the end of October, the second "ITB Asia" will take place in Singapore; hospitalityInside is once again media partner to this up and coming trade fair event with the integrated conference "Web in Travel". This as keywords, more at your fingertips…