Dear Insiders,
In the past few weeks, I have visited conferences for you in Vienna and Rome and next week Expo Real in Munich is on the agenda. There, the general mood of the two industry meetings visited will probably be reflected: the mood is great in the industry itself, but not in Germany. Examples: In Vienna, a lively Swiss talks about the new gigantic "rock resort" he plans to build; his Austrian colleague is waiting for the building permit for his third hotel. After building a hotel for kids and a design hotel, he is currently planning an innovative city hotel. In Rome, international consultants and project developers are grunting and groaning about too much work. Asian and Arabian investors are even fetching consultants from the US in order to manage their endless project lists. European know-how is only demanded in terms of spas, at best. Apart from that, only one thing in particular can be said about Germany: it is an important market - from a bargain hunter's perspective!
When it comes to investment and financing, trends are intensifying at best: financial monotony is spreading. The influence of funds is dramatically increasing. But their money seems to be spent at the same locations and on the same hotel types that are always operated by the same global players among the hotel management companies again and again. In Rome, an American fund manager was not proud for publicly saying that he had too much money to distribute in order to finance individual hotels.
A punch in the face for the European medium-sized businesses and into the pit of the stomach of creative hoteliers like those of design hotels... Another statement from Rome is suitable here: most medium-sized companies in Europe were too weak to be "branded".
I suggest waiting and seeing about the quality that fund financiers will produce out of thin air with their exchangeable brands of their exchangeable global players.
Today's issue offers more market news and highly interesting, brand new staff issues in numerous long and shorter articles. Our Swiss editor, Silvia Pfenniger, met an UBS manager in Zurich, our colleague Susanne Stauss visited a wellness conference at her door in Wiesbaden. Last but not least there is the latest Insider news about Dorint Hotels' new structures. Researched yesterday, published today.
A successful week,
yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief
Remarks? maria@hospitalityInside.com