Editorial

Dear Readers/Users,

The international hotel industry is optimistic again as business is growing. Meanwhile, the "targeted attack" on the customer is being planned behind the scenes.

"Two years ago we didn`t have any money to replace flower arrangements at the ITB booths," says a Ritz-Carlton representative, "now, we are rolling in money." The hotel giants are strongly driving forward their expansion. Only Peninsula seems satisfied with being "the smallest group". It`s becoming obvious that the gap between mass and quality is becoming ever wider. The hotel companies, however, apply only one standard: that of the customer. Thus, waves of customer relationship are reaching sales and marketing offices. Even investment companies like DIFA are introducing customer cards for its own hotel properties.

But funding and value of properties are looming over everything like a sword of Damocles. On the one hand, the Fairmont Plaza New York is going to be closed down, on the other hand, Ritz-Carlton is building the world`s most expensive hotel in Tokyo.

All this could be heard at this year's ITB in Berlin that closed its doors two days ago. Today you can read the most important news; detailed background information will follow within the next few weeks. During the fair, my colleague Susanne Stauss and I had more than 60 appointments and kept our ears pricked up on the market for you.

We give you all the information we obtained at hospitalityInside.com. Our launch at the ITB was a complete success: international hotel managers are enthusiastic about our concept of current affairs and plenty of background information. The first subscriptions were ordered even before the actual launch. We`ve received many compliments for the international, bilingual approach in reporting and for the openness of this strictly editorial magazine.

And that`s how it should continue in future. Take the opportunity to discuss with the qualified editors and experts of this magazine und simply recommend us ...

I am looking forward to a lively exchange.

Yours Maria Puetz-Willems

Dear Users and Readers,

The world’s biggest marketplace for information on the tourism industry – the ITB 2005 Berlin – is the ideal environment for the launch of this new, international online magazine. Welcome to hospitalityInside! We bring a new perspective to hotel business reporting. Why? Because we are not a common newsletter which borrows information from publications that already exist in order to spread it as fast as possible. We go deeper.

hospitalityInside provides breaking news and background at the same time. Professional editors do the research for you. And in doing so, they are independent of sponsor or advertising obligations.

Trust us: hospitalityInside provides qualified content for you. Thanks to our independency, we are able to give certain subjects a transparency others would avoid. This is your and our chance. We don’t hesitate to ask critical questions on your behalf with impunity. Tell us what you want to know and we will search for the answer.

As your service for specialized information offering valuable information on hotel business and investment, marketing, research and other topics, we are able to connect the “hospitality industry” with its business partners. This is also new. hospitalityInside is not celebrating the industry itself, but discussing its current issues critically and objectively.

Our target group is the industry’s top executives. And because they are travelling and in need of current information wherever they are in the world, we publish only online.

We tell you who does what where when why and how! We are “inside” ourselves. My colleague Susanne Stauss and I belong to the leading specialised journalists for hotel business in Germany . For more than 20 years we have been observing the industry and how it has been influenced from all over the world. We know that certain trends that start at one end of the world might influence the other as early as tomorrow. We have become acquainted with international styles of management and other continents. In short, we know what we and you are talking about.

The ITB ends after only five days. Within a matter of hours, new and old business partners and friends are separated again. hospitalityInside remains. From any computer in the world, you are able to log in into this new pool of information and see what your colleagues and business partners are doing at the moment. 

We are pleased to welcome you to the circle of “hospitalityInsiders”! Our first edition will show you where and how we set our priorities. There are still some sections unfilled as we do not want to burden you with well-known or trivial information. Our databases are reserved for our annual subscribers. Therefore, there are only examples in this edition. 

hospitalityInside is a network and networks are growing together. You are welcome to make your contribution and let us know about your ideas and what subjects you are interested in. Every Thursday, you will read new and fascinating articles. Until March 17, 2005, this portal remains open for everybody. For testing.

Log yourself in, recommend us to your colleagues and partners. We are looking forward to your feedback. Please send me an e-mail! I will answer you personally.

Yours

Maria Puetz-Willems

Editor-in-Chief