Dear Insiders,
Somehow these hotel reviews have got out of hand. A roundtable event with HolidayCheck, the medical services review portal Jameda, the employer reviews portal Kununu and the Consumer counseling focused on the fight against fakes and on protecting credibility. Fakers are always one step ahead of the law and respond quickly to protection measures. Consumer protection bodies therefore demand clear rules. "Self-regulation by a few ambitious portals won't solve the problem."
In any case, business with fake review is booming in almost all sectors and can have absurd consequences, as HolidayCheck Director Georg Ziegler reports: In Turkey, for example, bank loans are now only granted subject to a certain rating on HolidayCheck. ... Reviews have descended into nothing but a circus, Bärbel Schwertfeger summarises.
She also interviewed the Managing Director of Kununu, Sarah Müller, on the fringes of this roundtable. The employer reviews portal receives 50,000 reviews and 400 complaints per month. The search for hotel reviews throws up mixed results, as our selected examples of well-known chains and individual hotels show. The hotel industry doesn't cut a good figure here, but neither does Kununu as a portal.
And already the next online evaluation is just around the corner: Online Birds from Munich has developed an algorithm that allows you to analyse the online marketing performance of any website – either your own or your competitor's. Yet obtaining such a report is easier said than done – for the time being, the system only works for individual hotels; yet, it could result in an interesting benchmark in future. In any case, the German hotel association IHA recently awarded Online Birds its Innovation Prize.
Our news is a varied mix once again: There's a new Wikkelhouse, a holiday cottage made of cardboard. But you can also turn it into an office or a meeting room. According to Dr. Lübke, most of Germany's top 10 cities now see their hotel KPIs drifting into negative territory, either because demand is declining or supply is too high. This is one of the reasons why American Express expects the hotel industry to only achieve slightly higher hotel prices in 2020. Hapimag, Hilton and Scandic present their figures for the 2nd quarter and 1st half respectively.
Bernhard Bohnenberger, President of Six Senses, is retiring five months after the acquisition by IHG. And after four weeks, Kempinski has finally officially confirmed its new CFO. Today's edition also includes our "Digi News", as well as our regular News Mix.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

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Dear Insiders,
Congested motorways, congested villages and exhausted hotel maids.... It's summer again! Welcome! Don't be alarmed if your guests get stuck in traffic even more often than usual this year, arriving annoyed after a trying journey: In high season, Austria closes the exits on several motorways so that its small villages are not clogged up by holiday traffic. Locals are able to continue to get to their baker in 5 and not in 30 minutes. German ADAC describes this new measure in Tyrol and in Salzburg Land as an "absurdity" in the holiday period. But the Austrians see no disadvantages for their tourism. Fred Fettner took a look at the delicate situation.
Tourism is booming. But anyone who believes that this might be a reason to pay maxed-out chambermaids in Germany, Austria or even Spain a little more money or to treat them any better is mistaken. Nothing has changed. In this "people business" there are managers who continue to outsource their housekeeping for cost reasons and who very well accept that the – independent – companies commissioned to provide these services are merciless in passing on the pressure to their cleaning staff in order to squeeze out greater profits themselves.
It’s a frustrating conclusion, after all the room is the very soul of a comfortable stay, and a carefully working hotel maid is the guarantor for good hotel reviews. But what controller is interested in checking this? We are curious to see what outrageous hotel maid stories the TV stations and social media will be bring us this summer.
And for algorithms, too, a look behind the scenes is necessary. Such automated, "masked" analysis tools can't simply be trusted blindly. And certainly not when it comes to recruitment: Crude decisions made by AI can stigmatise people. Nevertheless, Dr Jörg Dräger warns against extreme "either-or" thinking. The Bertelsmann Stiftung is currently researching the "ethics of algorithms" and its Chairman issues an appeal in an interview with Bärbel Schwertfeger today for people to control machines.
Without AI and networked thinking/working, soon it will be a case of nothing working anymore. In a period of just eight months, students from a university in Baden-Württemberg have now succeeded in programming the digital property "seamlessly" – from property search, though to planning and financing and finally to property and operational data; today, a first impression of this project. But its reality check has yet to come.
In Italy, TripAdvisor is fined EUR 100,000 for deceiving consumers about its reviews. And from England comes a new franchise report for Europe with lots of figures. Enjoy reading...

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

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Dear Insiders,
Old, rigid Property Management Systems are a great hindrance for hotel companies as they set out on the path of full digitalisation. Newcomers have arrived on the scene, but they've not quite managed to break through the walls of the PMS. An IT-experienced hotelier has sharp words of criticism for the PMS providers: Today, their systems would already be able to cover 95% of the customer journey digitally. But that's precisely what they don't want to do because it would destroy their business model. We also asked the developer and investor Art-Invest and the young operator Ruby Hotels for their opinion. A white paper by The Hague provides critical approaches to the use of PMS and a global survey of hoteliers for their opinions on PMS documents their yearning for change.
At Robotise, the small robot manufacturer in Munich, there'll be no summer break this year. Just three years after the company was founded, production of the moving and talking all-round service provider 'Jeeves' is now really beginning to take off. Co-founder Johannes Fuchs explains why and how they built the minibar chatbot.
For Italy, Massimiliano Sarti again traces the small steps of change: Slowly, more and more local investors are daring to venture into secondary locations, while international investors still focus on the same "Big 4" cities.
The market in Germany is definitely been swept bare, as real estate brokers uniformly confirm for the first half of 2019. The result is clear. The market is collapsing for lack of supply. The situation is different in Austria, where a record year of transactions is in the offing. Among the hotel operators, Dorint Hotels and its parent Honestis AG as well as Novum Hotels have posted their annual financial statements for 2018. All the ratios are higher.
The boom is also fired by shifts like this: Last year, over 200,000 new motor homes and caravans were registered in Europe. The caravan is regaining its appeal, it's quite incredible. The hotel ban in Amsterdam has not harmed the industry, rates are rising sharply. No joy currently at Marriott: After the breach of the European General Data Protection Regulation in the wake of the data scandal at Starwood Hotels, the chain is refusing to pay the EUR 109 million fine.

A news week as colourful and mixed as the weather... Till next Friday!
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Follow us on LinkedIn / The Think Tank www.hitt.world

Dear Insiders,
Airbnb's boom has no end. Prior to the scheduled IPO, the online platform is once again stepping things up a notch. It wants to cover the entire market including all niches and segments. No target group is to pass Airbnb anymore. According to a study, the global octopus is now intervening disruptively in hotel pricing. On the other hand, Airbnb is experiencing increasing resistance in its original core business – the rental of private rooms and apartments for a limited period. Sarah Douag brings us up to speed with the latest frightening news.
In contrast, the expansion of Atlantic Hotels, the solid, tiny hotel subsidiary of the multi-billion German Zech Group construction company, appears like an idyllic walk. The 13 Atlantic Hotels and three luxury hotels with their own names will soon be joined by a smart lifestyle budget brand. We take a look behind the scenes with you.
You've never heard about the German Kompetenzzentrum fuer Tourismus? You are not alone. Largely unnoticed by the public, it has been generating knowledge and data for the German tourism industry since 2017. This is a clear sign that the importance of tourism in the country is gradually being taken more seriously.
The hospitality industry is still experiencing an enormous dynamic, which we underline in many other puzzle pieces of this issue. The Serviced Apartment sector is developing particularly strongly throughout Europe, with growth now clearly outstripping that of traditional hotels. But new hotels are also continuing to spread throughout Europe. Today, IHG reveals its plans and key data for the low-budget brand Avid, which will make its European debut in Frankfurt in 2021. And in Italy, tourism is also booming, so rumours about the Smeralda Holding on the Costa Smeralda were all the more controversial.
In view of all these success stories, the lack of young professionals remains a major problem for the industry as a whole. Digitisation and technology will definitely not be able to maintain all the jobs in the industry, as pointed out by the latest Whitepaper from Hotelschool The Hague. Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne will launch a new campus in Singapore in autumn 2021.
Our trade fair "campus" is called Expo Real and will take place in October. The trade fair continues to expand with a new hall, and today we will provide an initial overview of the exhibitors at the "World of Hospitality" joint stand on our front page. There has been some movement, and, for the first time, there will be a special area next to the main stand.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Follow us on LinkedIn / The Think Tank www.hitt.world

Dear Insiders,
Our edition today is again dedicated completely to operators and brands. Massimiliano Sarti met Sir Rocco Forte in Milan: Italy is the new source of the hotel group's expansion. All the same, he will have none of these "newfangled" distribution channels or the OTAs. He swears by the classic travel agent. He's equally as convinced by Brexit. And why not? The majority of his hotels are located outside Great Britain.
German-speaking Europe is currently still large enough for Dorint Hotels, in particular for the young brand Essential by Dorint. I took a closer look at the "essentials" of this brand in Stuttgart and learnt the following: Behind this unassuming concept there are many details, in particular regarding F&B and neighbourhood networks. There's no shrill wallpaper and no pool table in the lobby. And yet the hotel is still full. The first investment funds have already registered their interest as partners, CEO Karlheinz Pawlizki reports.
This is accompanied by a portrait of the Halbersbach Privathotels, which are evolving further as franchise partners with Dorint Hotels through two of their own brands – including a budget type. CEO Arne Mundt has taken up residence in a fine niche: that of the small hotels without specific profiles. For these, he develops creative concepts.
For Radisson, creativity currently means "fine-tuning" – the group adjusts its brands here in Germany in line with Chinese needs and adapts its standards for expansion in China. New owner Jin Jiang has first added Chinese characters to the Radisson Blu logo: a welcome symbol for guests from the Middle Kingdom. The kick-off for the global roll-out of the new co-brand took place on Wednesday evening in Frankfurt. Radisson CEO Federico González provided background information and figures here.
Of all the European holiday destinations, Istanbul, Barcelona and Budapest are the best performing this summer. This is the finding of an analysis of corresponding flight bookings... There are more and more serviced apartment providers in Austria and Switzerland. And there's movement in business travel: Amex buys DER Business Travel. In other news, A&O Hostels won its case before the European Court of Justice against the state subsidy of a Berlin youth hostel. And the German Hotel Association continues to defend itself, once again against Booking.com and Airbnb.
The sector is hotting up, as is the whole of Europe at the moment... I wish you lots of sunshine in your business next week,

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Follow us on LinkedIn / The Think Tank www.hitt.world

Dear Insiders,
After the HR Special in April, we publish a "Sustainability Special" today: a topic, which has to be regarded strategically and has to be practised by CEO to intern. Employees would like to commit themselves more, but their bosses are not letting them. Similarities to "Fridays for Future" are purely coincidental...
Some believe in Greta, we believe in the power of the market. This is why today we are discussing sustainability as part of CSR in various practical facets: Food waste is considerably more harmful for the climate change than plastics as food waste is generating the greenhouse gas methane. Every year, food waste worth one trillion dollars is thrown out. The Moevenpick Amsterdam wants to make a difference here and rescues its breakfast leftovers via app.
There are many positive examples for the reduction of food waste, energy and CO2. Small steps, chosen thoughtfully, are much more helpful to hoteliers than stereotyped solutions. Xenia zu Hohenlohe, Partner at the specialised consultancy Considerate Group, appeals to small and larger hotel groups to set new performance goals every year. The Oetker Collection follows this path in small steps, in the Caribbean as well as in the French Alps. CEO Frank Marrenbach about efforts and results.
An intact nature ensures everyone's survival, also of tourism countries like Austria. Now, studies are doing away with prejudices against skiing: A summer holiday by car burdens the energy footprint more than a winter holiday starting by train, they reveal.
And finally, we dedicate ourselves to sustainable cosmetics with the example of the Vinoble brand from Styria. A start-up has found a chemical-free solution for cleaning all surfaces: ozone water. All staff members of the Spanish Room Mate group wear entirely recycled uniforms now. How much sustainability infuses various segments today becomes obvious in the respective news mix as well as in additional news.
Bahrain delivers this week's most implausible sustainability news: it has just sunk a decommissioned Boeing to the seabed. The aircraft is the highlight of the new underwater diving park, all environmentally friendly, of course... It's just a wrong signal.

Immerse yourself in a topic, which is going to seriously influence the future of your business, too!

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Follow us on LinkedIn / The Think Tank www.hitt.world

Dear Insiders,
I’ve been very pleased with all the feedback we've received since Tuesday. There was praise for the unemotional, factual coverage of the CEO change at Kempinski Hotels and thanks for "not getting drawn in to the mudslinging". Managers of other hotel groups appreciate our efforts to bring clarity to difficult issues – they follow the change with collegial interest and still have questions that we cannot yet answer today. Martin Smura can do that best himself. We remain true to our line and will continue to accompany Kempinski's development in the next era. And will do so calmly as things unfold.
Now a quiz question: What do you call the children of Millennials? Gen Alpha – or iGeneration. These are the children born after 2010 and who already glean all their knowledge from the Internet. In 2025 – six years from now – there will be two billion of this extremely tech-savvy generation in our midst. As things stand, 9-year-olds already exert a massive influence on where the family takes its holday: They decide on location, experiences and the budget mum and dad have to set aside. Sarah Douag presents the figures and the preferences of this Gen Alpha.
The co-working market in Europe is growing, BNP Paribas reported yesterday. Susanne Stauss took a look at the many "co's". She reveals how co-working and co-living are beginning to merge – paired with whole lot of community actionism. That is: The bed should be right next to the "desk", and if there's no action or networking in the evening, the nomad simply moves on. Providers brutally exploit their insatiable appetite for socialising: A sparsely furnished room of just 10 sq.m. in a shared flat costs can cost EUR 469 per month. For 25hours CEO Christoph Hoffmann this "co"-hysteria is nonsense. As he sees it, hotels can live also without the "co".
In the stable German market, the value of the hotel has reached a new record, above all in the upscale segment. In other news: This was the finding of an analysis by two investment companies. In their third survey on digitalisation, the hotel associations in Germany and Austria discovered that the hotel industry has finally woken up to the urgency of this issue. Scandic is now looking for employees by means of video application; and a third hotel is being built at the Gardaland Resort. And as always, various personnel information and our mixed market news completes our issue.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Follow us on LinkedIn / The Think Tank www.hitt.world

Dear Insiders,
Three weeks ago, we reported that the Serviced Apartment segment has truly taken off and "is flying". There are a number of new providers on the market, but two articles today show that, despite the boom, rapid growth is not so easy – even if the targets are clearly defined. The Dublin-based Staycity Group, with several shareholders in the background, is stepping on the accelerator internationally and is not afraid to accept short stays as an aparthotel. Brera Apartments based in Munich though is doing things the other way around: They are focussing exclusively on genuine longstay, a touch of Viva Italia and on organic growth – currently only in Germany. Both groups have been on the market for quite some time and together make clear that concepts under the term "Serviced Apartments" vary widely. Every Serviced Apartment newcomer will have to find its niche somewhere in this broad spectrum.
In Austria, a whole new government has to come together again. After "Ibizagate", politics is operating in a vacuum and tourism and the hotel industry are suffering as a result: A number of measures that are enormously important for the industry are now on ice. The sector needs all the leeway it can get...
And just as unpredictable as the politicians are German judges it seems: To my mind it really is quite a scandal that judges first prohibit HRS from imposing best-price clauses only then, four years and four months later, to expressly permit Booking.com to do exactly that. Not only the German International Hotel Association is left aghast.
A great, very promising message comes from Dresden: There, at its Dresden campus, the SRH Hochschule Berlin founded the "Institute of Global Hospitality Research" on 1 June. From now on, world-renowned universities will conduct joint research on this site: Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Modul University Vienna, University of the South Pacific, Kansas State University, Haaga Helia University Helsinki and, of course, SRH. The head of the institute is Prof. Dr. Hartwig Bohne, SRH.
In other interesting news, we bring you details on over 40 new reports now available on Brexit, and on a furniture manufacturer working on "robot furniture" for micro apartments.
Our news mix and personalia complete today's issue. We also bring you some sad news: Mark Pearce, the Senior VP International Division of Choice Hotels, passed away a week ago today on the morning just after his 60th birthday, completely unexpected. After 25 years with Choice, this professional and personable manager leaves a huge void not only amongst his colleagues.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Follow us on LinkedIn / The Think Tank www.hitt.world

Dear Insiders,
In Austria, tourism associations are now entering the battle for skilled workers. The solidarity with the hotels reflects the dire situation in a country depending on tourism. The associations lure applicants with bonus cards, for example, that provide employees with numerous discounts in their spare time. Strangers are meant to become friends – locals. The idea is good, and in cooperative Austria, there are already various models for this. Fred Fettner describes the pros and cons of individual approaches, e.g. of Job-Life Achensee and Team4u in Zell am See.
Incidentally, rising employee costs are one of the reasons why Austrian holiday hotels are losing profitability despite a record winter in 2018/19. But analysing the winter statistics reveals more than that.
My colleague Fred is a big fan of the Philippines by the way. He meticulously followed the media after the island of Boracay hit the headlines across the world after it was called a "cesspool". The President himself had both experienced and described this and closed the island for six months prescribing a rigid environmental cure, combined with tough conditions for the inhabitants and hoteliers. The flow of tourists is now limited. Fred was recently on site, immersed himself deeply in the background and witnessed unbelievable things. He considers the entire thing a violent act of ecological rescue. By 2020, the island should already be flawless again ... But according to Fred's words and pictures, this can hardly be achieved.
Islands like Boracay, which have fallen victim to overtourism, could serve the Fridays for Future environmental activists to perform a reality check of their ideas ... Nonetheless, the youth is being heard at the moment, surprisingly also at Booking.com. The OTA supports start-ups with ideas for improving the environment. Sarah Douag picked out the best ideas.
Italy sometimes also fights against its garbage, but hoteliers fight even more against taxes and many other state burdens. Accordingly, the members of the Federalberghi industry association used their chance to do hold a mirror up to the tourism minister. Gian Marco Centinaio seemed more like a helpless puppet says Massimiliano Sarti.
How do German and American consumers perceive the five tech giants of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft? Very differently as a statistics institute found out in its surveys. In Germany, Facebook is the loser.
You will find more colourful news in this issue – and our video covering HITT 2019, including testimonials of participants. We are happy about the positive feedback and the numerous suggestions that filled our inbox last week trying to make sure the next Think Tank will help the industry find its way through the digital jungle. You'll find all that on our page 1! Save the date: HITT 2020 will take place on June 21/22.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Follow us on LinkedIn / The Think Tank www.hitt.world

Dear Insiders,
The second HITT was again a success – even livelier and more interactive than a year ago, pragmatic, clear and surprising in terms of many of the statements made by our top-class speakers. The ship tour along the Havel in Berlin gives the impression of calm at this think tank, freeing the mind from its usual concerns and distractions and encouraging inspiration. From the moment the ship put out to the river to the time it moored again, HITT guests were fully focused, asked critical questions and discussed openly with everyone. We had the feeling that the spectre of digitisation has disappeared – at least for those who have now participated for the second time on the river and/or in our post event workshops.
We would like to thank everyone for this exceptional day amidst the hectic of everyday life! On our page 1, you will find an initial summary and statements from the keynote speeches. More pictures/videos will follow next week. And of course there will be a third HITT: on 21/22 June 2020, again in Berlin, again on the ship. Save the date!
While we were floating down the Havel, Fred Fettner took a look at the new and very successful bike parks in the Austrian mountains. Lift operators and hotels are now earning money in summer both from the sporty mountain bikers as well as from those who prefer more leisurely bike rides. Another target group is born.
In Dubai too, an increasing number of hotel groups are developing a finer sense for their target groups. Competition turns up the pressure. Some rely on F&B with star chefs, others on halal or technology to seduce guests. Malin Flamm sought out the trends at the ATM.
According to our knowledge of yesterday, the B&B sale to Goldman Sachs has been signed off. Accor is also constantly signing new partnerships, this time for Jo&Joe, for new luxury hotels – and with a new COO for the "Luxe" division.
We also bring you interesting news from the IMEX in Frankfurt last week, on the world's rising tourism figures in the 1st quarter and on the results of a study on travelling with digital assistants. And in Germany this week, fears of a VAT increase have again begun to circulate…

Enjoy reading and for today, ahoi!
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems, Editor in Chief

Your opinion? maria[at]hospitalityInside.com

Follow us on LinkedIn / The Think Tank www.hitt.world