Editorial
Almost without a peep, the number of travellers along European river routes has all but quadrupled! And the swimming hotel still has potential. The river boat journey is booming, as are cruises. Our correspondent Macy Marvel has this week put together the market figures for Europe. Also, a small but just as number heavy insight into current business of the German shipyard Deilmann that alongside its famed cruise ship the "Traumschiff" MS Deutschland also operates nine river boats. Both Deilmann boat tour entrepreneurs were this January awarded the coveted hotelier's Oscar "Hotelier of the year"
A meeting with Wyndham's Senior VP Seán Worker in Berlin also gave an insight into the activities of the Group in Europe; Days Inn and Super 8 are on their way. Equally informative was also a short but intensive talk with Global Hyatt: the managers from Chicago have discovered the Mediterranean.
Old facets repackaged in the new term "service design" were discovered by participants at a talk round during this year's ITB Hospitality Day. In order to fulfil the expectation of the future traveller, a "new generation" of staff will be needed, they concluded...
Ritz-Carlton stay on the pulse of the times: The luxury hotel chain now has its guests work for social and environmental projects whilst on holiday! All for a small additional fee of course. A bright idea, as I see it, in that it goes some way towards bridging the every growing gap between luxury and destination.
A merger is underway among database providers: The American research company Smith Travel Research, The Bench and Deloitte and The Hotelbenchmark in London is to become "STR Global" - a database monopolist with 36,200 hotels in 94 countries. Here I can ask myself only one question: Will the hotel industry in future draw key figures from just one source? How much in the way of comparison will in future be possible?
We wish you a pleasant and successful week!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Ideas? Comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
The world of the hotel industry is a colourful one and the expansion plans and strategies of four international hotel groups presented today are a clear reflection of exactly this. Dusit, based in Thailand, is pushing further into the Asian market as well as into Arabia and Europe. The US based Park Plaza has its sights on North Africa and Orient-Express has plans for just about everywhere. Even consortia such as Relais & Châteaux have been whipped up by the winds of the boom markets, even where chain hoteliers may chuckle about 14-room hotels in India. Nevertheless, all hotels want a piece of international reservation pie.
The snap-shots of the four chains also show: All are following just one line. Only their profiles are different - from spa to art all the way to absolute individuality. PATA predicts robust growth for those concentrating on Asia, even for the next few years. Decisive factors are questions of distribution; and so the results of a recent Cornell study may well provide valuable information.
A hint towards the answer to the ever more pressing question of future personnel is given in the few lines in the "News Mix" column: Where do you get the staff? The famed hotelier Kurt Wachtveitl from Bangkok appeared before court - because he feared his staff were being poached. Tactics are becoming rougher - and they won't be without retaliation.
I hope Easter brought positive results. Have fun reading!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
There was still polishing, wiping and cabling everywhere when I was allowed to make a first tour through the new The Dolder Grand in Zurich last Monday. The most expensive hotel in Europe is on the brink of opening. And as usual in times of change, this legend will fire up the discussion about the tightrope walk between tradition and modernism. For my part, I`m not so sure whether I should hate or love this post-modern Grand Hotel. Anyway, it certainly is a unicum.
Concorde Hotels & Resorts interpret the concept of innovation a lot more moderately - but they are also planning to expand in global dimensions. I already met Marie-Béatrice Lallemand, the group`s dynamic COO, at the ITB. She is full of excitement and anticipation as she began setting the new course two years ago.
In Berlin, I also met David Fattal, founder of Fattal Hotels. He was even more resolute with his expansion plans, mainly with respect to Europe. The Israeli businessman wants to open 100 hotels of his Leonardo main brand within three years. We will certainly hear a lot more from this man. I`m quiet sure of that.
The performance of hotel employees over the Easter holidays will again decide whether guests will return or not. Tourist offices in Germany, Austria and Switzerland definitely give away indescribably many chances for winning over guests as they simply don`t answer the phone! This was revealed by a mystery check . Dear hoteliers, please make a test call at your local tourist office yourself... Their professionalism is, after all, part of your business.
A panel discussion on the 3rd ITB Hospitality Day explained how to attract good business from the Far East. The Outlet City Metzingen near Stuttgart and the Nuerburgring in Germany are two excellent examples of how to create value added by applying brand strategies. This also affects the hotel industry. After all, the audience witnessed a panel discussion prepared by Prof. Echtermeyer, offering many precise details about dealing with guests from Asia.
Of course, there is a lot of news to read as well. I wish you a lot of fun reading this issue, which is as colourful as an Easter shrub.
Wishing you a good holiday and successful Easter business!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Your opinion? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Thanks to the Verdi Trade Union, visitors to the ITB Berlin once go home with special memories of Germany: The beginning of the strike last Wednesday, just on time for the trade fair, brought public transport to a halt throughout the capital. At the same time, between 8 and 10 in the morning, a heavy snow storm befell Berlin - and tens of thousands of people stood in thin coats, suits and shoes in ice-cold snow. Some bus drivers, as trade fair visitors reported, were particularly abrupt: First the paying hotel guests were allowed on to the trade fair shuttle and only then were "the rest" permitted to follow. Especially the Indians with their thin saris, some waiting as long as 20 minutes in the snow, felt the brunt of Berlin's brutishness. A flexible and humane organisation of events was far from the reality. The World Cup motto of "A Guest among Friends" certainly begin to crumble at the edges in Berlin.
By Thursday, things had smoothed out and 25 percent more visitors arrived to the ITB congresses, which since 2004 have had a new image. The ITB Hospitality Day also took place this year for the third time - and once again enjoyed a great reception. Whereas last year around 1,000 visitors attended six talk rounds, this year 1,100 visitors were counted at 5 talk rounds. Now, trade fair management will need to consider how it can make more room for the congresses in future.
hospitalityInside.com, media partner for the Hospitality Day and body responsible for contents, would like to say thank you for the huge interest you have shown in the event - we also see it as welcome confirmation that the topics we selected were in fact of relevance both to the times and to business practice.
From my subjective perspective I can only say this: The 24 speakers were extremely competent and the contents of their speeches so strong that there was no rhetorical emptiness within the discussions. In the coming weeks we will summarise what was said in individual talk rounds - beginning today with the panel discussion on "Green Hotels".
The ITB itself is no longer a news forum for insiders, though still a place to obtain a feel for trends and background - as hospitalityInside.com will summarise for you. In this and the following edition, we will report from several meetings and discussions.
A talk on the fringes of the ITB forms the background to the "hottest" article today - the growing dispute surrounding the rights to the name "Adlon". Kempinski lawyers concede rights to the Fundus Group, the owner of the Adlon Berlin, only with respect to the hotel in Berlin. An international "Adlon Collection", as Fundus has announced, would thus be impossible. Fundus moves into the defence.
Less able to defend itself, on the other hand, was the online platform Tiscover in Austria. In view of the financial difficulties facing the company, its takeover by the German reservation system HRS now stands certain. A family certain to be without their financial problems, however, is a rich Greek shipping family. They are now set to build a mega resort with 11 luxury hotels, golf courses and super luxurious residences on the Peleponnes - and all of that as the world's first emission free resort.
Prior to the ITB in Berlin, our correspondent Guy Dittrich heard views from investors, consultants and hoteliers at the International Hotel Investment Forum in the InterContinental in Berlin. His conclusion: Hoteliers seem to view the credit crisis and its consequences with not quite the same concern as other experts. With 1,850 participants, however, the Investment Forum must now have reached a crucial limit, as much with regard to space as with regard to sense. On the fringes there were many negative comments, no least that amidst such turbulence it's not even possible to find the person forming the purpose of the visit let alone hold a meaningful conversation.
So much and more today - more exciting news next week!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Your comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com
While you're reading these few lines, hospitalityInside.com's editorial staff are underway at the ITB in Berlin. And it's from there that we report. Of course, most of what's to come about the ITB will follow in subsequent editions - though already we are able to bring you interesting interviews with the industry's big names and as well as reports on exciting destinations.
The Ringhotels consortia presented its "Vision 2020" on Wednesday. Managing Director Susanne Weiss, a woman with experience in chain hotels, sets the course for her family led business, a course that will establish her business in a world of large chains through quality, staff training and economic knowhow. After all, the chains are pushing ever further forward into secondary and tertiary locations - exactly those locations which before were the exclusive domain of the medium sized business.
That chains don't stop pushing forward their expansion is a tendency once again demonstrated by the two articles on large international and Spanish chains. Whilst the global players fight it out among themselves for Asia and the Middle East, the Spanish are concentrating doggedly on continental Europe and above all on Germany.
At the end of the day, medium sized businesses, just like the chains, have one challenge to overcome: Where do they find well trained staff? How one manages to bring together members of staff from a whole range of different cultures and form them into one single homogenous whole is explained in part by a worldwide study on the topic of staff motivation. This survey wasn't conducted especially for the hotel industry, though its results are a one hundred percent match!
Interesting within the framework of the ITB and Investment Forum in Berlin is also the market analysis of the American research company Lodging Econometrics. It lists all projects "in the pipeline" in Europe and analyses the ramifications of the banking crisis. And the future is not at all rosy.
And the Treugast Consulting Group comes up with a new ranking for health resorts.
Yours,
Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
hospitalityInside.com often reports critically on brands and brand changes - whether it makes sense and whether such promises success. In the case of the Mardavall Majorca, which since last week has officially presented itself as The St. Regis Mardavall, there is no doubt: The name fits. As the figures clearly show, this hotel is for both partners in the ArabellaStarwood joint venture a particular success. It would be all the more tragic then, if rifts were to appear in the marketing association between the Schoerghuber subsidiary in Munich and the American player, so hindering similar success stories in future. More in the article.
This week's edition is heavy on the numbers: Accor, NH Hoteles, Orient-Express, Design Hotels and finally Arabella have all published their figures in the last few days - and nearly everyone seems to be celebrating positive and very positive developments! The industry is doing well at the moment. This will hopefully also be the feeling at the ITB next week in Berlin!
The newly awakened Germany again attracts new groups; in a further article we take a look at the Fattal Group. Our correspondent Susanne Stauss spoke with Daniel Roger, Managing Director of the Fattal subsidiary, Sunflower. For him, Germany is just the start.
Today, we also take another look at Dubai: There more and more new hotel groups are being founded. With respect to many, Samaya Hotels for example, the objective European observers clearly sees: Dubai's hotel market is quick to learn from other markets and reacts rapidly to avoid potential crises.
Printed meeting guides have up to now also avoided crisis, although everyone assumes that only online guides are required. This is certainly not the case, as our correspondent Ralph Langrock found out.
Dear Insiders, In the next two weeks the industry will convene at important international conferences, the MIPIM in Cannes, the International Hotel Investment Forum and above all the ITB in Berlin. hospitalityInside.com will also be at ITB, represented by several of our editorial staff. The Editor in Chief and Publisher are best found on Thursday. From 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. we'll be in hall 7.1a, room New York 3, where the "ITB Hospitality Day" will take place. For the third time, our magazine has organised the hotel conference. 24 competent speakers will make contributions on 5 exciting topics. Take a look at our programme: www.itb-kongress.de and in our editorial contribution today!
See you in Berlin!
All the best, yours
Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
The industry is immersed in the preparations for the ITB in Berlin and right afterwards in those for the MIPIM in Cannes. This is the reason for a fairly quiet news week. Only very few preliminary issues emerged, e.g. German and Austrian trend researchers made known that the Europeans want to go on holidays in their own countries or easily reachable neighbouring countries this year. Despite higher gas prices, the car is overtaking the airplane again.
Six Senses describes new spa dimensions and destinations nearly unknown up until now. The Asian resort and spa group, known by insiders as the pioneer in health tourism, introduces its first "Destination Spa" for a lifestyle-like preventive holiday. However, the target group is clearly defined: only the rich can afford it.
The well-being character of a spa influences the enjoyment of a holiday. Architecture and design have to radiate a corresponding ambience too. In the aftermath of the Monaco Spa Symposium, we take a brief look at these aspects today: this puts relaxation rooms into a new perspective!
As already mentioned, the ITB is approaching. And therefore, we introduce you to the last of the five discussions of the 3rd "Hospitality Day": How do research and suppliers help build efficient hotels? Exploding energy costs eat up the profits; the guests' expectations regarding technology and ambience are growing. How can a hotel free itself from this cost and expectation trap? Two scientists, one hotelier and one interior designer will provide answers.
hospitalityInside.com is media partner of the ITB Hospitality Day, and we are media partners of the Cornell Hotel School too. And therefore it is always special for us to participate at the Hotel Society's meeting in Europe. The meeting just took place in Vienna and directed the alumni's attention towards the flourishing hotel development in Eastern Europe. The four days in Vienna were almost too short for so much exchange of knowledge and networking...
In our series "Small hotel chains" we introduce you to the Juwel Hotels today; you will find interesting issues in the news about the imminent squeeze out of the NewGen shareholders, and the new annual account figures of InterConti and Rezidor, which are pathbreaking for the industry.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
The Grand Hotel Dolder in Zurich has proven its value over many decades - with the new building and the conversion to The Dolder Grand it will re-enter international competition in April. For the amount of 440 million Swiss francs - which is purely unimaginable in Europe - 173 rooms and suites were created. That makes 2.5 million francs or 1.5 million euros per room. But who can afford this? A billionaire who does not consider bank conditions good enough... Another chapter of the book of Swiss patrons has begun.
Capella Hotels and its industrious CEO Horst Schulze, the former President of Ritz-Carlton, seem to have slightly misjudged competition in Europe. Although the bank supports him in view of the difficulties at Lake Woerther in Austria, statements like "it requires adjusting better to the region" clearly point out a wrongly set course with respect to the first year. Another interesting fact: in terms of occupancy and rates, Hypo-Alpe-Adria states lower figures than the operator.
Figures, figures, figures... The annual fund market analysis shows that hotel investments are rated higher. Between commercial real estate funds, shipping funds and insurance funds, the service sector has become the focus of attention!
Best Western Germany also announced good figures for last year - and is sounding the charge for a rate initiative this year. The company aims at finally achieving the rate level found in the rest of Europe.
With respect to the ITB starting in Berlin on March 5 and the panels at the hotel conference on March 6, we introduce the participants of the discussion on hotel real estate evaluations today. It is not only about the classical boosters of value, but about the "soft" factors influencing evaluations.
Our short news: smoking is allowed in small German pubs for a short time, while NH and Hesperia are stirring the pot with new rumours about a merger, and in Italy, wealthy people are venturing into a new all-year luxury hotel at Lake Garda - and, and, and...
Have a good week!
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
The European Soccer Championship draws closer. In Austria and Switzerland, it is not expected to have a great impact on room night statistics. Fred Fettner and Silvia Pfenniger, our correspondents in Austria and Switzerland, have done some research. For the soccer fans amongst yourselves, we've attached a list with the names of the team hotels.
The Grand Hotels Bad Ragaz are playing on an international level. But who is the man behind this resort again investing 100 million Swiss francs these months? Dr. Thomas Schmidheiny, major shareholder of Grand Hotels AG and one of the richest men of Switzerland, is fully convinced about the hotels. He doesn't give many interviews, but he took two hours for hospitalityInside.com - relaxed, easygoing and with absolutely clear views and visions.
When employees try to play with their employer, this can sometimes fail. Joachim Jungbluth, our legal expert, took up a verdict in the context of dismissals due to company restructuring.
Dismissals and changing boards, respectively, is the topic of our article about how companies behave in terms of PR in such cases. Often, these situations are similar to crisis communications. We show the consequences for companies and provide some tips.
Have you already noted down the date of the ITB hotel conference? Thursday, March 6, starting 10:30 am. Once again, hospitalityInside.com has done its best to present some panel discussions with background, so that you can take truly concrete and new ideas home from the ITB Hospitality Day. Today, we'll introduce the talk about "service design".
A particular name stands out among today's news: Capella. The GM left Schloss Velden at Lake Woerthersee, and there is no new one in sight for the first German Capella in Duesseldorf opening in May. Horst Schulze is obviously experiencing some difficulties.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Ideas? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Karl Anton Schattmaier beat us to it: as he surprisingly retired on Tuesday, my colleague Susanne Stauss and I had to rewrite our article about the changing board of Steigenberger. Despite that, a lot of background "was left over" that may illuminate the entire process. As many employees of Steigenberger do not know his successor André Witschi, we took it as an opportunity to describe the top manager with in greater detail. The industry appreciates him as an absolute "networker". Steigenberger will definitely be able to benefit from this.
Untentionally, Steigenberger appears in another story today: our Swiss correspondent Silvia Pfenniger has been one of the accredited journalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos for many years. She jumps from VIP to VIP with her camera and laptop, sleeps as little as they do, and tries to get some news about the life of the hoteliers in passing. Davos, snow-covered and colourful.
The Hospes Group extends way beyond the Spanish border into the European neighbouring countries. It has a clear and selective concept: it is looking for historic buildings, most preferably in ownership.
"The Monaco Spa Event" also came across as being European to some extent. The meeting point for wellness insiders in Monte Carlo two weeks ago conveyed some commendable approaches; it did not quite hit the core of the European spa problem, but the organisers seem capable of learning. hospitalityInside.com was on site of course and will provide a flashlight review in the form of short-trend descriptions. Further articles will follow.
In five weeks, the world will meet again - at the 42nd ITB which will include the 3rd "ITB Hospitality Day", one of the top congresses of the fair, and again hospitalityInside.com will provide the contents. Today, I will introduce to you the participants of the panel discussion on the changed travel behaviour of the Chinese.
In our multi-cultural world, it is not surprising that an oriental mega day spa is planned with Arab money south of Munich. In view of the dimensions of this spa world - an investment of 60 million - the question remains as to whether the investor estimates the local market correctly.
Enjoy reading and surfing!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Ideas? Comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com