Editorial
The hotel group of Event, the German partner of Blackstone, is putting up a fierce struggle against accusations of having failed to pay commissions and wrongly held back franchise fees in the past few years. However, regarding the latter, a British court has pronounced judgment - Event has to pay. hospitalityInside.com examined the information about the business practices of Event we have received over the past few weeks and, of course, spoke with all parties involved.
In contrast, the issue of human resources does not focus on the past of the hotel industry, but on its future - with three articles, it is a focal issue today. The situation in the German-speaking countries seems actually far from being as tense as in Dubai, for example. Although the metaphor doesn't work, Dubai's expansion and lack of experts clearly indicates the biggest challenge for the service industry in the years to come. At the same time, we've asked an "outsider", the author of the bestseller "Manners", why young people lack so much upbringing. The flower-power generation is to blame. This is the simple answer of the prince from Ethiopia. He views the problems with staff from an entirely different perspective.
By the way, hospitalityInside will discuss human resources in Dubai as well, during the Special Interest Trip from May 1-5, 2008. Take a look at our starting page to learn more about our first readers' trip called "hospitality inside Dubai".
But let's get back to the current issue: after Accor propagated the new Sofitel sub brands a few weeks ago, it is now the task of the newly proclaimed brand of Pullmann to win over the awareness of the public. Simultaneously, the French explained to our Austrian friend Fred Fettner how they plan to expand in the Alpine republic at last.
Our small news are also red-hot: Hilton's Ola Ivarsson switches over to Moevenpick, a banker formerly involved with Richmond is being held in custody and Leonardo and Lindner announce their next projects...
Enjoy reading.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Any ideas? Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
A man steps down: Dorint founder Dr. Herbert Ebertz will retire from active business. His "old" Dorint is standing on new feet, but it is no longer under his influence. With this step Ebertz finishes off his life's work, one which he brought to blossom first, and then to the brink of ruin. The hotel group still exists, only half as big as before, but with a new momentum - and above all with the cool and determined Managing Director Elke Schade at the top. Her priority is security instead of pace. Enjoy reading a review about the first year of Neue Dorint GmbH.
The rich and super rich bring the luxury market two-digit growth rates. This trend will definitely continue next year as well. Therefore, we have summarised the new studies and forecasts in two "Focus" articles.
It is hard to tell the future of the health trend; but despite that, my "first day in politics" was highly interesting. The tourist experts of the SPD parliamentary group organised a conference on health economy. In January, new trends in the fields of wellness and health will also describe the newly conceived spa fair in Monaco; as hospitalityInside.com acts as media partner, you will definitely be reading about it by the end of January.
In our "Small Chains" series, we introduce to you Macrander Hotels, and in addition, you will find a lot of further short news items on the market.
I wish you a good start to a busy third Advent week.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
With this issue you will once more discover new names in the industry: Germany sees the next Spaniard enter the market, a British investor joins in Swiss Andermatt, while Israelis are announcing masses of hotels for all of Europe.
Even at the birthday dinner of Selektion Deutscher Luxushotels the ever higher pace resounded throughout: the Hotel Excelsior Ernst in Cologne is the only hotel of this cooperative that has not changed hands for 140 years now. Congratulations! And it still has not put on a different brand hat!
In contrast, Stefan Schoerghuber, who puts a lot of private funds into the hotel real estate of his management company of ArabellaStarwood, is now changing the brand: the Austrian Schloss Fuschl and the Jagdhof right beside it will break out of the joint venture with Starwood Hotels. General Manager Wolfgang Greiner convincingly explains the reasons for this, however, there are still rumours about Schoerghuber planning to take out further hotels from the marketing and reservation system. This would lead to a bigger question: What does Schoerghuber want? A new "Arabella" collection, his own "Luxury Collection"? What is the joint venture worth if cracks like this keep appearing? Schloss Fuschl is a flagship property within the ArabellaStarwood group.
Out of interest, our expert Martina Fidlschuster wrote another "explanatory piece" about the subprime crisis. The connection between subprime and Basel II is quite interesting!
Our article about the legal situation of hoteliers with respect to hotel evaluation portals is of similarly dry but useful character. Ever since holidaycheck & co have existed, professional hosts have been discussing how to react to one-sided opinions. hospitaltiyInside.com has the answer.
This and many other things await you this week - read for yourself!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Your comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
The events of this week are a prime example of current trends: Individualisation that will soon cannibalise itself. Marriott & Schrager = Mass & Individuality. But it seems the boat's already been rocked even before the project has begun. And who plans 100 "boutique hotels", can no longer claim to offer the individual experience.
The thrust towards individuality has meanwhile become more of an obsession. Now, Wyndham too is working on a "Grand Collection". And one willingly jumps on the bandwagon with respect to the image of Savoy, Waldorf-Astroria, Oetker & Co.. Similar attempts have also been made by Accor: The chain has now divided its luxury brand Sofitel into two sub-brands - and even insiders are hard pushed to tell them apart.
After a honeymoon period, the trend is bound to end in arbitrariness and interchangeability. If all hotels are noble, none are noble. "The hotel of today is dead." This, the core statement of a current Swiss industrial study, hits the nail on the head. Here one can only expressly praise the venerable Swiss hotelier association: To mark its 125th anniversary, the association commissioned the study to be carried out by the renowned GDI institute, blissfully ignorant to the extent of the criticism the study would contain. The more refreshing then, that the association faces up to the findings and the hotel industry's problems
Praise is also deserved by Hyatt. Since the announcement of the new boutique brand Andaz months ago, it's been almost impossible to get precise information on the concept out of the USA. Bernd Chorengel, the German born President of Hyatt International, brought a little light into the dark in a spontaneous interview. The Andaz concept indeed represents a new approach - and not only polish on a rigid structure. "We are removing the cobwebs in the hotel business," Chorengel says resolutely.
A further exception is the approach of Giuseppe Statuto. The 40 year old Italian is among the leading hotel real estate investors and intends to continue investing here - without becoming a commercial locust.
The spa conference in Monaco, which many will still remember as a somewhat slow exhibition, will in January also tread new paths. The new concept under new management promises many new ideas and a forum for real knowledge exchange. hospitalityInside.com thus looks forward to being media partner for the new event. Read more!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Hotels as hospices - this headline calls to attention that a hotel "as public house" can find itself unexpectedly in the spotlight. From the point of view of the industry, the Swiss hotel association, hotelleriesuisse, rightly defends itself against this form of misuse. The idea of a coffin being carried out in front of other guests is macabre indeed. But the hotel - every hotel - immediately finds itself embroiled in the very centre of ethic discussions. What recently happened in Switzerland, could easily soon happen elsewhere.
B&B hotels will also certainly be having discussions with the operators of current Tank & Rast hotels if they are to come on board as brand. The French budget chain will have to negotiate separately with each hotel individually! Whether such will in fact lead to the 34 "new B&Bs" as announced, remains to be seen. The expansion drive to the right and left of the motorway for the moment marks B&B as a motel chain. The budget chain with the word "Motel" in its name, however, is taking its hotels ever increasingly in direction city centre, just like Accor did with Etap. The guests/clients may in future perceive the budget brands more positively in the city than along motorways - unless B&B manages to balance out the roadside image with locations in other areas.
The question "what does the guest expect?" was at the centre of discussions at a conference in Innsbruck on Alpine wellness. The guest is looking for authenticity was the answer. And so we asked the Bavarian Tourism Marketing, how they defined Alpine wellness.
In wellness operations themselves, there's always room for discussion, above all between spa managers and staff. hospitalityInside.com attended a workshop organised by Best Wellness Hotels Austria which lent an ear to the day to day concerns of managers. In only two hours, it was clear what their worries were. And they were there to give each other advice.
Make your own impression before launching into new discussions!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Cultures influence business. Today's issue clearly shows what it means to meet people friendly or foreign to culture.
In the meantime, Andreas Pflaum considers a brawl between Russian guests in his restaurant a few years ago an evil omen for the things he has been experiencing with his Russian investor in the past six months. The hotelier was on the verge of handing over everything to his Russian private-equity "partner". Now, the agreement is being reversed. Gladly, a new investor is already at hand - but this time, he comes from the local cultural area, from Switzerland. Meanwhile, Andreas Pflaum is fed up with "Russian business culture" for the time being.
The investment families behind the British private-equity company of Mountain Capital have probably far more sensitivity with respect to European cultures, as they have German roots themselves. At the moment, Mountain Capital is going on a shopping expedition in continental Europe - they describe their concept in this issue. The German luxury hotelier Thomas Althoff is already on board with them.
The German peculiarities sometimes lead to unexpected trends. For example, the trend that foreign investors conclude lease agreements if they do not have to take over responsibility for the employees. We tried to find out the reasons for this.
Across all cultures, Christian Jagodzinski has been looking for his investment gap: based in Miami, the man from Germany realises a villa concept for the super rich. Obviously with great success.
In Europe, the countries are increasingly influencing each other. Accordingly, Spain has just paved the way for a current verdict about the permissibility of age limits.
A lot of dry topics today, but hopefully "lightly served", as you are probably used to from our team ....
Last but not least: During this weekend, the Cornell Hotel Society German Chapter will meet in Dresden, one week later the AlpAdria Chapter will meet in Merano, Italy. Consequently, our related website hospitalitySolutions.info describes details of the most connected alumni association in the United States. If you wish to join the meetings in future, please refer to the contacts mentioned.
I wish you a good week without any cultural troubles,
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Your comment? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
The Hotel Adlon at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin has written hotel history for over 100 years, and it will continue to do so. Last Monday saw the 100th anniversary celebrations in Berlin - and rightly so. There has to be times in which the efforts of the formative years and day to day problems are forgotten. Kempinski and Fundus plc presented themselves as glamorous hosts; and the champagne flowed. It was the hotel society event of the year.
For me, the celebrations in the Adlon were preceded by three extremely interesting days in Provence, in which I met many General Managers and part of Four Seasons top management. They had invited guests to the first "Four Seasons University", a meeting in which socialising was desired and concrete business left aside - at least as between managers and media. The event was intended to uncover nuances, the fine differences among markets and opinions.... And it was successful.
I also used the opportunity for a casual meeting with Oliver Hopp, joint owner of the Four Seasons at Terre Blanche in Provence. The family, among the ten richest in Germany, generally avoids the media; more interesting then, if only for their rareness, are their comments on the hotel industry and their own hotels. Oliver Hopp asked, for security reasons, not to be photographed. We respected his wishes.
HOTREC also surprised us with its position report on hotel rating portals. The European Business Association formulated ten principles for portal providers. Their goal: to protect hoteliers from manipulation and unfair ratings. A sensible step, I think. The first providers see things similarly. Read for yourself!
Apart from that we have news on: a new hotel for Berlin, new men for Hilton and Season, legal threats against Relax, Austria, and new motivation for non-smoker hotels....
Please, start reading - and also have a look at our related website hospitalitySolutions.info to learn more about Micros Fidelio's new "Suite 8 Kundenbeirat at work". Similar to the Four Seasons meeting, this initiative should enhance the information flow between partners!
We wish you an eventful week,
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Even if some still don't want to believe it: there are numerous opportunities on the European hotel market. In the Italian metropolis of Rome, Maria Puetz-Willems talked with international experts from all over the world about market trends at the International Hotel Conference. Fred Fettner from Austria visited a congress about architecture in tourism in Bregenz, where he learned many new facts about the future of resort hotels in the alpine region. For many decades the local hotel owners clung to hotels that resembled "blown up" farm houses and to everyone's dismay were later "enhanced" with little turrets and bays. Today, new buildings appear in a clear, modern style taking ecological issues into account - and they are still profitable.
On the other side of the world, in Asia and in the Arabian countries, people deal less with ecological issues, but rather with new expansion plans that change on an hourly basis. The investors on site outmatch one another speaking derisively of the aged and old-fashioned Europe - where, as a rule, they acquired all their knowledge. Unperturbed by this, business in "good old Europe" is still running well.
This is also the result of the recently issued Global Business Travel Forecast by American Express. For 2008, the forecast expects European hotel rates of the medium and upper class categories to grow by 12 to 14 percent. As a comparison: Asian-Pacific and Latin American growth is estimated between 18 and 22 percent. In the upper-class segment, Germany can expect increases in rates of between 10 and 12 percent, while rates will increase between seven and nine percent in the medium-class segment. According to the survey, the losers will be hotels in North America, whose room rates climb only moderately. But they still climb and don't fall!
Expansion in Europe is thus still on the agenda of foreign investors, regardless whether they come from Russia or the US.
In the meantime, Sir Rocco Forte has started operating all his desired locations in Germany and does not let all the prophecies of doom faze him. After Frankfurt and Berlin, an opening celebration took place in Munich with the in-crowd. We can already provide our readers with some detailed reports and initial figures concerning the days after the "unofficial" opening. And on the sidelines, we are publishing the future strategy of Europe's hotel giant of Accor. Have fun in "good old Europe".
Yours, Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor
Questions? susanne@hospitalityInside.com
There is a growing certainty that the recent irregularities on the financial markets - triggered by the crisis on the American mortgage market - will hardly influence the world economy. The report of the International Monetary Fund published just recently, expects a general growth of 4.8 percent in the worldwide gross domestic product in 2008, while 5.2 percent are expected for this year.
According to the experts, the 2008 growth markets will be mainly the emerging countries of China and India. This estimation proves again that the weal and woe of the world economy will no longer solely depend on the US.
Last week, the real estate experts at Expo Real Munich were relatively unimpressed by the turbulence. Their opinion is now backed by the assessment of Lodging Econometrics. The company has counted 814 hotel construction projects in Europe for the next few years and expects that most of them will be realised.
Even in Morocco in northern Africa, investments in tourism are in full swing. In Marrakech alone, 196 building proposals for tourism projects were approved last year. The prices of resort real estate have already reached the level of Spain.
However, hoteliers in Morocco cannot keep up with the investment of Ty Warner, the owner of Four Seasons in New York. He invested 50 million US dollars in a single suite.
This is something European investors like the Blodinger family from Frankfurt can only shake their heads about. The successful concept of their hotels branded Fleming's, Steigenberger and InterCity that are operated by their own operating company of HMG, includes: buying portfolio properties in key cities in German-speaking countries and up to now, this was primarily a strategy for the 3 to 4-star segment, but next year, the first Fleming's Deluxe, a 5-star product, will open up in Frankfurt.
NH Hoteles will also give a separate name to the luxury resort hotels in the company's portfolio. The initial eight hotels will be named edenNH.
An interesting study by a student at Heilbronn University deals with the question of how beds can be filled in future analysing structures and trends of online distribution. In her study, she has observed contradictions and interesting facts. But read for yourself.
Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor
Your Questions? susanne@hospitalityInside.com
Expo Real is clearly the leading trade fair for commercial real estate in Europe: 23,800 professional visitors from 77 countries - 13% more than the previous year - came to Munich this week. There were more companies from Russia than ever among the exhibitors - which was also reflected in several discussions.
The first day of the trade fair has been a traditional meeting point for hotel operators, hotel real estate owners and financiers for years: the room was filled to bursting point at all discussions rounds of the "Hospitality Industry Dialogue". Susanne Stauss and I have heard all speeches and summarised them in four major articles for you today. There is no real news, but it's fascinating to observe the market as it is partly swinging back: accordingly, after the most recent capital market crisis, the moderate interest rates on the rather conservative European market are considered to be absolutely reasonable, and even less risky lease agreements are back in the minds of investors. In their search for a successful yield-heavy concept, investors increasingly realise that only clear visions about target groups and knowledge of the micro market can help.
The boom in Eastern Europe and mainly in Russia was debated not only at Expo Real, but also at the following "hotelforum" industry conference in great detail. The brief conclusion: the euphoria has given way to absolute disillusionment, the first markets have been saturated and many problems remain as they were. Even for Eastern Europe there is no one single secret to success.
Today, you can read the most important news of the manifold issues gathered by the editing team of hospitalityInside this week - so that there is some space left for other industry news. Like the one about the sale of the German Innside Premium hotel group.
Our impression after many days of talks in the world of hotel real estate and financing: the market will stay in motion, as there is too much capital that could be lost. And Germany will remain attractive, as real estate is cheap and there is high trust in the economic power. Therefore, Expo Real is a sensitive sensor for the psychological powers; it either boosts the mood of investors or it has a downside effect.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Your comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com