Dear Insiders,

I am vaccinated! These rejoicing messages from acquaintances are being heard more often now; finally, there is some movement in the vaccination campaign in Germany. Nevertheless, it is still a minority and all people who want to dine together or go on vacation at Whitsun have many open questions concerning safety and testing strategies. The hoteliers and restaurateurs are by no means better off, though: How should they react if the incidence skyrockets over night?

There is still chaos everywhere when it comes to communication and implementation, which alone becomes obvious in our collected opening messages. Accordingly, the bookings are coming in hesitantly.

Dirk Iserlohe, Chairman of Dorint's Supervisory Board, relentless fighter for all his colleagues, told me in a phone conversation two days ago that he does not expect an opening of the hotels until mid-July. This is one of the reasons why he has just filed a constitutional complaint against the non-extension of the suspended insolvency filing requirement; it expired exactly one week ago. He is demanding full compensation from the state that deliberately closed the hotels and promised compensation, but has not delivered yet.

Yesterday, he even spoke of an expected "triage" for the medium-sized hotel groups. The latest figures from the current Dehoga flash survey strongly underline this impression.

The situation in the industry remains critical, all are in dire need to open – and of turnovers and aids to survive! The biggest handicap is the incidence value, which has been stretched by some politicians like rubber according to their taste. They should look at the dramatic figures of the current Meeting & EventBarometer of the German Convention Bureau for the year 2020 – and how fast this industry is able to adapt. The data show that where there is hope, frustration is never far behind.

At the same time, the International Monetary Fund raised hopes of a strong economic recovery in its World Economic Outlook. How should we believe this if we read simultaneously that each hotel room in Germany has just lost 17,400 euros in value compared to 2019?

The virus is paralysing the politicians' brains and keeps the industry on a roller coaster ride; however, the lowest point has inspired a few: those with conservative financing, a good cash cushion from the boom years, brave enough for a change.

One of these businesses is Adina. The premium brand among the Serviced Apartments is in a transformation process from operator toinvestor. The new Europe CEO Simon Betty explains the new appetite for mixed use, peppier F&B and wellness concepts, second and third brands: Adina Residence is already in sight. Also in sight are other alternative resort hotel concepts: Today, we present you with Vela Resorts, Salt & Rocks and Hohwacht.

And in your view, there should certainly be the 4th HospitalityInside Think Tank! The website www.hitt.world has recovered completely from its crash last week: Now, you are able to delve deeply into the programme and the colourful vitae of our international experts! You will not recognise every name right away – but I can promise you the following: The knowledge of these driving forces give the Think Tank real power. After all, it is about "Sustainability & Digitalisation: The Change Drivers". A Think Tank is about a fresh breeze and new ideas.

Important for your planning: The two-day event is taking place in Munich – live AND virtually! 40 to 50 people are able to meet there "corona-safe" in a co-working space. Of course, more people are able to attend virtually!

Hopefully, our article on page one on www.hospitalityInside.com will spike your curiosity! We will gradually introduce you to all initiators as well as sponsors and partners in the course of the next Fridays: There are five by now and we would like to thank Accor, Drees & Sommer, IDeaS, uniper, and the Hotelschool The Hague today!

They all help us to understand how sustainability is dictating the agenda for the next decade of hospitality, and how digitalisation is helping the industry to achieve it. When looking at this week's climate news, you know that this HITT on September 13-14 will be red-hot.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

The 4th HospitalityInside Think Tank, which will take place in Munich in September, can now be booked. The programme is available online. The title: "Sustainability & Digitalisation: The Change Drivers." Behind it all: the power package of the future, also for hospitality companies. In these difficult times, it offers a real positive perspective.

The HospitalityInside Think Tank has never been so comprehensive, international and top-class. This year, the Think Tank will also present itself in hybrid form for the first time. Put simply, the HITT 2021 forms a bridge from sustainable and connected hotel buildings to a digitalised hotel operation. It will confront classic concepts with the demands of the new "sustainable natives" and new lifestyle paths and look at mixed-use developments and technology opportunities at high speed. Day 1 identifies the general picture. Day 2 breaks things down and focuses in on concrete day to day situations.

Today we present the first seven Impulse Generators, further illustrious names and companies will be added in due course. Join us for a discussion with internationally networked investment experts Wes Paul of Gemin-i Analytics, Six Senses CEO Neil Jacobs, Euromonitor's Head of Research Fflur Roberts, Gesa Rohweeder of Drees & Sommer, Xenia zu Hohenlohe of Considerate Group and Wolfgang Neumann of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance. And our moderator again is Tim Davis from Pace Dimension, Researcher, Advisor and Hotel Specialist.

On the homepage of www.hospitalityInside.com you will find detailed information today; the programme, the profiles of the speakers, the prices and the registration/booking forms are also available on the Think Tank's own site www.hitt.world.

Learn from experts who you have not yet had on the radar, but who are already helping to set the course for the future or who have detailed knowledge of it. It will be a relaxed but challenging event, as always in English and in a smaller group, with plenty of room for conversation and exchange of ideas. This programme should appeal to cross-border and cross-sector hotel real estate and finance experts, developers such as hotel operators, as well as lawyers, architects, tech, digital and sustainability experts.

Save the date! HITT 2021 from 13-14 September in Munich, live and virtual.

With a bit of luck, there will be two successful holiday months before September, even if in some countries the hotel sector still doesn't have a clear view of what the rules might be. Austria, which opens on 19 May, will put pressure on its large German neighbour. Fred Fettner summarises the current state of affairs. German operators also face uncertainty as to whether the temporary suspension of the requirement to file for insolvency, which expires today, will be extended or not. Our bankruptcy lawyer says: The wave will be pushed back into 2022.

The hunger for holidays remains, especially for "contactless" holidays. Susanne Stauss has taken a look at some rather idiosyncratic niche players: Tiny Houses, barrels, water villas and cubes. They all have what it takes to shake up the classic hotel industry a little more. Meanwhile, more hotel groups are preparing to reopen and vaccinate employees. Sylvie Konzack reports. More news about real estate, sustainability and operators round off our publication today.

Till next Friday!

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

German hoteliers are disappearing into the nirvana of permanent lockdown now: Yesterday, the new Infection Protection Act was passed, which is supposed to apply the "emergency brake" coherently throughout the entire nation. This break will be rather soft than hard. But it will be enough to slow down the hotel industry again: Only regions below the incidence value of 100 will be allowed to open outdoor gastronomy at some point. There is still no perspective for hotels.

The permanent sadness of autumn is shared by the neighbouring countries in spring again: Austria's government has also promised openings wholeheartedly from the end of May, but the hotel industry does not know anything specific yet. Italian hoteliers are suffering just as much: Yesterday, the state of emergency has been prolonged until July 31 – however, the new road map includes relaxations starting on April 26. Fred Fettner and Massimiliano Sarti describe the current situation in Austria and Italy.

What a crazy, contradictory world – conducted by strategic incompetence. Holidays at Whitsunday and even in June seem to recede into the far distance again. Therefore, everybody is hoping everywhere for vaccinations, which will give us back our civil rights and our lives.

Nevertheless, Dirk Iserlohe of the Supervisory Board of Dorint, will file a constitutional complaint again, just as representatives of the retail industry have decided to file a group action in the supreme court after the "emergency brake" decision. Politicians continue to argue, now again over the topic whether the suspended insolvency filing requirement should remain suspended or not; the current regulation expires next Friday, April 30. Will the big wave of insolvencies start then?

Let us take a leap forward, look at brand creators and browse digital progress. Accor, as you know, recently acquired a stake in Ennismore, a London-based creative forge. Its founder, Sharan Pasricha, and Accor's former chief developer, Gaurav Bhushan, passionately told me how to let 13 unconventional brands such as 25hours, Mama Shelter, SO/ and The Hoxton grow by 100 units without them falling behind with charm and EBITDA. How do you scale creativity? The two lateral thinkers have created a construction kit for lifestyle investors.

And it is also positive when Baerbel Schwertfeger critically looks at headline-grabbing events. Facing an increasing lack of employees, companies like to rely on tools that help filter. AI is supposed to make things even faster and more accurate. But that is exactly the fallacy. Videos and tests have shown: the same woman wearing two different pairs of glasses, different T-shirts or even changing the colour of the background for a job interview will not be evaluated in the same way.

Our Digi News present you with even more digital craziness and developments... We have to keep an eye on that, too, just as we have to keep an eye on the quantum Internet for Europe and the taxonomy for existing properties that has just been decided.

There is just a lot happening every week right now. Every jab in the arm will help weather the new week. See you next Friday.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

In today's headlines, I have used ugly words: We are talking about sleights of hand, an industry crying for SOS, and about politics that is letting the industry die miserably. There are no polite words to describe the way the German government is treating the industry.

Eight hotel groups finally vented their anger at a joint press conference convened at short notice yesterday. Dorint, Lindner, H-Hotels, Leonardo, Dormero, Centro, Althoff, and the GSH Group spilled the beans: Some of them are still waiting for the November/December aids, they have been fobbed off by mean lump sums, they are financially suffocated by caps or the addendum changes of the requirements are causing them to gasp for air.

Many politicians are no longer role models – and they no longer tell the truth. "They describe subsidies as gifts," says Rolf Seelige-Steinhoff, CEO of Seetel, furiously about the deception of the public. These are no gifts – the entrepreneurs are paying back everything.

In a separate interview, the tested businessman and figures analyst takes the financial aids apart, which are no aids at all. "These are sleights of hand," he tells the Bazooka Boy Olaf Scholz. And he enumerates how much the state still earns with every subsidy or loan. "Congratulations, three cheers for politics!" - We are putting this article in front of the paywall today, send it on to your colleagues and MPs!

13 months after the virus outbreak, Merkel still cannot offer any perspective to the industry; just the same way that she is unable to uphold her vaccination offers… She is only able to offer constantly new mutations, cancelled deliveries of vaccine doses, insufficient numbers of rapid tests, and finally there are these disobedient people…

Her yoyo lockdown game will continue well into July; then, the politicians will drop everything, go on their holidays and only return shortly before the election in September… Did we forget something? The people? Or responsibility?

Those who survive the year 2021, will be happy again at the latest at the turn of the year 22/23, forecasts STR's Managing Director Robin Rossmann after the big Global Data Conference, in which I participated for the region of Europe. Currently, Europe ranks last in a comparison of the global recovery, however, it will stabilise much faster because of its domestic pillar in many countries – but this only affects the leisure segment. Rossmann stays positive.

Unfortunately, this is a corona edition again, in light of the current events. Anger and frustration in the German hotel industry and gastronomy are finally audible. As critical and questioning companion of the industry for 30 years now, I have to ask you, however and here: Why are you voicing your frustration now, that late? 13 months after the pandemic outbreak and 5 months prior to the political shutdown in Berlin?

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

"I admire the patience of the Germans," said an analyst from London to me this week, referring to our snail's pace when it comes to vaccinations. However, patience is definitely over now. This Wednesday, the psychologist Prof. Stefan Gruenewald from Cologne said in the Markus Lanz talk show: "The shadow routine is becoming more and more anarchic." He probably stood – as many gastronomy insiders do – at a takeaway in a busy street and counted, how often 20 pizzas were carried off in a cardboard box. Well, where are they going?

The number of frustrated, impatient juveniles are joined by an increasing number of frustrated people who obey the rules. Enough is enough. The government is not keeping its promise, it just keeps on discussing. Within two weeks, it failed to reach a decision on the - now necessary - hard lockdown. According to yesterday's poll "ARD-DeutschlandTrend", 67% of those surveyed think it is "rather right". However, almost two-thirds are also dissatisfied with the work of the federal government. 

Politicians say, "let's have a look" and the virus says, "let's get started". Israel, Great Britain and the US are simply doing something. In New York, people at the age of 30 are already getting vaccinated! While we are being gently prepared for our summer holidays that might even start as late as August… While the EU already presented a model of its "Green Pass".

The German yo-yo lockdown goes on, after all. There are still no large amounts of vaccines, and the few tests we have are always sold out. And hardly anyone is talking about the hotel sector and its hardships among all this chaos. The entire industry is ready for the re-launch, but they are experiencing a different disaster at the same time: Employees leave the sector to find jobs that provide both better payment and more perspectives. Young talents are turning away and skilled employees are refusing to go on. In the second part of her HR analysis, Sylvie Konzack elaborates on this aspect of the misery. And by the way, university education is also suffering badly.

Fred Fettner digs into another strongly neglected topic: sustainability. However, a new global ranking shows how absurd it can be to put this issue into PR-heavy pigeonholes.

From the news section: Hotel properties have lost less value than expected during the pandemic in Central and Northern Europe. In Italy, corona has stirred up individual hotel groups in a revenue ranking. Accor implements its digital customer journey at an ibis in London for the first time. Under the umbrella of the IHA hotel association, 2,000 hoteliers have now filed a suit against Booking.com.

The dispute between Kempinski and its former CEO Martin Smura continues with high media interest. This week, details emerged about criminal charges against Kempinski representatives in Munich. The source of this information, an English-language website, has been down since yesterday with the note: "This account is under investigation or was found in violation of the Medium Rules." It was not possible for us to get serious information about backgrounds and connections in the short time available. We stay tuned.

At the end, I would like to draw your attention to two positive things: Hotelschool The Hague invites everyone interested to its science symposium on "business resilience" on 15-16 April, free of charge. For details just click on the banner on our first page!

And we publish information and package prices for companies today that want to participate in the World of Hospitality joint booth at Expo Real in October. A "real" Expo Real is planned again. Please find details also on our first page.

Happy Easter – in the shadow routine!


Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

It is done: Germany is in full chaos. To appease the angry people, Angela Merkel decreed "resting days" on Monday night instead of a rigid lockdown before Easter, bringing the entire economy to a standstill. Apparently, lawyers thwarted her plans as it remained unclear of how are businesses supposed to book Covid-19 resting days? On Tuesday, she apologised to the people for this mistake and withdrew the order.

Now, the politicians in Berlin are really going wild and the people are just shaking their heads. Just in time for the peak of discontent, RKI's Head Lothar Wieler reported another record number of infections yesterday: 22,657. He demanded a hard lockdown, immediately. But after this week, this can no longer be enforced politically. Now, the people and the politicians are dancing with the virus, at full risk."Men do not stumble over mountains, but over molehills," said Confucius.

In the country, the nerves are frayed. Many things are unfair and disproportionate. Especially for the hotel industry, since thousands of Germans have flown to Mallorca, but vacation homes are not even allowed to open in Germany. Those who go in Easter holidays endanger the summer vacation of us all, said Olaf Scholz last weekend. "This is how citizens are redefined from victims of circumstances to their culprits," said columnist Gabor Steingart, boiling it down to the essence on Monday. We have summarised this incredible Covid chaos for you.

And we tried to capture the diffuse mood across the sector. How long will the hotel industry hold out? Our experts – lawyers and consultants – don't see any bailout money in the accounts, instead they see proud hoteliers who would rather maim themselves financially than give up their life's work. Therefore, there are no distressed assets yet and almost no insolvencies, says our insolvency specialist. But they warn that not all the medium and large players will get away. So, the vultures will have to wait.

The death of companies lurks in legal details: experts believe that many hoteliers are blindly running into the insolvency trap when the application obligation will be reinstalled at the end of April. Two thrilling stories from the seven-month prison period of the hotel people politicians convicted already in November through the Infection Protection Act.

But entrepreneurs remain optimistic and are preparing for the re-launch. How do you get employees back after a year? Sylvie Konzack asked hoteliers how they communicate and train successfully in lockdown. However, an HR coach is appalled at how many companies do not care about their employees at all.

According to the report, Motel One receives good grades, among others. Moreover, at a press conference on Wednesday the budget chain announced that its founder and CEO, Dieter Mueller, will make way for the new executive team consisting of the two current Co-CEOs Daniel Mueller and Stefan Lenze. Covid will continue to challenge both: The virus ate up 100 million euros in equity last year, leaving 28 instead of 77% occupancy and 2 instead of 82 million euros EBITDAR.

In addition: Kempinski draws a line under the deal with 12.18, Four Seasons wants to grow further, and the co-living sector saw a takeover of Habyt, which attracts attention among insiders.

I have a great idea against depressions: For a change, don't think about politics this weekend!

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

The chaos in Germany is hard to beat. People simply want to get out. That is why in Mallorca, Easter bookings by Germans are increasing drastically. Airlines are stepping up their capacities ... At home, the vaccination campaign continues to drag on – apart from mutations, there is now also the threat of thromboses, the number of infected pupils is increasing, but there are still not sufficient rapid tests, and virologists are already warning 50-year-olds not to fall victim to the viruses of the third wave ... Representatives of the people are enriching themselves via mask deals and Angela Merkel remains silent.

When she speaks again on Monday after the next meeting with the leaders of the federal states, her lips will likely be forming the L-word again: the extended Lockdown for the hotel industry.

I hear from my political channels that hotels are not to open before Whitsun. The federal government knows that hotels are not the spreaders, but it doesn't know how to control the masses in front of their doors.

This is Germany for Dummies. The non-existent digitisation and the slow bureaucracy are the main reasons for each delay that is slowly provoking economic deaths. In the refrigerators, the expiration date of hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses is running out ... I now consider this to be gross negligence. Where is the advocate of the people?

At least, tourism and hotel associations are raising their voices, and finally even Dehoga is making its rant audible after 13 months. But when are they ALL going to show up together in front of the Brandenburg Gate? All segments including their employees? Politicians only react to voices that endanger their election.

Enough ranting and demanding! One could also observe this chaos from a different perspective. For example, the following quote by the Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist and best-selling author Bruce Poon caught my eye this week:

"We can rethink everything we thought was normal. Why fight so damn hard to return to normal
when the opportunity to transform travel is on the other side of this mess?"

If you agree, you should better not read the ITB travel analyses, in which tourism experts are still pining for the land of milk and honey of 2019 – just like the Italians, who expect even more real estate transactions this year than in 2020.

Cosi's plans to become the world's biggest hotel chain announced 18 months ago have so far turned into 750 residential rooms, a kind of standardised Airbnb. The startup involving numerous tech and investment experts just received 20 million euros from VCs and other tech believers – for its totally digitised product and scalable profits. Soravia, an investment company in Vienna, also got on board. The busines model: zero employees, rooms without kitchenette and no breakfast, and all tools can be found in the cloud. Triple RevPAR "guaranteed". Cosi's CEO, Christian Gaiser, patiently answered my many questions.

Similar to Limehome, Cosi is on the verge of making new models acceptable – at least on the real estate and financial side. Whether non-hoteliers will be able to handle the rapid expansion in terms of operations remains to be seen.

B&B Hotels acquired five Letomotel and already rebranded them. Max Luscher, B&B, and Stefan Bader, Letomotel, reveal the details. Owners are also on the lookout for new operators in the meantime – and in doing so, the headhunters of Konen & Lorenzen in Duesseldorf, together with Lindner Hotels and Hanseatic, use their gigantic database. Moreover, you will find a summary of the most recent higher regional court rulings in the field of rents/leases, a plethora of market news and, finally, once more the longing for the feel-good vacation of spa & wellness...

Last but not least: data freaks should attend the first-ever global Hotel Data Conference by STR next Thursday, March 25th. The Edition will feature 78 speakers across 12 hours, following the time zones to five world regions. Check our front page for details or click the banner there.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

This week, ITB took place. Did you realise that? With three editors, we participated in and spread out over various online sessions. The output is moderate, because it is very exhausting to scroll though pages of programmes. Vivid discussions, comparable to those on real convention stages, were not apparent to me.

A virtual ITB is somewhat unreal. Too often, the sessions drifted off into PR unfortunately. Even at the "Café", which sounds like communication, only self-promoters were present. And "Networking" simply cannot be initiated via button. Everything is a learning process, for sure, but the core question remains for me: Do we really want to conduct such mega trade fairs in a virtual format?

For 12 months now, corona has been dictating our lives; therefore, we are picking out new trends from ITB NOW, which might be able to contribute to a better re-start of the hotels. Most are expecting "revenge travel", a martial-sounding term for an exponential boom, which fuels direct booking and opens up new sources of revenue. This is one aspect of our tech trends today. And the Israelis explained how vaccinating and opening up goes hand in hand. Apart from that, only one thing remains: Travelling in the safety bubble and your digital vaccination passport safe in hand.

And those who do not want this, will find a comfortable bed at sweet Auntie Alma. Tante Alma is the name of a new German brand displaying crochet tablecloths, knick-knacks and grandmother's pong. Very cool because it is kitschy and weird, and hopefully in high demand as the brand wants to attract students, amongst others, who are no longer able to afford rents in shared flats in university cities. Behind the concept of old hotel properties, where little is being invested, is Stephan Gerhard, among other people, who is one of the founders of 25hours and always good for a surprise.

Tante Alma will surely appreciate the free-of-charge booking links Google surprised the world with this week. Sarah Douag puts this "present" in a critical perspective. In the meantime, scientists have analysed the Luca app and found it to be basically good and almost risk-free: Thus it could replace the failed government app – the sooner the better!!! The chaos squad in Berlin managed to miss yet another date: Now they are postponing the nationwide rapid vaccination via family doctors by two weeks until mid-April. Poor Germany.

IBM was ordered to create a digital vaccination passport. The process is to be completed in eight weeks. In the meantime, financial aids from the EU and/or Berlin have still not arrived. The national media are dutifully repeating the banter of the election campaign heads, but are not checking further. We are. Arabella, Motel One, and Dorint explain why the third bridging aid is deficient once again. In Austria, too, people are asking questions in astonishment. An overview.

Meanwhile, the German hotel and restaurant association of Dehoga is coming up with increasingly horrific survey figures: 72% of hospitality professionals fear for their existence while one in four is about to give up. However, shared problems do not halve the suffering according to a status quo comparison between the German-speaking countries.

You will find this and much more in our news section! The past weeks have been unreal and just as impossible to grasp as a virtual ITB as the fate of many companies becomes more acute. Nevertheless: Stay strong and persevere!

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

If there is one image of political arrogance, it was encapsulated in the demeanor Angela Merkel as she announced the extension of the lockdown in Germany late on Wednesday night, albeit with initial, incremental easing. With the deepest contempt towards tourism and the hotel industry, the iron chancellor didn’t say the word "hotel" even once during the hour-long press conference. Why? Mobility is precisely what she doesn’t want and she aims to suppress and prohibit any inkling of it - no matter what the cost.

Just on time for each cabinet meeting, the infection and/or death rate rise, and the day after, virologists loyal to the chancellor like Christian Drosten stir up even more fear, this time because of the British mutations. Yes, a balancing act is what's called for. The public know that best. The lockdown has given everybody plenty of free time to watch talk shows, read the newspaper, debate and analyse. And they’re now fed up of being treated with contempt, being lied to, and locked up at home. The vast majority of people are prepared to take responsibility - even when eating in restaurants and hotels.

Infections, r-rates, hygiene rules, vaccination offers, vaccination deliveries, vaccination promises, the promise of quick provision of rapid tests - nothing fits together logically anymore in this Germany 2021. And above all: Politicians do not keep their promises. And with that, all credibility is lost.

The new phased plan is a difficult-to-understand creation of ifs and buts from which only a new patchwork of chaos can emerge, with the rules differing from region to region. Only vaccination and testing will stop a possible third wave. Yet the government is simply unable to provide tests up to now. All the more astounding then, that the discounter Aldi does: 5 tests for 25 Euro are available for everyone on Saturday, throughout the whole of Germany!

What really is a bitter pill to swallow is the contempt for hotels. Forgotten and despised, they've been overlooked and given no perspective whatsoever for the umpteenth time. If only the financial support payments would arrive, but not even that. And so it becomes a race with insolvency and for employees.

Our edition today: The German Corona Warning app has failed, but not before costing the taxpayer €63 million. The new app Luca - which we present to you in detail today - costs almost nothing, is free for hoteliers and guests to download and overcomes all previous digital hurdles up to the link with the health offices. Sounds good. The first Minister President is already implementing the tool.

After all, the desire to travel does not diminish. This is why many hotel groups want to expand further. Marcus Bernhardt, CEO Deutsche Hospitality for four months now, explains precisely in an interview with me why the IPO is not yet coming as quickly as some media stated that it would and why he is basing the brands on a platform economy. He will also take a closer look at his hotel owners in the future: Many large institutional players have simply been too arrogant for him in lease discussions.

$100 billion is what Airbnb is worth on the stock market today. A lot of money for a start-up whose founder Brian Chesky recently raised $3.5 billion this way.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

"Here rests a tourist business". This is the phrase across a poster commissioned by the hotel association of the Baltic Sea island of Usedom. Positioned on the poster under a picture of a cross, in which the dreamlike sandy beach in the sunset is immortalised. This motif precisely reflects the current, anguished mood that prevails at least in Germany and Austria. People want out - and they are indeed going out, as the images of crowded city-centres and local tourist spots showed last weekend.

The streets are full. Hotels and restaurants though will probably remain closed for longer. Yet hairdressers and DIY stores will be allowed to open on Monday. Meanwhile, even the Robert Koch Institute says in its current strategy paper that this sector is not a driver of infection.

The response simply doesn't fit with the evidence. Injustice and disproportionality can no longer be explained logically. The falling, stagnating and then slowly rising numbers are also unintelligible to the public. And so measurement criteria have once again been changed.

Politicians feel the public's restlessness, but they must hold firm for longer, because that's what they do - think too late, act too late, overreact too late, overdiscuss too late, and then ultimately mess up the vaccine purchases: A civil servant again holds the reins here. Why not get a professional on board like Boris Johnson did?

Our media landscape is a headline circus this week, and reflects the confusion exactly - adding to the frustration of hotel groups: Despite all the announcements, financial support payments are still not flowing, or at best only in dribs and drabs. This is active euthanasia for the hotel industry and the tourist sector, tolerated by the Christian and social parties.

Because the vultures are circling, discussions are piling up within the hotel and real estate industry about how to convert hotels in the future. Beatrix Boutonnet shows today how difficult that can be. Often it fails already at construction details, but also at discrepancies in price expectations that currently persist. The latter is also reflected in JLL's global investment analysis.

The impending doom is countered in the most blatant form by people's desire to travel: "They're sitting on packed suitcases," say the latest market research figures from Vienna yesterday... If you can make it to Milan, why not check out the Benetton brothers' latest hotel? 21WOL mixes trends, brands and categories.

The balance sheets of the global chains today with their sometimes billion-dollar losses are also clear: The sector is bleeding. It’s nailed to the cross. Sacrificed. The day after tomorrow, on 28 February, it will be exactly one year since ITB 2020 was cancelled.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com