Editorial

Dear Insiders,
Two days ago, HRS received the 2nd caution by the German Federal Cartel Office. This time, the best price clauses are being criticised in more detail. Indeed: Now the German competition guardians are connecting themselves with colleagues abroad. This could grow into an avalanche: Now all OTAs have come into the focus. It looks as though the rate parity will soon fall. However, HRS has not surrendered yet.
Destinations can very quickly feel when the regional marketing is not functioning well. That is why there are also several discussions at the moment between various institutions in Austria who all would like to and should market the "Beautiful, Blue Danube". Critics find fault with the "well-trodden lines" and "paper tiger" mentality.
Morocco, profiteer of the Arabian spring and the European financial crisis counts among the markets with potential. However, even more guests are also wanted here – and the mass tourism. The Moroccan Tourism Minister, Lahcen Haddad, explains.
Because the search for new talent is becoming increasingly more serious, Kempinski CEO Reto Wittwer is altering the course: He is now calling the hotel general managers to the task and stripping the central personnel department of that power: "Corporate HR brings no value".
From the news: The Oetker Collection grows further with the prestige resort, Frégate Island Private, the parent company of Trust, Worldhotels and IFH has resold the companies and with the imminent resignation of GM Friedrich Niemann from the Waldorf Astoria Berlin, Hilton's course is put to question. Dirk Iserlohe from E&P must defend himself against accusations of witness bribery in the sale of a retirement home in Cologne. – The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
The Heiligendamm story offers material for the big screen … A heavy silence rules among all partners after the new buyers have stood under suspicion of fraud. The core issue is to what extent the current legal registrations are valid.
This rings of gloom and doom. But ironically, the group named Titanic is riding on the wave of success. The Turkish Ayguen family by no means wishes to suffer a shipwreck with their hotel and restaurant group. In Berlin, they are currently building their German flagship, near Gendarmenmarkt. In Turkey, they have already made a name for themselves with city hotels and resorts.
Berlin: The hotels are still fighting valiantly while the tourists flock. Meanwhile, capital insiders see several dark clouds gathering in the sky: Will the Messe Berlin be able to retain the trade show business with its reconstructions? The ensuing question is only one of the shadows that have fallen over the city and its hotel oversupply.
At the moment, everyone is talking about the data spying by the USA and many do not know: The hospitality industry is one of the popular targets of data attacks because it stores most payment data in accordance with its financial systems. Today, our editorial expert and lawyer, Peter Hense, explains the consequences for Managing Directors and Boards of Directors should one be able to prove these data protection violations. – The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
The hottest news of the week occurred last night – once more regarding the sale of the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm: The "Ostsee Zeitung" reported that the Rostock Public Prosecutor's Office searched the business premises and offices as well as the flats of the new buyers in Berlin yesterday. The six persons accused were charged with fraud and professional deception in the purchase of the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm. According to a statement by the Public Prosecutor a "falsified financing confirmation" was presented during the purchase negotiations. As a result, the 30 million Euro deal has ruptured. What will come as the next one? We will stay closely tuned.
Google Hotel Finder has answered our professional interview questions with one to three sentences. A company could not demonstrate more drastically that it is not interested in communication with the hotel industry. And not at all in transparency.
We could not be discouraged by this and asked two online experts, Bruno Wolf and Marco Nussbaum, to comment on the flimsy answers. Then the world looks a little different. Moreover, we inquired with an eCommerce specialist: He installed a Google Hotel Finder calculator half a year ago. His summary: At the moment, AdWords is the clearer and more favourable booking model in the Google world.
Transparency also is not necessarily the strength of the Turkish hotel market; I noticed this in the many questions during the latest investment conference in Istanbul. I asked two well-known experts in the Turkish market to provide us with "tutoring" in the matter of investments, yields and markets.
A London-based consulting company has conducted a study of the Serviced Apartment market in Europe. The EU is directly intervening in travel package rights; hotel transactions in Germany have been tracked for the first half of the year; with Travelfruits, a club for luxury travelling, making a name for itself; and what has personally surprised me the most in the weekly flood of news is the fact that German citizens feel that the media is especially corrupt. – The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
"Big Data" swarms around us every second; but, how does one deal with it? The hotel industry does not know how to yet. Data Specialist Michael Toedt reckons: The position of the marketing manager must be re-evaluated. Or employ one's own data specialist? Once more, this discussion over data management shows that the hotel of the future will only seemingly have something to do with the hospitality.
The rapid developments in IT have made the concepts of the young, fresh Dormero hotels possible in the first place, but now the paths of developer Aleksej Leunov and the Woehrl family have separated. Apparently there are discrepancies; the new generation is taking over.
Already knew this? In 2012, 40 percent of the Swiss 5-star hotels belonged to foreign investors. What families had frequently built up over generations has moved into the international real estate business.
Austria in festival fever: The large festivals bring in millions, but the small pop festivals and rural events often fill the beds without anyone giving them a thank you or the millions in revenue being made public. In any event, this field involves a great deal of revenue potential for hotels.
The infinite history of the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm goes on; there are still no regulated conditions. Consulting and broker companies report that hotel real estate transactions in EMEA and Austria in the first half-year were very active. Also, investors are in a good mood.
There are not only problems, but also positives. A good week!

Dear Insiders,
After ibis and Pullman, Accor is now also cleaning its large pool of non-standardised midscale hotels, Mercure. The new images indeed promise a new familiar experience, yet Mercure's European Chief Volkmar Pfaff is unable to speak of the costs for the franchisee…
Accor will break with the purely functional anonymous hotel and moves with the flow and the general wave of emotion. The "Freitagshappen" which Nassauer Hof Wiesbaden and hospitalityInside held a week ago in Wiesbaden for the third time, picked up on this theme indirectly. A small, exclusive circle of participants discussed how much anonymity the hotel industry can bear.
In China, anonymity is not guaranteed. Quite the opposite: The new President of the People's Republic has moved against luxury indulgence and corruption - and with his new provisions promotes denunciation by the people. Luxury hotels will suffer here just like the smallest florist.
In terms of sustainability, Swissôtel trusts in loyal cooperation with its staff, and that worldwide. Intensive and individual training sessions are intended to prevent the concept being applied in a simple "copy-paste" manner in different countries.
Our press releases include interesting personalia and information on the new pan-European performance report.
And last but not least: The registration period for the joint stand "World of Hospitality" at Expo Real in October officially ends today. Global chains - Choice, LFPI, Kempinski, Marriott, Wyndham - and other hospitality players give this year's stand a new class. The stand itself remains flexible in its planning: Anyone wishing to jump on board "last minute", should get in touch as soon as possible. For details see HOME. – The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
Today, luxury hotels face competition from areas which no longer have anything to do with the classic accommodation industry. Here too, the internet is the motor behind such changes. Macy Marvel presents a few examples.
Again and again, the questions arises: What is luxury? The experience from day-to-day travel reveals that there's luxury and there‘s luxury. For this reason, we have asked Peninsula Hotels and Waldorf Astoria the same concrete questions in order to find out what they offer and how they set themselves apart from the competition. Who performed better in this comparison? Read for yourself.
Convincing the guest that simple is luxuriant is a challenge for the Austrians. They feel that nature and simple food represent huge potential for international marketing, at the same time, they must explain why more must be spent for the "less is more" motto. Observations from the fringes of the new trade fair ATBexperience.
REITs are now not to be treated like funds. This topic is sober but valuable knowledge for all those active in investment. Beatrix Boutonnet explains the recently published BaFin guidance.
And among this week's news: Marriott revitalises its Marriott brand, the Austrian Verkehrsbuero Group is touching up its brands and creating the "Good Morning Master" as well as the Cypriot Thanos Hotels report how they're doing after the banking crisis. - The full editorial ...

Dear Insiders,
The 1,000-room New York Hilton Midtown Hotel has just done away with its room service. Guests now have a buffet at their disposal. Colleagues at Sheraton and Marriott understand the move: This hotel service isn't convincing, it's not a cash cow. The background to the headline.
Now there's an index - for luxury brands. It weights brands in accordance with their internet search requests. After studying this ranking, I ask myself what it tells us. After all, search requests can be controlled.
In Qatar, the national hotel company Katara Hospitality attempts to strengthen its profile as operator. Its hotels have up to now been operated almost exclusively by international chains. New COO Christopher Knable thinks about introducing an own new hotel brand.
In Germany, hotels currently seem to be among the investors' darlings. Industry metrics are rising and private equity and institutional investors are taking interest. Special hotel funds are also being set up. But there's still a but: finance. Two talk rounds focused on the current situation.
We also include a number of interesting personnel changes today.

Dear Insiders,
The Turkish investment conference CATHIC took place in the newly renovated Marmara Hotel on Taksim Square and ended on the evening before the first demonstration in Istanbul. 24 hours later, tear gas bombs were exploding in front of the hotel door. Hoteliers and travelers report.
The long-looming Islamic swing of the Turkish government has been a lasting cause of concern for hotel developers and operators. Various of my interview partners have long viewed an investment in Istanbul as "risk capital", despite gigantic growth figures from the city and the country. Some doubt the "sustainability" of Turkey's economic performance. Observations on "risk capital" and new hotels in Istanbul.
Spanish hoteliers also don't have an easy life: In the 6th year of the economic crisis, RevPAR is now falling drastically, and the Spanish government is now trying to kick start the real estate market by statute. Time for bargains? Our guest author Carlos Bardavio from Hogan Lovells in Madrid summarises the legal changes.
At Lake Tegern, Bavaria, the second Lanserhof resort is about to start, a sister property of the renowned health resort in Lans/Innsbruck, Austria. The luxurious hideaway on the green field fights burnout: 70 rooms have been built for more than 50 million Euro.
From the local to the global perspective: An article on the first Think Tank of the World Tourism Forum in Lucerne shows the noble targets of tourism experts together with a list of their objectives. Tourism must change quickly and fundamentally, tourism veteran Geoffrey Lipman demands.
Istanbul, the Spanish crisis and the floods all show today who and what threatens the hotel industry. You can only shake your head here about the Ukrainian investor who three years ago, presumably for reasons of prestige, acquired the legendary Buehlerhoehe near Baden Baden in Germany, only to allow it to deteriorate and now fall into open decline. According to media reports, power and water supply have already been cut as bills haven't been paid. Yet this only as a note on the fringe, lest we forget the home-grown problems alongside the big challenges.
The ITB Berlin and its press release comes right on time here: Holiday is good for your health! Happiness research has confirmed this. – The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
Amsterdam steps on the gas: In 2007, the city administration decided to develop approximately 9,000 new hotel rooms by 2015. This has now been nearly achieved. Entire Amsterdam districts are developing into hotel magnets.
All students today also wish to step on the gas and so the Generation Y unabashedly confesses that everything moves too slowly for them, that today's managers do not understand them and that they all want to become a CEO. An internationally-occupied discussion round at the 3rd World Tourism Forum in Lucerne once again aggravated this picture. The hotel veterans on the panel, Reto Wittwer among them, hit the brakes. An article accessible for all readers, to find on our start page.
The topic of the younger generation remains hot: After we described the HDV push for the new stamp of quality "Excellent Training" last week, this association might be pleased about the current news from the political: The SPD wants check up on the suitability of educational institutions, among other things.
Media have only an indirect influence on your day-to-day hotellife, dear readers, and it is indeed important to know how the opinion makers themselves to change. Futurologists from the Horx establishment have composed a study on the "Future of the Media" and we have balanced it out with a practically-oriented summary from the "Media Summit" in Berlin on the subject of print and online.
Although a buyer for the insolvent Grandhotel Heiligendamm has just been found this week, its founder, August Jagdfeld, already wants to open another new resort near by. A summary of the recent Jagdfeld show. And things are continuing to heat up behind the doors of the Parkhotel Bremen … - The full editorial …

Dear Insiders,
Germany is apparently the most attractive business travel and MICE market in Europe. Detailed figures presented this week at the IMEX reflect this. The segment is booming, also due to Germany's economic power.
There are many responsible people in companies who know when they must declare themselves in difficult times: So at least as I feel with the decision by the organiser Thomas Cook in wishing to also support its Sentido and Smartline hotel brands in the future through lease contracts and loans. Finally, a tour operator is moving toward responsibility.
25hours is also a courageous company with its niche concepts. Now with a big party, they have celebrated the enlarged hotel in Vienna and CEO Christoph Hoffmann has explained why when an armchair crashes down underneath a guest, it belongs among the risk ... A short, symbolic interview about the unconventional.
The German Association of Hotel General Managers likewise proves courage with the announcement of a seal of quality for excellent education. What, however, does a single certificate bring and why is there no concerted action with the remaining, far more high-powered associations?
From the news: In the future, the Global Hotel Alliance will also take up smaller luxury hotel groups under a White Label; and the very last word regarding the new operator at the Parkhotel Bremen will be spoken next week.
I will prepare my many-faceted experiences and conversations from Dubai and Doha that I had over the last two weeks for you in the course of the next issues. For today, enjoy reading! – The full editorial …