Editorial

Dear Insiders,
Whilst the French hotels are already drinking Champagne, OTAs are considering defensive measures: France is about to pass a new law nullifying all contracts between OTAs and hoteliers. Booking.com expects a massive price war to ensue. EMEA boss Peter Verhoeven gives his opinion on the move. HRS and Expedia have decided to wait and see.
At the 2nd "Spotight Hotel Investment Poland" conference last week in the Westin, Warsaw, many conversations focussed on rates and earnings in the individual Polish markets. Above all the capital must consider what tourism strategy it should pursue. Emotions were highest when it came to the question of whether Warsaw needs a mega convention centre. An initial summary.
Starwood's SPG TV has proved itself as image and economic success. Guests at least switch on the in-house TV channel, which advertises the company's own brands with travel stories, more often than other channels. Now, Marriott is to follow. In St. Moritz, the Kulm Hotel has come on board and Accor's Mercure takes its initial steps into social media.
And back to France: The French government is to establish a tourism fund of hundreds of millions of euros and with this to smash the 100 million visitor mark by 2020. Spa experts now also want to implement French standards across the entire sector and abroad with the Spa-A label. In Austria, two former skiers invest further in Adeo and are taking the motel concept with them into the mountains. HVS reports on market results from the Middle East, there's news on various loyalty programmes and of course on personalia. – The full editorial…

Dear Insiders,
With migration to cities unabated, space there is becoming scarcer and ever more expensive. This also applies to hotels. Two weeks ago, we presented the hybrid room Zoku which combines apartment and hotel features to offer a smart new room solution on just 24 sq.m. Today, we present the next step up: the 9 square mater room by "Buddy". The idea comes from a career changer on the hotel scene: Johannes Eckelmann, also the founder of the successful Cocoon budget hotels. He showed us the Buddy construction site and the mock-up room. The first hotel will open in Munich, Expansion is the target. Investors are guaranteed to be found. Hats off!
In the same article, we also describe the "Hotel Room 2020" by Rilano Hotels. With its "bathroom cylinder" and other highlights, this young, high-tech-savvy hotel group shows just how cleverly you can live on just 15-18 sq.m. It seems there are just a few innovators in the industry after all.
In this connection, I would like to quote from Horst Brandstaetter's obituary this week: The Playmobil inventor, so the obituary stated, hated the phrase "It's always been that way." His staff promise him "that you'll never hear that sentence from us!". That's what I call spirit beyond death! What an invitation, to question everything and to be open for new things! When I think of the complaining in our industry in this regard...
Back to this week's edition: It's still something special for me when highly-demanded hotel groups such as Doha-based Katara Hospitality grant us 60 minutes for an interview. It's good to be able to clarify some of the rumours circulating in the media directly with Hamad Al Mulla and to be informed personally on the developments and changes - for instance on the new Murwab Hotel Group and why he believes that Peninsula Paris can still make improvements.
Rather unnoticed by the public, many hotels are today active in art and literature. Yet only a few are willing to open their doors to "writers in residence" - that is, to provide painters or authors with a home over a certain period and to benefit from this. Romana Kanzian has collected some examples from all over the world.
The next revolution against OTAs may pop up in France: This week, we were told that rate parity might be forbidden by law in France! In Austria, there are two scandalous insolvencies: one of them, the spa resort For Friends will close after just one year in operation. In Germany, Interstar positions itself as new master franchisee with ex-Hilton developer Wolfgang Gallas and in Austria hotelier Sepp Schellhorn opens his hotel to refugees despite threats. And we also have a number of interesting personalia and much more...

Dear Insiders,
Coincidence will have it that we get an exclusive interview with Booking.com and Peter Verhoeven at exactly the same time as AccorHotels launches its attack on the OTAs. A controversial constellation. Exactly a year ago, Verhoeven was still a top manager at AccorHotels before he advanced to Managing Director EMEA with the Amsterdam-based IT giant. He took his Accor suit off and put his stonewashed jeans on.
Though only his photo is relaxed in the typical start-up creative style. Verhoeven's statements are crystal clear and hard as stone. "Nobody is forced to work with us," he said. Or: "All this can't be for free." Sarah Douag, our correspondent in Amsterdam, put his statements into context in a comprehensive report. Read for yourself what the mega OTA Booking.com thinks and feels in June 2015.
Verhoeven obviously also has a word on the new AccorHotels platform, though he's not alone. Other hoteliers and experts from seven European countries also comment this week on this absolutely new move in online distribution. Reactions stretch from a rigorous "no" to a cautious "yes". Clear is: If AccorHotels provides no transparency, fairness and clear benefits, the chain will damage its credibility - and its business. A lot is at stake. CEO Sébastien Bazin is caught in a game of chess. If he loses the game, shareholders will perhaps also swoop in with a checkmate.
As coincidence will also have it, our correspondent Massimiliano Sarti met the Accor boss Italy. Renzo Iorio. He reports on bridging the gap between franchise and asset heavy in a difficult expansion market.
To break things up a bit, we also look this week at the luxury segment and its emotions. But not every hotel or sales manager has the skill of anticipating customer wishes. Talking about this is also Andreas Mueller, Corporate Coach and Managing Director of Lobster Experience, which also organises the luxury trade fair Loop in Frankfurt.
The luxury market is also growing considerably, the IPK and ITB show. Holiday home tourism is three time as large as expected, new figures show. And Vienna was misled by expectations which were far too high for the Eurovision Song Contest, just like Rochard Vogel whose star as partner of the Deutsche Seereederei is again falling.
The hospitality star at Expo Real 2015 is rising further... Currently, 22 companies have confirmed their participation at the joint stand "World of Hospitality". The early bird discount will expire in two weeks! Or benefit from our network by supporting BRICKS&BRAINS or the SPECIAL. Page 1 includes the update. – The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
Accor has declared war on the OTAs: Europe's biggest hotel chain has created a booking portal for all. It wants independent hotels to allow their bookings to go through AccorHotels.com... Of course, this immediately poses the following question: Would it be better for a private hotelier to exchange the unpopular "Booking's" of this world for a colleague from one's own industry? Or is that colleague not better to be viewed as a competitor?
Sarah Douag puts the surprising mutation into context. CEO Sébastien Bazin is determined to implement his repositioning strategy, including surprises. Help for medium-sized companies also comes from quite another corner: A German start-up says it is the helping hand for hoteliers fed up with the OTAs. Indirectly, DreamCheaper automatically checks room bookings of travellers and rebooks rooms if it finds the same room elsewhere - on whatever channel - somewhere cheaper. The guest pays the commission, the hotelier pays nothing. That sounds good.
Zoku also wants to revolutionise the industry - with a room-hybrid between hotel and serviced apartment, with "Zoku Lofts" of 25 sq.m! Hans Meyer, one of the creators of citizenM, is behind this smart and stylish room concept for the modern nomad. The first hotel will open soon in Amsterdam. This provides yet another solution for small layouts in over-populated and over-priced large cities.
In a separate news, we report on other small innovations in the apartment hotel industry, I also finally managed to take a look at Germany's first Adagio Access. The Austrians are now marketing "Nature reloaded" and for the first time a tourism "quarterly" appears in Austria; the majority shareholder of the Swiss Victoria-Jungfrau Collection now intends to acquire a 100%, and towards the middle of the year, the personnel carousel begins to turn much faster....
We also once again look forward to the small conference "Spotlight Hotel Investment Poland" on June 16, 2015, in the Westin Hotel Warsaw. You want to know more about this promising market? Join this interesting one-day conference. Further details on our Page 1. – The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
Of the international MICE destinations, Germany still occupies pole position - and even achieved new records in 2014. Recent data on the strengths and weaknesses of the hotel scene were presented at the IMEX in Frankfurt this week. A negative point: the snail's pace of hoteliers in online matters.
By contrast, the decisiveness of Omer Kaddouri sounds more high-speed: The CEO of the Arabian Rotana Hotels will begin expansion towards Europe. He wants to appear with "Family & Friends". What that means, he explained at the ATM in Dubai.
Following our Dubai excursion at the beginning of May, Susanne Stauss and I have today summarised several developments in the Middle East. There's no escaping the superlative projects, but they make increasingly sceptical. The chains obviously take a less restrictive view and do whatever their Arabian investors demand: they even dilute their brands. Accor is a good example here. Positive: Countries like Croatia see how GCC guests enjoy travel and have their own ideas here.
Instead of complaining about Airbnb & Co, one Spaniard took another look: Kike Sarasola first founded a hotel group and then bought up private apartment providers. Now, the customer finds both in the city and the hotel reception also takes responsibility for apartment bookings etc. Sarasola is, by the way, an Olympic rider and not a hotelier. What does that tell us?
Happier customers are loyal customers, this was the finding of the VDR with respect to business travel. But that would certainly also apply to other areas? Booking.com still has to learn though: The OTA again attempted this week to lead German hoteliers on to thin ice in terms of parity clauses. The German Hotel Association is clear in its response. – The full editorial…

Dear Insiders,
Today, there'll be moans and criticisms. Article 1: The old hotel industry which we all know is a thing of the past. Hoteliers without an online strategy will die - of IT failure. Lateral thinker Marco Nussbaum tells us in a guest contribution today what annoys him about the constant moaning from his colleagues with regard to the OTAs. Very readable!
Article 2: The Italians are fed up too. They no longer want to be the football of tax rules, OTAs and Sharing Economy. However, there's no silver lining on the horizon for them. Performance figures from the sector for the period between January and April are thin. Massimiliano Sarti was at the Federalberghi's annual conference.
Article 3: The contribution on the new "future hotel" in Vienna prompted a comment from me; our correspondent Fred Fettner describes what the German Fraunhofer Institute has taught the Austrian 3-star family hotel through a piece of research on "innovation". What has been developed there over seven years has long been replaced. The future can look so old. And even if the parties involved praise the online check-in with direct check-in in the room, the overall impression remains disappointing.
And in the news this week: In Italy, Atahotels and UNA Hotels have merged and therefore form one of the biggest chains in the country; in the CEE countries, the large cities at least celebrate a recovery; in the US, it has been shown that a two-brand concept in one complex can have very different results; we shortly introduce the new investment company Lapithus; a new Amsterdam market report says that hostels challenge budget hotels there; and a study on cruise ships questions current emissions practices. Last remark about yesterday's news: The European Union approved the compromise of the EU Package Travel Directive. – The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
Irrespective of the other tourism events in Dubai last week, I was able to meet Alejandro Bernabé there, the new CEO of Kempinski Hotels. He's been in office for the past seven months. And it was his first official interview. Reto Wittwer's successor often used terms like flexibility, dynamism, quality, cost-efficiency... in short: The luxury hotel group must sharpen its profile. Yet the hotel group is to remain European, in spite of the CEO's move to a new office in Bangkok together with three revenue-driving departments. Rumours that Kempinski was for sale were also dispelled.
In Dubai, Susanne Stauss and I gathered both global as well as regional trends – presented by a political analyst from South Africa and the Euromonitor data research institute. It is simply good to think out of the box and ask yourself to what degree masses of Chinese travellers and crazy mobile millennials affect your own business. And whether the US are truly about to transform into a bike nation. Only one thing is certain: the markets are experiencing rapid changes, not only on a regional but also on a global scale.
From 2016, all companies in Austria will have to have a rethink. As of then, the Barrier-Free Access Act will enter into force after a long transition period. What is reasonable here? Whilst the sector gets all hot under the collar, individual hoteliers/hotel groups and online platforms inspire confidence with their own barrier-free or barrier-friendly solutions.
In other news, the InterContinental Davos has lost a considerable sum through the recent insolvency of its leaseholder Stilli Park; in Amsterdam, the German Maritim Group has a mega convention hotel in its sights and has signed a 50-year lease agreement for this purpose; the Italian transaction market is recovering slightly and in today's colourful mix of news, you will also find first quarter results from various hotel groups. And taking a look at IT, consolidation goes on: Sabre is buying GDS Abacus and Priceline is purchasing Pricematch.
In our office, the words Expo Real are now being heard ever more often. 21 companies have already registered for the "World of Hospitality" joint stand during the real estate fair in October. The hospitality magnet continues to grow! Anyone looking to join the stand or advertise its brand as sponsor still has a little time. The deadline moves closer. – The full editorial…

Dear Insiders,
This year, two members of the hospitapityInside editorial team send their regards from Dubai as Susanne joins me! The photo of us, taken yesterday in the new Four Seasons at Jumeirah Beach, is a reference to the golden age which one could again begin to believe has returned to this city. Yet the system has obviously come up against its limits; Dubai threatens to cannibalise itself. This is also felt in the hotel industry where the hotel density continues to rise. Family travel and midscale hotels are to balance all of this out. An initial sentiment report supplemented by many small releases today in the News Mix Middle East. More in subsequent editions.
Sarah Douag has once again taken looked at the EU "leaks" on the issue of OTAs which we reported on briefly last week. The facts show how OTAs are taking control of distribution across the whole of Europe. Sarah has also analysed the new page of Booking.com for Business.
Fred Fettner's contribution this week is on "social hotels" - a continuation of our story on the Embrace Hotel Association last week. In the Viennese Hotel MagDas, asylum-seekers look after guests. Obviously, more social and charitable organisations are moving into the hotel business.
Also this week, Best Western explains how its new country structure will be. An Italian study looks at the Sharing Economy during the Expo Milan. And the EU takes a more soft approach to the industry than some had feared with its new All-Inclusive Travel Directive. Enjoy reading!

Brussels. This week, The Austrian Hotel Association published a leaked document issued by the EU last February. The report revels details how highly concerned commissioners in Brussels are about "big data".

Dear Insiders,
In the "War of Talents", the embarrassments are always the same - and in talk rounds hotel groups aren't making a very good impression at all. Every millennial, however naive, notices just how outdated the hotel industry's ideas are; that it flatly refuses to pay higher salaries and that it fails to take the career wishes of young talent seriously.
All the more refreshing then is the new "Motel One University" in Munich. Of all hotel groups, it's a budget chain which has now decided to invest heavily in a unique modular concept that encourages every member of staff from basic training to BA degree. This will cost Motel One EUR 3.5 million each year. Employees pay nothing. Motel One motivates towards loyalty. This will secure their "human capital".
"As guest welcome, as person desired" is the motto of the seven-year-old consortium Embrace. Its 42 hotels and restaurants employ disabled workers and introduce them to "totally normal" guests. All of these perform a valuable social service. President Martin Buenk explains.
In other news, the DZT forecasts that German tourism will continue to grow based on new figures. And in the world of distribution a "leak" causes a stir: The EU Commission warns of TripAdvisor and Booking - read the full paper here; the background will follow next week.
Expedia, HRS, Starwood and soon also Accor have already jumped on the Apple Watch waggon; Cornell professors warn of offering the traveller useless gimmicks... A new study also shows how future traveller types will look - somewhat between "sharing" and ego-oriented pleasure. The German procurement company Progros will in future expand its European radius, and the German Association for Travel Management seeks political influence in Berlin.
And news from the chains yesterday: In view of falling results in the first quarter, Starwood Hotels is now considering everything to satisfy its shareholders: From divestment to the acquisition of another chain, anything is possible. That and more in today's News Mix.
And for everyone on our page 1: the results from the hospitalityInside INVESTMENT BAROMETER from spring 2015 - inter alia on the issue of return expectations - as well as first report on the 4th World Tourism Forum in Lucerne last week whose contents weren't quite so convincing but which nonetheless is not making its way to the Far East. – The full editorial …