Dear Insiders,
The Chinese traveller is shopping less – at least this is true for younger travellers. They want to experience pure shopping joy – physically, and no longer virtually. Bargains – no thanks; emotions and experiences – yes please. This is how our China columnist and expert Prof Wolfgang Arlt from COTRI summarises two current Chinese studies on the drastic changes in spending behaviour among different age groups. 
And in keeping here: The EU estimates the billions Europe would earn from the Chinese if visa restrictions were to be relaxed. GDP would rise by 1%. That would be a real Chinese boost.
At the same time, we find China again today in the analysis of the recently discovered data theft at Marriott/Starwood. In the US, there is speculation that the attack bears a Chinese signature. Spies have been snooping in the Starwood system since 2014 right up until today. I just remembered that: In 2016, the Chinese insurance group Anbang wanted to acquire Starwood and challenged Marriott only then to withdraw suddenly and unexpectedly before 1 April. Just a few days later, Marriott was finally able to clinch the Starwood deal...
The Swiss hotel operator SV Hotel has invested two years in developing Stay Kooook, its first own brand for extended stay. Initial details were provided here live last Friday from Switzerland. Today, more details follow on the concept, which offers an innovative approach with its rolling bed. It turns 22 sqm into a true room wonder. Managing Director Beat Kuhn wants to stay connected with the Marriott franchise brands Moxy and Residence Inn all the same though. This all has its reasons.
And about Switzerland: Current statistics reveal an excellent summer, though the industry association hotelleriesuisse does not share in the euphoria. The hotel industry is coming out of a deep depression and the earnings situation is still difficult. Radisson announced yesterday evening its first hotel under the RED brand in Vienna, on the fringe on the event in Frankfurt, Susanne Stauss was able to entice a few more comments from CEO Federico J. González on Radisson under Jin Jiang.
Airbnb continues to evolve and now plans its own "shared accommodations". With this, the home rental platform is to set foot into the real estate sector as investor. This is another new dimension - following its first hotel in Florida. Novelty on a smaller scale will be offered by Considerate Hotels from January: an energy app which also helps SMEs of different branches. Through the course of this development, the specialised consultancy for sustainability has also renamed itself Considerate Group. Interesting personalia and mini-news round off our news package today.
Note on our own behalf: This week, from Monday evening to Tuesday afternoon, our mail server failed. If you sent us important mails during this period, we kindly ask you to resend them. Thank you very much!

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
Marriott first! This time, it is not a political statement but an exaggerated description of the bed giant's priority with Hostmaker. The start-up from London handles the bookings and takes care of the guests of Marriott's Tribute Portfolio Homes; these are holiday homes the bed giant is offering as it enters the rental home business segment. An interesting fact is that Hostmaker also cooperates with Airbnb, booking.com, TripAdvisor and others. The responsible managers, Belinda Pote at Marriott, and Veronica Rives at Hostmaker, describe their experiences.
Again, guest relation has become more important than before, and tourism experts are following this trend. In Austria, the city of Linz wants to look after its travellers more intensively in future – and even receive short-term guests "like locals". The local population is being asked to participate. At the new "TravelCulture" congress, many participants thought outside the box, which was very refreshing.
Where no one thinks, overtourism develops. Concerns are therefore increasing in German destinations such as Hamburg or Freiburg, where the masses of tourists are growing every year. The number of beds is increasing to some extend so that day tourists become the main problem. Researchers and politicians are speaking out for action before it is too late. Two discussions, initiated by the Travel Industry Club in Berlin, show that each city is taking different measures. And Hamburg, apparently, wants to allow only selected hotel types in future.
Instagram freaks have been identified as massive drivers for overtourism, by the way. Idyllic pictures of hideaways, "shared" millions of times around the globe as posts, open up the last hideaways for mass tourism. Thus, it is only logical that the Instagram-hooked Millennials hate package tours. In a study, HolidayCheck revealed some interesting details about their contradictory behaviour.
AccorHotels continues its investment policy and wants to purchase all shares of Orbis Poland now to expand its position in Europe further. In this game, the properties are becoming the driving mass. Swiss SV Hotel presented its first own Extended Stay brand Kooook last night in Zurich - with an innovation: a bed on rails.
TrustYou enables live chats with its bookers, the French consortium Logis allies with colleagues again, and Italy's government prolongs its vouchers for seasonal workers. In brief: Everybody wants one thing only: to grow strongly and get as close as possible to the customers! The only hitch: activities concerning staff members always seem to be rather desperate and tense.
Last but not least… hospitalityInside.com supports the m2C marketing to China Conference at the end of January in Prague, because we like the event's approach: West and East are meeting to establish direct contacts and to discuss e-commerce and marketing with and for Chinese people. Our readers and HITT participants have special conditions here. You will find an update on page 1.

Wishing you a good start into the pre-Christmas season.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
Would you sleep on 3-6 square metres? It works: in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, soon in Lucerne and 25 times across Germany in the near future too. Malin Flamm and Sarah Douag today present the capsule hotels. Is that still hospitality? It’s certainly on the borderline – but on one which you can presumably make lots of money with. One night in such a windowless plastic cell you can only crawl into would set you back EUR 150 per night in Amsterdam.
On closer inspection, we discover interesting details and differences between the models at area24/7, Capsule Hotel and CityHub: One capsule module is even geared towards the long-stay guest. I'm sure that soon we'll see maxi-investment in such mini-accommodations in densely populated metropolises across the globe. For real estate professionals, they are a profitable plaything – also because all you need to operate them are a few students. Trained hoteliers are surplus to requirements.
Million-heavy investments are meanwhile demanded by larger resorts. The competitive pressure in the booming leisure segment is great, and guest expectations are high. Macy Marvel was inspired at a resort conference and picked three examples on the Mediterranean with which operators want to attract the demanding classic hotel client: the new Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens, the luxury resort Borgo Egnazia in Southern Italy and the 7Pines Resort Ibiza.
In a world of uninterrupted hotel growth, the mountain of washing is also not getting any smaller. Sometimes the towel is left on the floor, on the side of the bathtub or even on the bed. Does this towel now need replacing or not? Our environmental expert Klaus Lengefeld explains why housekeeping can never do right by the guests – and recommends a solution to this daily towel drama.
The internet of things, AI, 3D printing and Blockchain will continue to drive change in commerce, a new report states and sets out the core changes.
The German group arcona Hotels will develop a new brand further: "Barefoot Hotel". The hotel hobby of the internationally-renowned actor Till Schweiger is to multiply his fame in many countries. He himself is a consummate self-marketing and merchandising professional. The pilot hotel on the Timmendorfer Strand knows just one theme: Til.
The leisure segment is booming and so five more online and offline intermediaries for holiday homes and apartments have joined the German Holiday Home Association, including the world’s largest platform. TUI has also announced what brands it would like to be present with everywhere in 2019.
We remain active behind the scenes for you for the whole of this week and will be once again present online next Friday.

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
Can you imagine your guests arriving in their own mini-van and simply docking into the hotel? At best they might dine in the hotel and enjoy a massage before continuing on? Well okay, a few might stay because your rooms are larger and more comfortable than this six-metre long travelling hotel room/office with wash basin on four wheels. Canadian designers have developed an interesting concept which a disruptive approach which has the potential to seriously mix up established structures.
Automated hotels, that is, hotels without reception staff, were also once unthinkable, though now they’re part of the everyday landscape, even if not a mass phenomenon quite yet. But do unmanned hotels stand on a sure legal footing? We often got this question, so today we have answers from a law firm and the hotel associations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We also asked abito suites in Leipzig and Towerhotel in Waldkirch, Switzerland, about their experience operating under this model.
And from the Deloitte conference in London last week, I have brought you STR facts and figures on brands: There's still a lot of room for more brands... So there's no use in hoping that the flood of brands will come to an end soon. If Europe, Asia and America are full, Africa still has room.
In a conversation with Deloitte’s Head of Hospitality, Andreas Scriven, both CEOs from IHG and Radisson, Keith Barr and Federico J. González, showed themselves to be very concerned when it came to the insane and complex pace of change in the world. Both of them believe that future strategies will only be possible as a result of massive investment in technology.
Never before were so many hotels under construction in Europe as is the case today, never before have so many investors been on the lookout for hotel investments, as brokers/consultants and data researchers report. The hype has also arrived at national level, for instance in Greece, which experienced a super summer. Those looking to keep up internationally need a sexy name: For this reason, SEH United has renamed itself The Originals, Human Hotels & Resorts. This has again stoked huge expectations – above all measured against the increasing tech network that has grabbed hold of the sector.
Whatever the case, people's desire to travel hasn't diminished, not with age and certainly not among the Germans. They want more barrier-free rooms, as Scandic Hotels found out in a representative study.

Between high tech and high touch, we wish you a balanced week.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
The omnishambles regarding Brexit is turning expressions of concern to looks of despair in Great Britain: By Christmas, the rifts are to be bridged, though in the background things are obviously chaotic. A no-deal Brexit would mean a significant hit to tourism. Very little is clear, both for air travel as well as for labour, insiders report. Both politicians and businesses are paralysed with uncertainty.
A curiosity: British travellers are preferentially booking package deals for 2019, because they believe that the organiser will iron out any problem for them. Fred Fettner and I were in London this week, at the WTM and at other events, with official and discreet background information.
There was no chaos, but there was still uncertainty among investors when thinking about sustainable construction. This issue is generally complex and will become even more complex if new "green" concepts are linked with digitisation. Together, they make the "smart hotel”, and that makes a lot of sense. All three articles from Sarah Douag this week mention the QO Hotel in Amsterdam, currently Europe’s most sustainable hotel, built from recycled concrete and with urban farming on the roof... The property manager is Invesco Real Estate, which in turn asked environment experts to a roundtable discussion for critical exchange in the QO hotel.
Sarah also asked AccorInvest, Hilton, Louvre, Zoku, Siemens and others what they understand by smart hotel. This particular focus today is not theory, but contains many tips for future concepts.
Investing in energy efficiency and sustainability pays off, the German Energy Agency states, having now issued recommendations for the industry. Amsterdam is also Europe's most attractive investment location, according to the current "European Hotel Investment Survey" by Deloitte. And despite Brexit farce, London remains a desired location.
In the Spanish hotel market, RevPAR is growing, but on the Canary Islands occupancy has slumped. Other Mediterranean countries are catching up. Choice Hotels can now be booked directly through Google. The Hotel Academy Lausanne is set to make its own Hospitality Hub. And about staff: In Italy, certification standards for European hotel managers are now being put together. Marriott's Europe boss Amy McPherson is leaving the company to pursue private plans – in London, there was already speculation as to her successor.

We wish you pleasant reading.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
The mood is good, the trend is declining. This is the result of the current "Investment BAROMETER" we conduct together with Union Investment around Expo Real once a year. Transactions and hotel development are definitely becoming more difficult, stated the people surveyed. All individual indices are dropping, this means that caution is advised. Nevertheless, the satisfaction in the market is still great. You will find an overview of the results on our page 1; our subscribers will find all details in the magazine.
Almost four weeks after the Expo Real, we are able to present you with other positive statistics from Messe Muenchen: Again, about 31 percent of the participants stated upon registration that "hotel/gastronomy properties" are currently very interesting for them. Considering the fact that Expo Real had a plus of 6.6 percent participants, this is a very pleasing result. Also in Expo Real's own mood barometer prior to the trade fair, about 31 percent were convinced that hotels in Germany would become more important this/next year.
This means: After Expo Real is before Expo Real! If you want to participate in our "World of Hospitality" or co-operate with us in any other way, please contact us! The preparations are already under way.
Today's article about the never-ending hotel boom at the central station in Vienna proves the unbridled euphoria in the industry as well as caution at the same time, as revealed by the BAROMETER: The hotels at the Westbahnhof, which have been popular in Vienna up to now, are starting to suffer. Fred Fettner looked around Vienna.
It has become tedious to be in and around Amsterdam City as a tourist. One million inhabitants are being overrun by 18 million tourists every year in the meantime. Overtourism at its best! Now, the city is taking measures: It is stopping new hotel projects, limiting travel groups – and reconstructing the historic city centre outside the city in a separate theme park. Clever. Will the tourists accept it? René van Schie at Metropoolregio Amsterdam explained the situation and the counter measures at the Expo Real hotel conference.
We have become used to lateral thinking when it comes to AccorHotels, also concerning the topic of digitalisation. But "Seeker" seems to have been purely show: With the aid of biometric data such as brain waves and pulse rate, they wanted to identify the unconscious desires of their loyalty members in this project. Baerbel Schwertfeger rated the entire project as a flop; loyalty members contributed scornful comments in an online forum.
From today's news: The new "EU Chains Report 2018" by Horwath HTL has been published for the second time and is starting to show the further development of hotel chains and brands in 12 EU countries. One thing has become clear: The chains are penetrating nearly all markets with an increasing number of rooms – national groups are being left behind. Our readers have exclusive access to this report for one week. And: Treugast is giving thought to the hotel market development in Germany until 2030. Managing Partner Michael Lidl explains.

Until next Friday!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
The sector is drowning in a flood of brands: This week, Hilton and Premier Inn have announced their next brands. Even insiders can no longer differentiate between brands and taxi-drivers have only cursed about them for a while already. And so it didn't come as a surprise when the discussion at the Expo Real hotel conference touched on the global brand chaos and moved towards justification for either a mono-brand or multi-brand structure.
Serious brand awareness is at best achieved by old, organically established brands, whilst young brands tend to make their way into the traveller’s memory with extreme USPs. The brand chaos, which the large chains only encourage, is a curse for small and creative businesses. It's a shame about the millions of euros spent on marketing a new brand – millions which are no guarantee that the 5th, 15th or 25th brand will make investors and operators any happier.
Thomas Emanuel from STR also revealed another brand dilemma at the Expo Real. Boutique and lifestyle hotels are, on the one hand, no longer clearly distinguishable as segment. On the other hand, despite their sexiness, they still haven't managed to record the same RevPAR as traditional hotels.
Brands, and above all the brand bandwidth here, meanwhile play a significant role in conquering continents. Africa has long been touted as "the new Asia" – there are prospering landscapes almost everywhere. Of all the groups looking to expand and storming towards Africa, Sarah Douag took a look at AccorHotels. CEO Sébastien Bazin explains in detail how he secures locations and wants to include young Africans. The 1 billion dollar investment fund with Katara Hospitality might help a little there...
A Chinese online giant perhaps gave the subject of brands another decisive twist this week: Ctrip will establish its own hotel group. Chinese media are still providing confusing reports, Ctrip itself told hospitalityInside.com it is still too early... One thing is clear though: It will be easier for an OTA to transform into hotelier than the reverse.
Germany's largest automobile club, the ADAC, makes camping and glamping digital: In November, it will launch a new booking portal for camp sites, including story-telling and reviews for the campers. Hotel groups like Valamar in Croatia, who themselves market camp sites, will certainly find that a good thing, even if they have quite different problems to solve: The first expansion foray into the Austrian Alps served primarily the purpose of full-year staff employment.
This and more in our edition today... And since we mention China: Do you still have the m2C – the "marketing to China" – conference on the radar. It will take place in January 2019 in Prague. Learn more there from the Chinese on their digital marketing & e-commerce. The direct dialogue is still the best. HospitalityInside subscribers receive special terms. More on our Page 1!

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
Today, we will review Expo Real again in the videos and pictures from our own activities, from the joint stand "World of Hospitality", the 10th edition of our networking event "Bricks & Brains", and the Expo Real hotel conference "Hospitality Industry Dialogue", which was very well attended. You will find the links in the respective article on page 1.
The couches and seats were packed at the panel discussions which dealt with deals and rates of return. Our authors have taken notes: In the fight for deals, bad manners are spreading. A handshake is not worth anything anymore, and the developers are exerting pressure on the buyers to squeeze out more money, just before the notary appointment.
As is well known, ROI is also decreasing so that investors are looking for new concepts, e.g. co-working spaces, which are said to be very successful. Nevertheless, Patrick Nelson from WeWork had a hard time at the panel, as he could not disclose any figures officially. Without a comprehensible track record, these young companies are not going to easily become partners for investors.
The trade show marketplace also brought up new personal data and allowed for interesting individual conversations: Hilton is stepping up its pace in Germany, Scandic's CEO Even Frydenberg wants to increase the company's activities in Germany, and developer Nakheel from Dubai is looking for hotel brands from all over Europe.
Leaving Expo Real aside today, we are reporting about TripAdvisor's counter measures concerning fake news, after the first professional manipulator went to prison in Italy. But one massive problem remains: as long as the review platforms allow anonymous reviews, they themselves hinder the tracking of criminals. Randomly, the case in Italy provided good preconditions as all participating parties – hunter as well as hunted – were within the same legal framework. This way, the manipulator was traceable.
Marriott wants a closer connection of Design Hotels to all its distribution channels; therefore, it terminated all current agreements, which related exclusively to the loyalty programme. Within two years, the private hotels under the roof of the chain have to decide: going all in with Marriott or leaving? There is a first new benchmark provided by STR about the performance of the Austrian city hotels, and Deutsche Hypo has compiled a current report full of figures about the hotel country Spain. You will find the details here with us, where else?
Have you already participated in our "Investment Barometer"? How has the mood changed since last year? This link will bring you directly to our survey! As of next Monday, we will be winding up the survey. Participate to get the results!

Until next Friday,
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
Europe is booming, but Germany is being veritably flooded – with more and more capital and hotel brands. Who and what was Lehman again?? Nobody wants to know. The Expo Real revealed a divided view of Germany. Those from outside view the country as secure, stable and robust... Adjectives which are beginning to take on creed character. As a German, I ask myself here: Does nobody abroad read the newspaper about this “wonderland” and its current weaknesses? On the other hand, Germans themselves have a much more critical opinion of things. Beatrix Boutonnet summarised the mood at the entire Expo Real – and reveals how the hotel industry is, in some approaches, beginning to merge together with developments in the wider real estate industry.
Susanne Stauss and I focused on the hotel industry. There, the party continues, above all among project developers, who are the key to the desired plot and/or end investor. Operators are meanwhile cautious; the hotels are already no longer filling up in every popular location. The current sector analysis conducted by Treugast proves the negative shift by figures.
And because everyone at the trade fair is focused on projects and brands, we offset the euphoria with an article on the desperate search for qualified staff across the whole of Europe. A drama! Refugees will only partially solve this problem. Sarah Douag collected examples, both encouraging and frustrating at the same time.
For us, the trade fair was a success: 30 satisfied co-exhibitors will go home with many new contacts and projects... More on this on our Page 1.
There you will also find information about our "Investment Barometer" in cooperation with Union Investment: We deliberately leave this survey open after the fair because your discussions there may have influenced your opinion. Click here to quickly and easily answer our few questions about transactions! Thank you very much!
Treugast also again presented its "Investment Ranking" at the Expo Real. H-Hotels, little known just a few years ago, have now made it into the premier league. Our Expo Real News Mix also includes reports on our conversations with the hotel groups. More here next week. Summaries of the talk rounds from the hotel conference, which were this time very informative in terms of contents, will also follow.
Another topic of conversation at the trade fair was of course the many mergers and the future of the chains. A subject which remains explosive: NH has this week rejected the takeover offer of Minor. The game will therefore continue, just as it does for Radisson, where still nobody knows what will happen under Jin Jiang.
AccorHotels' first marketing campaign supported by artificial intelligence was a success. And Rilano Hotels offers its first room shopping robot in Munich. The machine sells drinks direct to the guest's door. This and much more in today's edition... Enjoy reading!

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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

Dear Insiders,
The hotel industry is gasping again: The Expo Real Munich is about to begin. Starting on Monday, many will be chasing after the best deals and last available properties again, no matter what the cost. Ten years ago, the industry was also gasping – but in a negative sense. The Lehman crisis was showing its grim face. Will the hotel industry suffer again in the next crisis? Probably not. Did the industry learn anything from Lehman? No, nothing at all, says Dirk Bakker at Colliers International in a review today.
Next Friday, we will be able to tell you how euphoric the mood really is, when we have collected facts and opinions at Europe's leading trade fair for property and investment. Talk to the experts yourselves! Visit our 30 co-exhibitors at the WoH, the "World of Hospitality". You will find their profiles at the Expo Real website and in our brand-new EXPO REAL SPECIAL, published today. Browse the new issue  online! The banner on our page 1 also leads to the freshly printed special issue, whose link you are also welcome to pass on to your business partners.
The market is acting up, but prizeotel is experiencing it completely differently at the moment: there is a stand-still! Two and a half years after selling 49 percent to Rezidor, the brand was sold by Rezidor's parent company, Carlson, to HNA and then again to Jin Jiang. CEO Marco Nussbaum is very frustrated: The brand is being ground in the merger mills, the large partners have caused more bureaucracy, slowness and higher costs. And now, the demanding economy lifestyle brand, which is exclusively connected to the internationally renowned designer Karim Rashid, is even being put in the same box as the budget brands of Plateno or Louvre?! Nussbaum: "The cultures simply no longer fit together," he said at the end of our candid interview. This is the other face of globalisation.
While investors focus on Europe north of the Alps, Italians are still struggling to find financially strong investors for their hotels. Now, the interest in NPLs seems to be increasing – mainly for trophy assets. Or they are looking for short-term rental objects and serviced apartments. In these fields, Italy still has plenty of non-performing loans to offer.
For the first time, Engel & Voelkers carried out a survey exclusively about hotel sentiments. And there is a first survey about electric charging stations in the hotel industry. After its successful pilot phase in London, Marriott is extending its Home Sharing to Paris, Rome and Lisbon. Air France and Booking.com are entering a cooperation for the booking of rooms, which seems like a dig at AccorHotels' NO a few weeks ago…
Please, don't forget to participate in our "Investment Barometer" despite the excitement around Expo Real. Open our very easy survey tool with one click here, where you no longer have to register. Or come and visit us at our stand at Expo Real and vote live at our terminal!
Right next to us, there is the "Planning & Partnerships Forum", where the hotel conference "Hospitality Industry Dialogue" will start on Monday at 1 pm. You will listen to high-calibre experts on the topics of boutique hotel performance compared to traditional hotels, brand chaos, deal actionism, ROI increases, overtourism, and digitalisation in hotel properties. The latter also ties up to our first Think Tank last June.

We will probably see many of you at Expo Real next week as well as at "BRICKS & BRAINS", where we will be toasting the 10th anniversary of our networking event! After the Lehman crash, we started this event to build some trust between hotel operations and hotel investment…

I wish you all a successful week!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com

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