Dear Insiders,
European tourism is booming, and in this issue, we are focusing on two markets that are currently much talked about: the Austrian capital of Vienna and Poland. Vienna is experiencing investments as never before. We see young, fresh concepts as well as luxury hotels, hostels, serviced apartments and budget hotels. But there are still cautioning voices about excess capacities, justified by dropping average rates. Martin Schaffer, a marketing expert of the MRP Hotels consultancy, now counters saying that the slight drop in rates did not occur because of a lack of occupancy, but due to a shift in hotel categories. The Viennese market needs even more hotels to stay attractive in the long run, analyses Schaffer.
In Poland, the political situation causes the EU quite a headache, but investors are extremely keen on this country and its many desirable destinations, which are experiencing an extraordinary tourist boom. Our author Marcy Marvel looked inside the development of the Orbis hotel group which has a lock on the country and is in the process of expanding to CEE more strongly.
Talking about AccorHotels: Last night several media reported that AccorHotels is interested in acquiring Moevenpick Hotels. Sébastien Bazin has neither confirmed nor denied it. In Dubai, Maria Puetz-Willems was told two days ago that deal was done. As a listed company AccorHotels will probably soon confirm it, in particular when the CEO starts speaking about it.
Exactly, Maria went east this week visiting the Arabian Travel Market and reporting on the latest curiosities in this region today, which is still tumbling in a construction boom and recently discovered a new way of releasing new endorphins: artificial intelligence and Smart City. Dubai is fiercely experimenting in collaboration with partners to seize digital control over travellers. The hotel industry suffers from the ever-increasing supply, but firmly believes in the final redeemer named Expo 2020. Only a handful of CEOs are preparing their owners for many years of rollercoaster riding afterwards. Today, Maria will provide initial impressions, while there will be more to read next week.
From the USA, Airbnb is now facing a lot of pushback. The mighty American Hotels & Lodging Association is demanding politicians to reveal covert tax agreements. After all, Airbnb is now becoming a hotelier itself. Marriott’s decision to enter the home-sharing business on a massive scale is also meant as an action against Airbnb, but it is also a catch-up race against its own hotel competitors. Fred Fettner looks at the situation around the sold financial disaster of Grand Tirolia in Kitzbuehel and the entry of a real estate shark at Klagenfurt Airport and in the hotel industry. And a young, unsecure travel generation prefers booking at a travel agency rather than via mobile phone. And finally, there are a few interesting staff changes.

Yours, Susanne Stauss, Senior Editor

Your opinion? susanne@hospitalityinside.com

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Dear Insiders,
Today is Friday – hospitalityInside day. Correct! But this is also correct: yesterday evening, you received additional mail from us, for a good reason! The programme of the 1st HITT, our think tank taking place in Berlin in June, is complete. IBM Watson's chief technology officer confirmed his participation as the final top-notch speaker. Moreover, the circle of sponsors and partners grew by four renowned companies: the HSDS software solutions specialist, the Drees & Sommer project controller, Expo Real Munich and its Real Estate Innovation Network, and the Hotelschool The Hague. You can find all the details presented in a new way under www.hitt.world. Including a booking form. Seven weeks from now, our seminar ship will cast off in Berlin!
Hot of the press this morning: Ctrip.com, China's leading OTA and provider of travel related services in china, covering two third of the travel market, announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding regarding its partnership with AccorHotels. It will allow Ctrip’s over 300 million registered users to access AccorHotels’ global brands portfolio with 4,300 hotels and
10,000 private homes in 100 countries, to join their loyalty programmes and make the companies cooperate on IT. Both companies will embark on a deeper cooperation, AccorHotels' press release said at 7 a.m.
In our hotel magazine, the daily routine continues, which mainly consists of chains that get bigger: accordingly, Louvre Hotel Group has reached the mark of more than 2,600 hotels and faces its next brand explosion announcing four new luxury brands. But there is more. CEO Pierre Frederic Roulot talks about time-consuming mistakes in detail among other things.
Last week, we discussed new recruiting ideas and the future of GMs, while today, Baerbel Schwertfeger analysed what algorithms are useful when it comes to selecting employees. Furthermore, she gathered critical and good aspects with respect to facial recognition. There is a great desire to use this method, which is already being used in certain industries, but there is also a lot of data abuse going on.
There are already initial mergers in the field of co-working: two giants from the US and China just found each other. Big Marriott achieved an initial milestone: the chain has managed to combine the loyalty programmes of Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Starwood. In Italy, an increasing number of investors is interested in design hotels and student apartments, while German business travellers are upset about things other than what hoteliers might assume, and the former head of A-ja Resorts, Holger Hutmacher, is now building up "Moon New Era Hotels" ... a totally crazy name that will hopefully become a brand with substance ...

Keep your feet on the ground!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com 

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

Dear Insiders,
That the hotel industry is quite immovable is reflected today in two contributions on the subject of HR: At the first specialist fair "TalentPro" in Munich, Baerbel Schwertfeger collected ideas from other sectors. There, scouts look for talent at events, filter photos of candidates via Google Image, major companies use chatbots for telephone interviews and career websites commit themselves to providing information within three seconds. And what does the hotel industry do on the very same afternoon at this fair? It removed itself to discuss old HR approaches away from other participants in a closed circle of HSMA members. Congratulations!
Compared to this, the German Hotel Directors Association is progressive. A discussion round comprised of GMs and HR professionals on the "operational Wunderkind” at least raised awareness of change at the HDV conference – away from the chef and towards the academic – and at the same time placed in context the future role of the director in a sensitive and practice-oriented way. Such exchanges at least help to move things forward.
Our HR focus today is also reflected in a number of the news. Sarah Douag has also taken the time to summarise the most interesting statements from the two CEOs Arne Sorenson and Chris Nassetta from their balance sheet call with analysts. Details on the subjects of Loyalty, Technology, China and Trump reveal differences between Marriott and Hilton.
Acquisitions continue in the industry. The Israeli Fattal Group is about to acquire a Dutch hotel group with 12 hotels. Fattal didn't officially announce the name yet, but we found trustful sources. Fattal Holdings therefore continues to grow silently and consistently. They meanwhile count 170 hotels with 33,000 rooms in 17 countries.
US franchise giant Choice has succeeded in taking a huge leap in Spain and Latin America with an agreement with the Spanish Sercotel Group. This makes sense, even if not all details of the deal are clear. AccorHotels chief Bazin can in future make a reservation for dinner meetings online. Their group has now acquired the table reservation specialist ResDiary.
From the world of hotel consortia, interesting news from Vienna this week. There, Heritage Hotels of Europe formed as new umbrella association – because Historic Hotels of Europe is disintegrating.
Hotels or hotel groups may, meanwhile, more often change brands or owner, though the flood of beds is not abating anywhere. In Germany, even the hotel association is warning of overcapacity.

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 at the real estate fair in Cannes was similarly super-optimistic to that at other sector events up to now. The get-together on the Côte d'Azur also revealed that the exciting mega-projects are mostly located outside Europe. "Think big" is the message which Beatrix Boutonnet took with her.
Mandarin Oriental is also thinking about growing from S to M, from a niche player to a boutique hotel group of reasonable size. Slow, organic growth almost guarantees being able to integrate innovative ideas at the same time. COO Christoph Mares is thinking less of high-tech here and more about classic elements – about trendy bars, smaller more flexible spas and the new guest recognition programme "Fans of M.O.".
Just what will become of the pop-up concept at the Lovelace Munich when the temporary hotel project comes to an end remains to be seen. It's not very easy to find new suitable frameworks for such creative concepts – in strong contrast to the ease that the word "pop-up" exudes. Baerbel Schwertfeger interviewed the Lovelace founders Gregor Woeltje and Michi Kern.
AccorHotels again acquired 50% of a hotel group, HNA now sells its Hilton stake, Blackstone plans the acquisition of Spanish Hispania Hotels, TUI acquired a young destination management company, Juventus Turin builds its own hotel... The mergers, these and other hotel plans are unending. We have summarised the most important news from the last two weeks.
As regards Airbnb, Europeans should finally take a stand: The "sharing" platform now shares its guest data with the Chinese out of sheer fear of otherwise failing to get a piece of the pie in this country. Pressure from dictators is of course one thing, but how far can you get with ueber-tolerance? Airbnb simply laughs at efforts to persuade.
The hotel transactions in Spain are increasing. Cruise holidays are more popular than ever, companies continue to spend their money on business travel, Sabre Labs has published its Technology Report, Design Hotels and Orascom have reported their results for 2017.
And we will explain more today about our seminar ship, on which the HospitalityInside Think Tank will take place on 10/11 June. In case you're worried about missing the board or not being able to get off – we have a solution at hand. Swimming through the Spree and Havel can certainly get your thoughts flowing on "emerging technologies”. See here our Page 1 at hospitalityInside.com and the event detail on our floating forum at www.hitt.world. You will find the registration form there. The number of participants is limited for reasons of quality.

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

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com 

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

Dear Insiders,
This week, an unusual deal was completed in the German hospitality industry: The men's fashion specialist Hirmer, headquartered in Munich, acquired the operating company of Travel Charme Hotels with retroactive effect as of 1 January. Hirmer has for years also been active – in individual cases – as hotel developer and investor. Now, it’s taken the leap into hotel operation. Lifestyle connects. hospitalityInside.com was informed early and was able to speak extensively with the new owners and with Giuliano Guerra from Travel Charme. The exclusive story now for you.
The other topics today have a very strong focus on technology and digitalisation. The issues raised in Berlin took us by storm, and we report this week on the Blockchain – including assessments by hotel groups. It really is a difficult subject, seemingly with its own logic and giving rise to lots of questions. But it's something we must all face!
Learn, question, dig deeper – and this is exactly what Cllinton Anderson has been doing, as of this year Head of Sabre Hospitality. He explains, amongst other things, how Sabre deals with data. A sample: "My traditional approach to data analytics is having a hypothesis and then analyzing the data and asking why somebody does something. When you have big data and analytics, you no longer care why. You are just looking for the correlation and you say if A then B. You don't have to know why B?"
Welcome to the future! In 2025, we human beings will no longer be kept waiting on the service hotline. A bot will be there for us. The customer has no more direct communication with the company. Also realistic is that in 2030 we will be flying around in drone-taxis or being shot through hyperloop high-speed tubes to our next destination.
Progress in distribution is comprised of many small elements in the hospitality industry. Louvre Hotels praised its new booking tool for groups as revolutionary innovation. It will go online in May.
Is that all too fast for you or is it too muddled? Then you're not alone. 89% of managers in Germany in many sectors share your frustration. They all reach their limits when it comes to the subject of digitalisation.
To relieve this frustration, I recommend our Think Tank in June in Berlin. In this unconventional, personal framework, you can ask all your questions, discuss uncertainties and work out solutions. Today, we present two of our high-calibre speakers – two professors who themselves look for answers: Andriew Lim, Professor for Technopreneurship and Innovation at the HotelSchool The Hague, on the subject of Artificial Intelligence and the Chine expert Wolfgang Arlt from the COTRI Research Institute on the Chinese perspective as regards Emerging Technologies. We'll provide further details after the Easter break, the current update can be found at www.hitt.world.

hospitalityInside.com will next appear on Friday, 6 April.

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

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com 

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

Dear Insiders,
Looking back at the IHIF/ITB week in Berlin, the hotel industry is bristling with announcements: the flood of brands, acquisitions and capital seems never-ending. Even in 2007, it didn't feel as if developers were looking for locations and brand strategists were yawing for market shares as aggressively as today. The fear of being "eaten up" themselves in the latest hyperdynamic is driving several companies to expand or take over other companies even faster – whether or not this makes sense.
Accordingly, IHG's acquisition of Regent Hotels is not really a big hit in my eyes. 2,000 rooms of a forgotten brand as a basis for a global, ultra-luxury offensive? IHG aims at 40 Regents. The company also had great plans for InterContinental, but has been stuck for many years now, partly due to a lack of locations. Why should this work out better now? Especially since there are no premium locations anymore. I will keep an eye on these plans.
Another daring announcement was that by Federico J. González, CEO of Radisson, which aims at becoming the third-largest global hotel chain. Currently, Radisson is ranked 11th. The gap to IHG, the prevailing number 3, is thus 3,770 hotels wide. Radisson's brand finetuning is not really overwhelming, but it makes sense. I'm more impressed by the fact that, "at the back of the house", no stone is left unturned with a strategic, and not purely cosmetic, view in order to achieve the turnover and profit faster. The only hope is that HNA remains stable as main shareholder. The most recent news from China regarding HNA and Hainan Airlines again leaves lots of room for speculation.
The various global travel analyses presented at ITB document how volatile the markets are and how sensitively tourists change their travel destinations. As with every year, Fred Fettner patiently rummaged through the statistics, interpreting and putting into perspective the results of IPK, RA Reiseanalyse and ADAC Reisemonitor.
And as they are all swimming high on the waves of success, we've got a failure ready for you today as well: Why have hotels with a luxury label never truly taken off? Armani, Versace, Bulgari … They haven't come far. Obviously, LVMH is fed up with the experimental partnership of its Bulgari brand with Marriott, as the luxury goods group has started its solo career at IHIF Berlin with "LVHM Hotels"...
From the news section: Ruby Hotels has managed the leap into international expansion with agreements in London and Zurich. Now, France is drastically penalising Airbnb and its illegal hosts. And the spa wave goes on, at least in Germany – a country addicted to well-being.
Next week will see the end of our early-bird offers for the "World of Hospitality" joint stand at Expo Real 2018. So please hurry up, if you want to take advantage of them. You will find all the information and the reservation form on our first page.

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 noise at the International Hotel Investment Forum and the ITB in Berlin this week was high. New stands, new brands, new acquisitions, lots of people, full halls and euphoria all around... Global tourism is booming, the bad news is thin on the ground, now money is being earned! The latter is especially true of the real estate sector. Yet the undertones are there all the same: Some investors are already being put off by inflated prices, whilst the first developers are beginning to ask that projects under construction are quickly sold off.
On the other hand, the brand creativity of the operators is unflagging. Those that don't have any ideas of their own, simply buy in the new brands. IHG has obviously already acquired an over-luxury group. An initial walk through the issues and reactions at the IHIF.
On the innocuous CEO panel at the IHIF, Sébastien Bazin was the only one who stood out with ideas and self-criticism. In an individual conversation, the Accor CEO explained the details of the recent AccorInvest deal and shared his thoughts on the future distribution of influence in the market: He believes Europe's biggest chain will be one of the 8 gorillas to determine the future direction of hospitality. Sébastien Bazin, with his quick-fire decision-making and quirky ideas, will make sure of this.
A few weeks ago, news made the rounds that Rezidor Group will now be renamed Radisson Group. CEO Federico González give a verbose press conference to this end, though provided few hard facts on the new brand architecture. I have now asked him specifically for these details so that I will be able to explain the differences to you next week.
My colleague Massimiliano Sarti looked on the new Horwath HTL analysis on chains in the Italian market. By 2020, experts expect around 250 active hotel chains with around 105 international brands. This brings us full circle, back to the brand push described above.
Our news this week include further news on transactions in Europe and the persistent run on Germany. Deutsche Hospitality will revitalise its old Maxx brand, jazzing it up as a chic soft brand. And once again we're back to the brands...
More from Berlin next week, today our team is still at the ITB for you.
Next week is also your last chance to secure your place in our syposium about space efficiency in Munich. The interest is high, we expect over 100 participants.

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

Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com 

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

Dear Insiders,
Accor's CEO Sébastien Bazin will probably have to answer many questions about the new shareholders of AccorInvest at the IHIF in Berlin next week. He, however, was ecstatic about the multi-billion deal at the online conference with analysts and media this week. Sarah Douag listened and took notes. For me, the next question simply is: What happens to AccorHotels, the group's operative arm, which is only "partner" and service provider for the Accor brands now?
Money changes the world. This was probably exactly Whitbread's thought when it purchased 19 Holiday Inn Express Hotels in Germany from IHG's master franchisee, Foremost Hospitality; the properties will be renamed Premier Inn by 2020. IHG acts as if this is business as usual; Foremost is changing its strategy.
However, the world of hotel properties and hotel operators remains fast-paced. All around the globe. Expedia and Booking.com are the leading OTAs, the Chinese government smells corruption concerning its voracious and formerly hotel-voracious insurance giant Anbang and is reining it back a bit… This makes Blackstone happy again as they will be able to buy back projects cheaply, which were sold to Anbang once upon a time.
Sports also changes the world. Our colleague Fred Fettner followed his son Manuel to the Olympic Winter Games to Pyeongchang. Manuel is a ski jumper in the Austrian team and Fred experienced a paradox world of controlled Olympic happiness, massive presence of sponsors, miserable camping accommodations, unexpected friendships, and great curiosity on the part of the Koreans.
From the current news section: The losses of Catalonia's hoteliers because of the independence efforts have become more concrete now and German travellers seem to be giving Turkey a new chance. Belmond, NH and Meliá announced their results for 2017.
And the 1,000-room Park Inn Berlin has become very popular through a very smart apprentice photo calendar. A small but nice detail concerning HR – in a hyper-dynamical world of hotel efficiency and hotel properties, which still does not care much about this pillar. At least not audibly. It is easier to announce pipelines. We will probably hear a lot about this topic during IHIF and ITB Berlin next week.
We will see each other in Berlin – and love to tell you more about our own activities concerning the HITT Think Tank in June, our commitment at Expo Real in October, and the next joint seminar with hotelbau about space efficiency on March 19. You find all the information about these topics on 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,
AccorHotels, just like IHG, Hyatt, Rezidor and Wyndham, posted excellent results for 2017 over the past few days. Sarah Doug attended the press conference on Wednesday in expectation of concrete information from Sébastien Bazin as regards AccorInvest/booster project, though his lips remained sealed. Originally, he intended to announce the commitment of new capital providers before Christmas. Last night, finally, first rumours occured dropping names.
Nevertheless: The new figures reveal progress in strategy, and Bazin knows how to keep shareholders, analysts and media in good spirits with his inimitable mix of passion, charm, facts and brutal cunning.
Max Luscher is a positive person with sparkle in his eyes and an Excel sheet in his hands. For this reason, the Managing Director of B&B Hotels Germany is clear in stating that in his opinion there are only a handful of budget chains in this country: Motel One, Moxy, Ruby, prizeotel & Co. have long since become midscale brands! Their yielding even breaks up 4-star rates on some occasions. And so B&B is now venturing a new move: As of immediately, there will be XXL hotels of up to 250 rooms – and some of these will be in top locations in Germany's top 7 cities. B&Bs "real" budget room rates of under EUR 60 should be maintained though.
In Italy, there is another young CEO. He is wondering how he can make his lease heavy small group with just nine hotels into a major player. With French capital to back him up, CEO Luca Boccato of H.n.h. Hotels looks deeply into the issue and brings a clear understanding of contracts and terms with him for the establishment of his White Label Company. Massimiliano Sarti met him.
The small German operator and franchise partner GS Star has also found itself an investment partner for expansion, as other news tell this week. We also refer to a new survey which shows that hoteliers are rejecting robots.
Executives should not get stuck in such emotional dead-ends though. For this reason, Prof Lachmann from the Cognitive Science Centre at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany will explain to our HITT guests how people think and how they should respond to robots. After all, the service sector will need both. We introduce our first "Impulse Generator" today – and our second sponsor: AccorHotels. Europe’s biggest chain supports our new approach at www.hitt.world, because it doesn't just preach innovation, but lives it too. Just as the boss lives it. See above. – More about HITT also on our front page today. Booking is open.

About 1,200 guests, 260 school students, 50 companies supporting them and high-calibre artists were an impressive frame for The Theatre Hotel at the Austria Trend Hotel Savoyen in Vienna last weekend. In its 11th year, the school charity event reached new records.

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 yield pendulum is in full swing – from west to east. Above all Poland is benefiting from the falling profit margins in Central Europe, a trend which can no longer be denied. As we move closer to the hectic of the IHIF and the ITB in Berlin, Susanne Stauss has put out feelers and asked renowned consultants, operators and developers about current trends.
The three founders of Meininger Hostels and Hotels were among the first groups to be sold in the boom. Now, the trio comprised of Sascha Gechter, Nizar Rokbani and Oskar Kan has launched something else – a tribrid model combining hostel, budget and long-stay. The brand name – the common German surname "Schulz" – stands for what it is: a down-to-earth concept that knows its target groups: school pupils, students and clubs. "We're not looking so much for a party", Gechter says in view of the hip life-style models born in the lab.
And I’m happy for this: The current heat on the market is teaching experienced managers to take a new cool approach. Modesty, it seems, is "in" again, simplicity again does good.
Airbnb is exactly the opposite, takes an aggressive approach and is pulling out all the stops. Now the P2P platform is slowly causing the mega-OTAs concern: Through a technology partnership with SiteMinder, small hotels and charming boutique hotels are also to be brought on board. Yesterday, the platform also announced "Airbnb Select", a collection of super-hosts. We'll see how many hotels move over to the portal of their arch enemy.
There's also lots going on in our news section this week: Rezidor will officially announce its strategy change, which has already been made public, at the IHIF. In Germany, medium-sized groups are learning from the major players: And so the small Ghotel Group has bought up the smaller brand, nestor. Portugal threatens a hotel flood, Italy was happily inundated with investors in 2017 and Marriott, Hilton and Pandox have announced positive results for the past year. And again OTA issues: Hotrec has launched its next Europe survey on distribution, and the new Deutsche Hotelgenossenschaft is trying to get smaller hotels on board with lower commissions.
We're excited by our new think tank, www.hitt.com. Have you already taken a look at the programme and the participation fees? It's all online. And the first bookings have already been made! We await you too...

Have a nice week!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems, Editor-in-Chief
Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com 

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