Editorial

Dear Insiders,

Dubai is going full steam - and threatens to suffocate itself. The flood of projects announced at the "Arabian Travel Market" last week renders a European breathless even from a distance. The trade fair visitors caught their breath every time they sat in hour-long evening traffic jams. The Sheiks` superlatives are becoming a huge problem for the infrastructure and the daily life.

This is why for me the small observations made on the fringe of the fair simply raise the question: How credible are all these hotel projects? 31 hotels are to be built like pearls on a string; the biggest one is even planned to surpass its counterpart in Las Vegas. Allegedly, 80,000 rooms are still missing up to the year 2010.

The question of the credibility of this undertaking is followed by the question of economic viability. But who of all the people involved in Dubai would admit today that this whole noble boom might, at some time, tip over and become a cheap mass? What if the rules are dictated by price instead of quality? Be it Dubai or Duesseldorf - the commercial principle remains the same. I remain sceptical regarding this artificially provoked boom in Dubai.

Marrakesh thought it was in the passing lane as well. But then, terror acts put a damper on the development. Our small portrait, a mix of personal travel impressions and an actual analysis, shows a country with enormous potential.

The Estrel also sees a lot of potential for the city of Berlin and its own quarter if politics would only stop preventing the go-getting entrepreneur Ekkehardt Streletzki from spending millions. A typical German story of prevention is about to begin. If you look at this story with respect to the Dubai background, a German can only cry...

Today's issue emphasises travelling. However, destinations as well as destination mediators create the conditions for hotel expansion. Therefore, we are showing the hotel industry today from the view of industry-related people. Garnished with current trends, timeshare and real estate news.

Until next Friday,
yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Any comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

This week's focus is benchmarking. In the Victoria Jungfrau in Interlaken, five hoteliers from five different countries met recently to directly share experiences. Indeed this is a very unusual form of benchmarking, the five hoteliers otherwise competing directly against each other. The fact that the meeting was among private hoteliers explains it.

As to whether this would be possible between the chains, experience shows that they tend to avoid direct comparison and much prefer the indirect route - via colleagues or by way of market surveys - to discovering the tactics of their competitors. The media is certainly very welcome here, as I can report from my own personal experience. A professor from Munich's University of Applied Sciences once interrupted me and said "I know you, we've copied more articles from you than from any other journalist!" Insofar I hope that the team here at hospitalityInside.com are able to help you to a better overview of the different markets and developments.

Our article on Spanish resort chains continues on from the one on Spanish city hotel groups published two weeks ago. Taken together, the articles give an up-to-date view of the idiosyncrasies of the Spanish hotel market. As part of the ITB's investment forum this year, the chains also sang the praises of franchising; we looked into the plans of the big chains in Germany. Result: Even franchising follows the brand but the risk is assumed by the franchisee. Have a read of the journalistic form(s) of benchmarking.

New as of today: our new law column. An experienced legal expert also familiar with the hotel industry will join us in future and provide legal tips - at least once a month. Should you have any questions on employment law, please don't hesitate to send them to me. I'll happily forward them on to Hans-Joachim Jungbluth and we'll take a look at them in following editions. Our hospitality network is growing again. Happy reading!

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Ideas? Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

Bad for some and great for others - the hotel market has shuffled the cards again this week. New hotel groups are the result.

In Germany, the largest single sale of hotel property has taken place after years: 9 hotels, most of them under the Accor flag, will leave Dr. Peter's Group, an investment fund in Dortmund, to join Event Management and their joint venture with The Blackstone Group. According to hospitalityInside`s sources, the sale price was 60 million Euros.

As a result, the Cologne based Event Management group will grow to 19 hotels and the connection with Blackstone leaves little reason to expect that the group will stop at that. In a short conversation with Event/Blackstone, we asked for details.

A new hotel group has also been formed in Switzerland: The plc behind the Victoria Jungfrau in Interlaken has leased the next hotel - the renowned Bellevue in Bern. In November of last year the plc assumed a boutique city hotel in Zurich. Emanuel Berger will assume responsibility for all four hotels in fairly close neighbourhood (Zurich, Bern, Lucerne and Interlaken) each with very different character and will thus head a very refined mix in international marketing. But the end is by no means in sight: In a recent personal conversation with Berger, he hinted at being able to manage five hotels with the same team.

Germany's second biggest hotel group would also be a takeover candidate, were the major shareholders not permanently at the ready to dish out further financial support. Even the chairman's recent pleasure at being able to introduce the company as "debt free", should therefore be taken with a pinch of salt. In this edition we take a close look at Steigenberger's accounts press conference.

The results of the Berlin market survey undertaken by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels released yesterday are also covered - together with diverse other news from the week and passed exclusively to hospitalityInside.com. Happy reading!

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Any comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders, 

The Indian economy is booming and tourism has not been left behind. In India there's demand for a further 140,000 hotel rooms. The government has set up initiatives to support hotels and projects both in mountain regions and along the coast. A rapidly growing network of low cost carriers has sprung up and made cheap and quick travel across the entire Indian subcontinent a reality. Small wonder that the chains are now beginning to consider budget hotels. And as the Grand Hotels trumpet their success, the ideas for the small luxuriant escapes with Maharaja romantic are sprouting up.

Our reporter Baerbel Schwertfeger and I went to India - and we both came back impressed by an extremely busy country. Nevertheless, not all conversations with the individual hotels and the hotel groups we free of small weaknesses in the plans. All the same, the figures and the sheer ambition shown by the Indians are quite breathtaking for Europeans. Travelling in India quite literally means feeling the pulse of the economy. This week - India in focus.

With seven articles devoted to India, we would also like to hear your opinion: Is this number and depth of articles on one topic too much? Or do you prefer more thorough reporting? What would you improve? What would you like to see? Please don't hesitate to share your views - hospitalityInside.com is your information network.

Back in Europe, Spain shows itself to be a market with high potential. This week's article about small and upcoming business hotel groups will be complemented next week with an article on the resort chains.

After the many announcements issued over the past few weeks, the Easter holiday brought a welcome break. Nevertheless: If Golden Tulip is to conquer the American market a second time and Philippe Starck to create a new luxury hotel brand, things can hardly become boring. The first benchmarking symposium in Austria also signals new paths.

With best wishes,
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Your comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

Two large interviews dominate this week's edition of hospitalityInside.com. A conversation with Dirk Schuldes, Head of the Centre of Competence Management Real Estate with Eurohypo in Frankfurt, the company dealing with the sale of the 850 Louvre Hotels to Starwood Capital, gives an interesting insight into the topic of hotel real estate and finance in Europe. In the other, Managing Director Kurt Scholl explains the future strategy of the Swiss company Hapimag - one of Europe's leading vacatiom membership providers. This edition also includes the first of a series of articles on the smaller German hotel operators.

And once again, the internet has an important role to play in hospitalityInside.com: Donald Trump has formed his own tourism provider under GoTrump.com, Starwood provides an online blog with all sorts of information on travel to members of its customer programme under TheLobby.com, and a recent study shows that  the international chains regain control of their web-bookings through their own homepages.

In the field of medical care within the tourism/hotel industry, things are also hotting up. The new dialysis centre in El Gouna plans to attract German dialysis patients to Egypt as tourists. In Germany another provider of solutions for patient hotels has also presented itself.

As this edition appears on Good Friday, the stock markets are closed. For this reason our share price barometer will skip an edition.

Enjoy reading and have a happy Easter. With best wishes from the whole team.

Yours,
Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor


Any comments? Suggestions? susanne@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

The significance of the internet has grown exponentially in recent years achieving dimensions which nobody could have foreseen. For the hotel industry, this means not only having your own webpage and another possibility for room reservation or purchasing but goes much beyond that. The internet has begun to exert influence in human resources. Staff are able to take part in training programmes on the internet and can apply for jobs by way of e-recruitment. The new possibilities mean new challenges for the hotel industry. The approach taken by the international firms, the opportunities as well as the risks posed by e-learning, all that is one main topic of this week's edition.

As much as the internet has been able to bring the world closer together, there are also unforeseen hurdles to be overcome. And these have not only been noticed by the creators of the booking portal hotel.com. Their website has now been modified to take into account the differences amongst the 37 countries in which it's operating. School holidays, national trends and mentality are all different from country to country and all of these factors influence bookings. In this edition of hospitalityInside.com, managers shed light on their strategy.

Cultural differences also form the subject of another leading topics this week: "Chinese guests in Germany". The German hotel industry has been preparing itself for years for the wishes and demands of this target group. The Chinese tourist boom is awaited with enthusiasm. After sporadic increases in past years, figures have now reached a plateau. We looked at the reasons but like most hoteliers, we are optimistic that more affluent Chinese tourists will soon find their way to Europe.

The guests of former Hilton Manager Dieter Huckestein, on the other hand, certainly don't need to count the pennies when they travel.  3.5 million Dollars it costs them to buy themselves into the fractional ownership resorts forming the exclusive Yellowstone Club World. Enjoy reading the extended article on this more unusual concept and the many other topics we bring up this week.

Yours, Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor


Any Questions? Please address your mail to: susanne@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

Today, a gigantic skiing resort opens up in the desert! The photos surrounding this event in the golden cage are quite spectacular and demonstrate one thing: the Las Vegas of Arabia is taking shape. And in the middle of this or just next to it - Kempinski. The luxury hotel group lets itself be swept off its feet by the superlatives, signing two further projects for The Palm Dubai a few days ago. Let's hope Reto Wittwer does not make a mess of the Dubai hotels or even go down the drain with them. The new and strongly expanded residences concept was conceived to prevent exactly this.

Where there is money to earn, con artists are never far away. That is the current situation of leadership coaching. Even a kitchen aid can work as a coach. A sociology professor tried to analyse the charlatan issue. Whoever is involved with coaching these days, will also find, apart from criticism, valuable tips for choosing the right coach and information on the new group coaching trends in both of our articles today.

We have analysed the new ambitions of TUEV Rheinland. It announced it will concentrate on the hotel industry and mainly the wellness and medical wellness industry in the future in order to certify what is permitted under the regulations. Today's interview clearly shows: Everything sounds extremely process-orientated. However, I am still sceptical: can wellness really be measured simply by relying on an expert's pool of opinions? According to my experience there will never be an objective well-being certification.

Today's short news deal with groups that keep attempting to get a foothold in unknown markets. In its own country, Indian Taj is establishing a new category as a chain - budget hotels. The four sisters belonging to Italy's Boscolo group are enamoured with the aging walls in Budapest and are spending millions for a hotel of grandeur in Renaissance style.

I wish you an interesting week! In the next two weeks, my colleague Susanne Stauss will be addressing you here. In the meantime, I will be in the US. Among other things, I will join a talk at Cornell University and be meeting some rather interesting people in New York.

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Questions? Remarks? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

Now there is also a medical wellness association. Are we facing the threat of a new mumbo-jumbo of terms, or perhaps an increase in commercial wellness in a doctor's white coat? Hotels claiming to provide medical wellness will definitely have to pay for a new certification. The TUEV Rheinland is involved in this initiative once again. The name list of the advisors contains well-known names from the wellness and health industry; some of them are rather controversial in the scene; others doubtlessly have a purely professional reputation. Of course, the initiators have only the best intentions; at the moment, nothing but a plan exists.

But one thing is already clear: there will be a dispute with the Deutscher Wellness Verband. It certifies medical wellness hotels as well and, this much can be said here, its members are quite ill-disposed towards their association colleagues. On the other hand, the Deutscher Medical Wellness Verband has stated that it does not wish to cooperate with the Deutscher Wellness Verband. This leads to the following question: In what way do the consumers benefit from so much confusion?

It is high-time for the "round table"! And if the heads of the free market do not come together voluntarily, then health politics will have to step in. Otherwise, many innocent, trusting people will have to take the rap for the wellness plight with their own bodies. Taking responsibility is required, not a war between associations!

The Alpine Wellness consortia has become a victim of short-term thinking. It is the first credible brand in the wellness segment which has bundled quality businesses in the Alps across national borders. Now, the GmbH is facing liquidation obviously forced by partners preferring to market their regional wellness brand instead of the higher goal. Good night Europe!

But Europe contributed other news today: In Britain, the Malmaison founder McCulloch started up two new brands and is thus completely in the mainstream as we learned at the International Hotel Investment Forum two weeks ago. In Basle, it is all about investments of unnamed dimensions that would presumably make one dizzy with regard to the re-opening of the palais Trois Rois. A project out of passion that will probably never be profitable.

From time to time, foreign countries show how tourism policy should be performed. Take a fund of one billion, create tax exemptions and you already have two German banks willing to invest. Wouldn’t it be nice if some money remained in Germany? Please browse to Singapore...

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Your comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

This year's early International Tourism Fair in Berlin also determined the dates for the International Hotel Investment Forum. Both events recorded record numbers of visitors; nevertheless, not all participants returned home with a smile on their face.

The IHIF has become a significant date in the diary of all those in the finance and real estate business: 1,300 participants, more than ever before, were counted this year by the organisers. "That's just too many" some participants complained. The charm of uncomplicated contact with colleagues has been lost. The "Networking XPress" on the very first day summed it all up: business cards are exchanged by the minute!

The cleverer of the bunch saved the 1,600 Euros for the two day event anyway: They arranged to met contacts in the Lobby-Café of the InterConintental Hotel or in the hotel suite. Networking in the IHIF itself has not been done for a long time. Increasingly the low quality of contents has met with criticism: who's on the ball keeping on top of news from the trade press, often knows more than what the speakers on stage have to say. At least this was the opinion of representatives of a well known consulting company, a banker, a chain hotelier as well as a timeshare representative, all interviewed by hospitalityInside.com.

Even the ITB has lost it's character as venue for news. This year there were less news  than there's ever been, at least this was my impression as journalist with long experience of this trade fair. More than ever, individual appointments have to be made with the big names in the industry. One reason for this "news lull" is certainly the intense pressure companies as well as the media are subjected to making it impossible to hold back "hot news" until the fair itself.

Berlin Tourism Marketing saw different results: Those at their booth counted an increase in expert discussions, contacts and deals. The Berlin hotel industry stated: The rescheduling of the trade visitors days brought the local industry losses as high as 20% of bookings.

For hospitalityInside.com the ITB 2006 was a success for quite a different reason. For the first time we presented ourselves as media partner and co-organiser of the ITB "Hospitality Day". Top notch speakers and talk guests proved a large attraction for many trade visitors. At three of the five discussions, several members of the public had to stand for 30 or even 60 minutes with all 300 of the chairs provided already occupied! The premiere was a hit.

But now the hard earned weekend is for the most of us just around the corner. Read the first part of what the hospitalityInside team has found out and researched for you in this week's edition. Continued next week.

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Questions? Please, address your mail to maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

The most important week for networking on the hotel calendar is fast approaching: The 9th international hotel and investment forum and the 40th ITB will begin next week. hospitalityInside.com is in the midst of the action: We've asked important global player prior to the fair what their plans are for the current year and the future so that you can travel to Berlin well prepared for all that awaits.

The Dutch trend researcher Bakas provides discussion material for the booth and gives examples of how companies can prepare for global trends. Bakas accuses German companies of lack of creativity. Have the Germans really lost their touch for recognising and developing chances and niches?

Other countries still have it, as the Turkish have shown in Austria: New tour operators, hotels and incoming agencies join forces and set up their own travel agents in their main markets - right before the nose of TUI & Co..

In keeping with the Investment Forum, our new author Karin Krentz questions the banks' approach to investment in the hotel industry and takes a look at alternatives: increased flexibility of contract and the now almost forgotten participation capital.

So I'll see you in Berlin? You'll find the team from hospitalityInside during the "Hospitality Day" on Thursday 9 March in hall 7.1a in the auditorium "New York 1". More about that in the article "hospitalityInside.com at ITB".

I wish you a successful ITB, interesting discussions and lots of fun with colleagues and friends at the evening events.

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Questions? Ideas? maria@hospitalityInside.com