Editorial

Dear Insiders,

The bird flu has arrived, but the hoteliers on Ruegen Island do not have any crisis and epidemic plan. Peter Borer of Peninsula Hotels in Hong Kong can only tear at his hair: he experienced SARS. "When it starts, every minute counts," he says and explains the measures necessary in connection with SARS and bird flu. The inventor of "Tamiflu", Bischofberger, warns of the virus threat. Hoteliers in Europe have obviously no idea of what they might have to bear.

I think: hoteliers have a particular responsibility for people - for their employees and guests. That is why they have to prepare themselves for the emergency. Everybody is facing a real challenge now: private and chain hoteliers, and not only on Ruegen. How do companies protect those who remain in the hotel in the case of all cases?

As silently and subtly as the bird flu is creeping in, the Hilton group is taking measures for the total surveillance of the guests. George Orwell sends his regards. The Hilton management in the US was irritated about the media getting wind of the new chip card for tracking guests wherever they go. The company wants transparent guests in the guise of offering more service. I ask myself: Why should I carry a chip card telling the barkeeper that my favourite drink is champagne when I enter the room? That day, I'm sure that I want a Caipirinha! And why should the concierge have to know where I spend hours of my time? This has nothing to do with service. It is all about pitilessly collecting data, analysing habits and thus controlling the guests. The chip creates transparent guests. It is getting serious.

Good old Europe! Carsten Rath, the new Managing Director of Arabella Hotel Holding, sounds quite conservative compared to these measures by Hilton when thinking about addressing target groups in a classic way. hospitalityInside.com visited Rath on Mallorca to be the first to talk with him about the new specific orientation of the hotel group. What he says sounds reasonable and necessary. ArabellaSheraton needs a clearer profile due to and apart from Starwood.

Arabella(Sheraton) owner Stefan Schoerghuber invests his money in real estates, art, antiques and oldtimers. Others put their money in hotel real-estate funds. However, these are experiencing noticeably negative times. Nobody can judge this better than Stefan Loipfinger. This is why we are interviewing one of our contributing journalists this time - in his function as a fund specialist.

Today, you definitely have to read all the news! The "small" ones are of unprecedented importance today: Kuoni is stumbling over its only hotel engagement financially, in Austria, some federal states are boycotting the Eastern European neighbours at the trade fair, Blackstone acquires Meristar and the daily "Die Welt" does not understand it and so on...

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


Questions? Comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

last week ended tinglingly - with the long hotel staffing of ArabellaSheraton Hotels. The outgoing managing director Edgar von Ommen is now taking a vacation for the time being and will probably announce at the end of April/beginning of May whether he will now re-emerge in the hotel industry or in business.

And the week started with another news tracked down by hospitalityInside.com: The Breidenbacher Hof in Düsseldorf now has two operators. Ritz-Carlton is now pushing for compliance with the contract, which has been in place since 1999, in a court settlement. In parallel, former Ritz-Carlton president Horst Schulze, now operator of Capella and Solis Hotels, has signed a management contract with the owners. Curtain up for a new theater!

Otherwise, the week was relatively quiet; the industry is noticeably busy preparing for the upcoming March conventions. The first indications of the mood are provided by the annual reports of the chains, which are now being published one by one: This week, Rezidor SAS Hospitality reported a revenue increase of almost 18%, Choice Hotels reported record figures. Also at the Design Hotels cooperation, all preliminary figures are pointing upwards.

hospitalityInside.com was on the road at two congresses that have rarely or never been in the spotlight: In Budapest, the hardly known circle of the European Hotel Management Association, which is as eager to celebrate as it is to learn, met, and a few days later, there was a premiere for those hotel employees who are usually never seen at the front - the buyers. In the future, the so-called "supply managers" will have an important task: If they reduce the costs in purchasing by even one percent, they will save the company spasmodic efforts to increase sales. Otherwise, this would have to amount to five to ten percent.

Susanne Stauss differentiates in today's article in which market segments one can score economically with suites. While international hotels, especially resorts, easily increase their profits with expensive top domiciles, this does not work for business hotels and in Germany for a long time. Read what hoteliers and tour operators think of the suite boom.

Have a good week
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

This edition takes a look at niches in the hotel market. Patient hotels for instance. Clinics need to save money and outsource services. It`s here that the hotel industry comes into play. Instead of nursing staff, hotel personnel take on the responsibility for the patients, or better, clinic hotel guests. The first plans, even from the hotel groups, have emerged. As with all new developments there are few benchmarks, even professional partners for patient hotels are rare on the ground. Nevertheless, this area certainly has a future.

From the niche market, the five Grand Hotels of the Oetker group are now opening up to the chains. Following the example of the "Luxury Collection" by Starwood or the newly founded "Waldorf-Astoria Collection" by Hilton, they`ve now formed the "Oetker Hotel Collection". The collection is, however, a long way away from the structure of a chain, Frank Marrenbach of Brenner`s Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden assures. In terms of marketing, however, even they are closing gaps.

At the other end of the market a group with the name Hôtels et Patrimoine is buying up small, underperforming hotels in Switzerland and repositioning them within the hotel market. A niche idea and a strategy that`s not without its difficulties.

The "mentoring" programme implemented by Starwood hotels in Northern Europe can also be termed a niche model. They`re working on the problem of staff fluctuations by providing each new addition to personnel with a mentor. A very interesting approach with important realisations - recommended further.

Spa experts today find helpful benchmarks in comparable statistics on turnover and costs from US and non-US spas. The initiators of the "Spa Economics Research", the spa consultants Judy Singer and Patty Monteson, ask European hoteliers to take part in the next evaluation with their figures. Details in the article.

Delve further and find interesting news, positive signals and interesting developments.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Comments? Please write to: maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

The prediction that 2006 will be the year of the fusion has this week taken a big step towards being realised: Two well know capital giants - Price Alwalweed and Colony Capital - take on two previously unconnected luxury hotel companies. Till now the companies were on different sides of the globe, as of April they'll form one single enterprise! A mega deal in a class of it's own. "Coincidentally" many of the former Canadian Pacific Hotels and today's Fairmont - famous landmarks - make suitable additions to the hotel icons of the Asian Raffles Group. How things are to proceed on the front remains open.

But at least within the Raffles Group there was exaltation. Ingo Peters from the Raffles Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg was very happy about the news. It wasn't until last July that Colony bought the hotel interests of the Asian Raffles Holdings for one billion US Dollars. This included 15 Raffles Hotels & Resorts and 26 Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts. Peters is looking positively at the news, even at the risk that his group will be sold on by calculating investors within the next five years. Peters was informed about the new deal one hour before the press.

On the other hand, the influence of the money giants on the international hotel scene should give food for thought. Their mega deals continue to compromise the credibility of the hotel operator. The consequences on staff and markets following such large mergers are not talked about. If investors don't manage to foster trust and confidence amongst management and staff, fluctuations soon begin to set in soon resulting in falls in quality. Money may steer investment but not always people.

Against such huge capital deals the European budget hotels pale into significance. All the same, even here there's a lot of potential to be found. Investors and operators will, however, have to take a close look at the margins: budget managers who can't add up the figures also have their role to play in the failure of the investment calculation. An overview of the situation in Europe and in Germany.

New blood at Relais & Châteaux: The new president speaks clear words. A refreshing change from his predecessor Regis Bulot, who only acted in the French national best interest and in typically French style gave only made very nebulous comments when at all. Steigenberger General Manager Ernst Wyrsch in Davos, on the other hand, is pushing his ego to the fore: First he positioned himself and then the hotel in the World Economic Forums. The exact opposite of this is Emanuel Berger. The Grandseigneur of the Victoria-Jungfrau Hotel in Interlaken, Switzerland, is to disappear from the limelight. He naturally made headlines with his modesty and incredible achievement.

Yours,
Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Comments? Please write to maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

The many personalities and people presented this week confirm that the hotel business is people's business. Whether the hotel's big or small, it's people who are pulling the strings: People like Rocco Forte influence the micro-markets, interim managers and ambitious young managers the fates of single hotels.

One of this week's focuses lies on Sir Rocco Forte and his three new German hotels. The man who with 800 hotels in the nineties ran one of the biggest hotel chains in the world has now exchanged mass for class. His expectations are high, his intentions honest. His office in London, where we held our interview, was more like a work shop than an impressive headquarter. Insiders in England see this too as a sure sign that Sir Rocco has finally learned the importance not delegating too much. This, it is said, was what spelled the end for Forte. His over willingness to delegate and lack of attention to detail meant the hostile takeover by Granada was in the end not to be avoided.

Now he's become more confident: "In the past I stood too little in the limelight," Sir Rocco says of himself. The British gentleman, knighted by the Queen in 1994, will certainly be the subject of many of Germany's hotel headlines in the near future. After my stay in the newly opened Brown's hotel in London, my professional impression is: Even a Sir has the same problems in the hotel business: The young staff were just as liable to spilling the mineral water on the table as they are anywhere else. In the bathroom of my suite the mosaic tiling was four days after opening still not perfectly clean and for the hairdryer there was no plug socket anywhere near a mirror. But as far as such small details go, more later. For today it's all about the concept.

After all, it's the concept that counts. Just as with a new opening, interim managers generally have only one, maybe even one and a half year's time to turn a failing hotel around. Publicity in his regard is as good as never welcome. All the same, we spoke to problem solvers.

As to how Berlin can solve it's problems in the hotel market also remains a difficulty. Willi Weiland, President of the Berlin Hotel and Restaurant Association and head of InterContinental Hotel Berlin also has no clear answers. He has, however, appealed to his colleagues to think more logically. Weiland's comments lend support to our views on Berlin's hotel market reported in last week's edition and give new relevance to the imminent talks during the ITB "Hospitality Day".enjoy/" target="_blank">www.itb-kongress.de).

Enjoy surfing!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-chief


Your comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com 

Dear Insiders, 

The newly merged chains are finally starting to make some noise: Starwood, now merged with Le Méridien, has fully reformed its marketing strategy. The Hilton Hotels Corporation pushes its "Waldorf-Astoria Collection". The question still remains, however, as to when the two chains are going to start to compete amongst themselves. For HHC new plans could mean the recently nominated top 5 star brand Conrad Hotels will be ousted by the new hotel grouping, as these will also be allowed to carry the title Waldorf-Astoria Collection. Initial details made no reference to how confusion is to be avoided.

In Berlin what brand name graces the front of the hotel obviously makes no difference. Despite the rapidly increasing number of tourists, hotel rates are continuing to fall. I'm beginning to ask myself why there's no hotel with a little backbone in Berlin ? Everyone complains, but nobody resists the pressure and stands in quality's defence. Or is what's happening in Berlin the subtle admission that no-one's offering quality anymore? This would also be a sort of mainstream.

Going a little against the grain brings success. Simon Sherwood, President of the noble Orient-Express Hotels tells us today, why he's still buying properties and managing them himself. Room profits stand on average 40 to 50 percent higher than those of the nearest competitor, the smart Englishman claims.

Perhaps the investor study by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels will provide some good ideas as to how to increase real estate value and rates.

What challenges the industry will face in 2006, in general and in more specialist areas both here and in the USA have been summarised by American hospitality consultants. On reading these figures one can only say: The worries are the same across all borders.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
Editor-in-chief


Remarks? Please, send them to maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

again, after the festive season we are back to "business as usual". For 2006, as reported through various media towards the end of last year, the German hotel industry wants to increase room rates. Finally! The signal is an important one, even when the reasons behind the decision differ. One manager of a large German hotel group said at a Christmas reception, that rates will be increased by 19% without compromise: The hotels have had enough of the endless price squeeze from the conglomerates and feel pressurized by the energy companies.

Exciting topics are not in short supply for the next 12 months; we'll be there to pick up on them, keeping our ears wide open.

Already things are hotting up: Kempinski's CEO Reto Wittwer is preparing his own sweeping changes in Geneva. His reasons remain obscure. Does he want to prove his "leading qualities" to the Thai owners? Make greater savings? Particularly puzzling about the whole thing is that in his immediate management area there is almost no-one left who knows anything about how procedures were set and decisions taken in previous years. Is Wittwer, CEO of over ten years, perhaps only able to keep his head above water on account of his hire and fire policy?

Whoever is hoping to do good business in the new year will need not only dependable and competent management team, but also a qualified staff at the "other end" - for instance, in the call centre. Our reservation test awards famous names moderate to good marks.

I also recommend printing out our technology checklist. Many tips can be found there as to how IT can - when integrated properly - make guests happy. The day to day experience paints a different picture, as many a guest will tell you. 60 Do's and Don'ts for your company.

As from today our column "Event Promotion" will also take on renewed prominence. The ITB 2006 is drawing closer - the world's biggest tourism fair. hospitalityInside.com is part of the new focus: Together with Messe Berlin we are to organize the first hotel conference of the ITB, the "Hospitality Day", to which we would now like to extend a cordial invitation to you and your colleagues. The mini congress is open to everyone and will present as speaker and guest not all the usual suspects in Germany. Take a read.

With two new additions to our team of specialist journalists -Silvia Pfenniger in Switzerland and Gillian Upton in London - this year will also see a continued stress on news from abroad and the way to a European wide information network will be paved further.

In the following weeks I'll presumably be meeting a number of you personally at the coming industry events. I'm looking forward to that.

With warm regards,
Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Questions? Ideas? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders!

The Hilton & Hilton reunification, announced at the end of last year, symbolically sets the course for 2006: The hotel market has experienced the greatest structural developments now than in the last many decades. However, the fact that in this most recent case "only" two affiliated companies are merging once again is of no less importance. It clearly shows the pressure of the global players: each Hilton affiliate on its own would probably have been too weak to compete with established heavyweights such as Marriott or new heavyweights such as Starwood.

Takeovers and mergers are definitely not a hotel-specific phenomenon: even in related industries, powers are shifting. This is what the sale of the business travel chain TQ3 shows. The giant TUI gets rid of its unpopular subsidiary practically overnight and passes it on to a hitherto competitor.

Regarding the Marriott Vacation Club International, it is still unclear what happens when personal data wander into false channels. Only a few days ago it became public, but already since November, the timeshare subsidiary of the hotel giant Marriott has been missing PC security tapes with credit card information, social security numbers and addresses of more than 206,000 apartment owners, customers and employees. A scandal in the data and security-obsessed USA! But more devastating is the loss of image and confidence for Marriott!

This first issue of 2006 contains the most important news since New Year's Eve and concentrates on non-smoking regulations in individual countries. This year, Spain is also banishing cigar and cigarette fans from restaurants and bars. As of next Friday, hospitalityInside.com will present again hot topics - just as you may look forward to the coming 50 issues in 2006.

I wish you a good start into a successful New Year.

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Your comments for the new year?
Tell me: maria@hospitalityInside.com 

Dear Insiders,

After nine months and two weeks, hospitalityInside.com stands before sparkling baubles and Christmas candles. 2005 was the birth year of Europe's first bilingual online information network for the hotel industry. It was certainly a show of strength for our little team, but 2006 promises growth even for us. Your faith in our concept has inspired us in the first few months and still continues to provide motivation for the future.

In October 2004 the decision was made that gave life to this network for hotel executives. Up to the point of its legal creation, many a conversation with our closest friends, business partners and family members was dominated by ifs and buts. Several of them have showed me that the concept has a future and that the network meets a need in the industry. Our approach is right - and that has been confirmed this year. Of course there are improvements to be made - increasing comfort of use, extending the knowledge network and topics… we know this and we're working on it.

The first nine months for us have helped us to find strengths, weaknesses and possibilities. The launch of hospitalityInside.com at the ITB in March 2005 was accompanied by much excitement - we went 24 hours late online! As I was underway in Berlin, proudly reporting from the new project, my husband Michael Willems and the IT experts were sweating over the last programming hicks and the first edition. My husband informed me about the final "push of the button" by mobile phone.

Incidentally, it's the first time that we've worked together professionally on a bigger project. As economist, he is in his function as Managing Director the perfect complement to myself, the more creative one. Our team is small and tight-knit. Almost overnight I went from 16 years of working alone as freelance journalist to coordinating editorial staff, translators, office hands and occasionally too the odd editorial expert. Meanwhile ten freelance colleagues in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England and the USA contribute to us. A number of colleagues I've known for years; for two of them I've written myself - now they write for me. Four translators, two of them native speakers, work every week on the English translations. Without them hospitalityInside.com could not overcome boarders.

Because travel and contacts are an indispensable part of my work, I have organised myself both on a "virtual" and "global" basis. Quite often the final touches to an article have been added whilst underway - at four in the morning during a stopover at the airport lounge in Doha, at seven in the morning at the PC in my hotel room in Marrakech, at one in the morning at the Business Center in Delhi. Remember this when you see the next typing mistake….

hospitalityInside.com creates a new dimension in cooperation and in reporting. We will continue to extend our network of writers next year in order to bring you further perspectives from professional journalists. The European element will also receive renewed importance. At the next ITB we plan to build up a further platform to be able to bring you further information sources for your daily work. More will be revealed later.

For now, two more highlights for 2006: hospitalityInside.com is to become media partner for the first "Hospitality Day" at the ITB 2006. The Berlin trade fair has entrusted us with the content planning for the hotel conference on 9 March for the world's biggest tourist fair. In April I will participate in a discussion at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and will appear alongside well-known American journalists in my capacity as representative of European hotel media.

All this is possible, because you - the Insiders, our readers/users - have responded to my questions, inquiries and requests for interviews. Let me express my deepest thanks to you and your team for making this happen. This specialist medium for the hotel industry is so good and successful, because you've allowed it to become so. I feel, it's your desire for transparency in the industry that makes this possible.

I thank the whole team at hospitalityInside.com for their work this year and many thanks to our editorial experts, too. Your trust and support for our concept, your understanding and your constructive criticism are all incentive for a successful 2006.

Merry Christmas!

Maria Puetz-Willems & Michael Willems
On behalf of HospitalityInside, editing and publishing

Dear Insiders,

Budget planning for 2006 is already well underway in most businesses, all the same, an ear should still be kept open for what creators for new management software have to say. This management information system can be used in conjunction with all other data processing systems and has the ability to draw all necessary information from the system already in place. 48 hours after installation of this new networked management system, hospitalityInside.com spoke with Treugast and their new joint venture partner Dreamteam Solutions. After all, we are committed to up to date reporting. The software is, however, still very much in the theoretical phase. "SoluMIS" won't be presented to the industry at large till January. You can tell us later where the strengths and weaknesses of this software lie. Deal?!

The American Spa Finder has also been taking a look at things to come. Contrary to first impressions, this is no consultancy firm but a multi-media company and at that one which has no counterpart in Europe. I met company president Susie Ellis at a spa management meeting on the Maldives. There we took time, - with our feet in the lagoon and laptop on our knees - each to explain our business models to each other. Today with current edition of "Spa Trends 2006" packed safely with the luggage, allow me to use this opportunity to introduce you to the Spa Finder concept. It shows exactly how much market and marketing power can stand behind the three little letters "spa". At the very least it should comprise an important additional international research source for your in-house spa managers.

This week our timeshare section continues with an introduction to the Condo Hotel concept. Otherwise the tour operators dominate this edition. Kuoni sells US affiliate and TUI restructures in Germany. My colleague Helge Sobik has been following "Travel Designers", operators of intense and sinfully expensive tours. Don't be surprised that these individual travel planners don't mention hotel names: discretion is part of the deal as a result of which flexible hotels can make handsome sums.

Next Friday hospitalityInside.com will appear for the last time this year. Read then the industry review 2005 and our personal recount of the year's events.

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief


Your comments? Please, address to: maria@hospitalityInside.com