Editorial
The turbulence on the financial markets could affect the field of hotel real estate as well. But nobody can foretell the degree of price reduction of the properties. Investors and consultants are still convinced that investing in hotel properties is a secure type of investment in the long term.
In the run-up to the Expo Real real estate trade fair that will take place in Munich in early October and will deal with the issue of hotel properties with increasing intensity, two German hotel real estate funds have introduced themselves to the public. Their initiators see a great chance for their products particularly regarding the growing problems of private equity financings. One of the funds concentrates on downtown Hamburg and a resort hotel on Sylt, while another one turns to institutional investors promoting investments in hotels at German B locations. Both probably make sense. With the right concept, A locations are sure-fire successes offering reasonable investment prices that are hard to supersede. At the moment, B locations take the industry's heart by storm, as the markets of mid-sized cities have proved stable and relatively unaffected by crises in the past.
However, the German funds still cannot expect rapid increases in room rates. After a calm year due to the World Cup, the discussion about rates has flared up again. Despite the fact that the country is becoming increasingly popular as a travel destination among foreign guests, room rates are lagging behind compared to the rest of Europe. Nonetheless: more and more Arabian guests have been turning their backs on the expensive British hotels and let the German retail business, medical sector and our "cheap" luxury hotels benefit from their strong buying power.
Additonal exciting topics of this hospitalityInside.com issue are the personal search for employees of Kempinski CEO Reto Wittwer, who decided to give top priority to the topic of "people", planned mergers and the report about the first Yotel in Great Britain by our correspondent Guy Dittrich, accompanied by a background interview about the Yotel concept.
Check it out with us.
Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor
Questions? susanne@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Now the budget flood is coming! Two similar concepts are announced in the Netherlands on the same day, while a Malayan airline boss boasts about a hotel concept on a 3-dollar level. Only those who have their own towel with them should dare visit a Tune Hotel. This little bit of fun only costs 3 dollars though.
The Dutch at least provide a bed in a box: the rooms of Qbic are to be put together like Ikea furniture - this would be the best solution for underutilised or old real estate that cannot be changed in terms of its floor plan. With Qbic and the second budget novum called CitizenM, guests are allowed to join the game and determine and programme the degree of light and colours of their room. Two articles about design and future technology pointing the way.
The description of the Lánchid19 comes from reality. Guy Dittrich shows that European cities like Budapest smoothly connect to the "western world". His detailed description makes us think that this project will probably be among the valuable and durable design objects.
By the way, Asians and Dutch want to expand with their budget concepts - on a large scale. Will these become tourist brands? The first "Marken-Tag" of the Travel Industry Club in Frankfurt last Monday showed the difficulties in changing from a product into a brand. However, the contributions also revealed that it is hard to find speakers who do not bore a demanding audience with their superficial contributions.
In contrast, the world of banking is quite demanding. So you should take some time to read the article written by our financial and real estate journalist Karin Krentz. She explains the positioning of the German banks on an international level - an important background even for the hotel industry!
One of this week's "minor" pieces of news should be specially mentioned: the hotel chain of Jumeirah from Dubai with a single European presence in London will soon be present on Mallorca as well. And maybe even in Germany.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Limitless thinking creates connections - and brings up new ways of access to "good old Europe". The Kuwaiti company of Refad already set a foot into Germany several years ago. Now, it is about to fetch a German COO to Kuwait. The Arab, regionally designed brand of Shaza Hotels has gained a foothold in Europe through its connection with Kempinski.
Germany has been benefiting from a particularly positive image boost since the Football World Cup last year. The German National Tourist Board confirmed that again in a recent survey. Travellers also rated German hotels absolutely positively, however, Petra Hedorfer, Head of the GNTB, wants a lot more interested hotel groups to join the association.
The supra-organisation of the EU always thinks as a whole. It indirectly forced HOTREC, the European umbrella association for the hotel industry, to pave the way for an all-European certificate of existing quality management systems in the industry. A rather dull but future-oriented issue for those who want to market their quality!
HTNG - Hotel Technology Next Generation - thinks across all boundaries. The association located in Chicago and hospitalityInside.com will start a collaboration beginning as from today that is to give you - dear Insiders - new ideas on the topic of technology. This association includes experts from the fields of hospitality and industry thinking about trends and whether they can be realised technologically hospitalityInside.com will be at that round table in future in order to find out next generation issues for you. So you know what investments make sense in future. We are very glad about this new transcontinental collaboration and express a very warm welcome to HTNG among hospitalityInsiders!
After Cornell University/The Hotel School, HTNG is our second partner in the US we collaborate with to keep up to the minute with the hospitality industry. Furthermore, hospitalityInside.com will continue to be active behind the scene for you: we will be participating in ExpoReal in Munich, International Hotel Conference in Rome and at the same time, we are about to start organising the third "Hospitality Day" hotel conference at ITB 2008!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Ideas? Remarks? maria@hospitalityInside.com
The true dimensions of an announcement or an action are often revealed only then when one probes a bit. This is why several initially small bits of news turned into major stories this week. And they are all about brands - how to make them more attractive and how to place them more quickly on the market.
First, there is Accor: Europe's bed giant announces good semi-annual figures and in passing, the much hotter news that Sofitel will be upgraded and the old Accor brand Pullman will be revived. hospitalityInside.com whisperings revealed this already two weeks ago. But Accor's CEO Gilles Pélisson will not disclose before the end of October how the brands will distinguish themselves from one another. Should the financial media have correctly quoted the CEO after the press conference this week, he plans to position Sofitel on the same level as absolute top luxury brands like Ritz-Carlton and Peninsula. High-brow ambitions. Ambitions that could cost shareholders lots of money. As there is a small difference between luxury and luxury.
There is Hyatt - up to now a fairly closed shop of brands directed by the Pritzker Clan from Chicago. For the first time, Pritzker now allows foreign investors to step in - as an alternative to an IPO. The brand expansion requires higher investments.
Then there is Best Western: the hotel group reacts a bit hesitantly when hospitalityInside.com digs deeper asking whether the first lease businesses could become a new pillar of business. But Markus Keller, Head of the mother company Dehag, gladly explains to hospitalityInsiders the details of the new model, which differs from franchising in order to protect the Best Western brand.
And then there is Barceló Hotels from Spain: they are buying a UK chain so they can survive at home. A fantastic example for the cross-border amalgamation of continental/global problems and chances. And finally, there is the small village of Alpbach near Innsbruck in Austria, whose success originates from "thinking without borders" as well. It owes the increasing rates in the congress business to international companies mainly from Germany.
Today, hospitalityInside.com will hopefully grant to you again some new "insights" about markets and people .....
Have a great week,
yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Ideas? Comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Today, we will steal several glances into the future: do you believe that guests need 500 or 1,000 TV channels in their rooms? It is said that this even pays off for the hotelier! The Mandarin Oriental in Munich is daring enough to take the plunge into the unknown, and that as a trial run for the entire group. Two weeks from now, the luxury hotel in Munich will receive interactive and personalised TV.
Lindner Hotels also "play" a bit with the future. They are among the partners of the Fraunhofer Institute in Duisburg, which is creating a laboratory of dreams on its premises for the hotels of the future. The institute's project manager explains the interesting background.
Another thrilling story is "Mr and Mrs Smith": some of you might know this clever, multi-level marketing concept from Great Britain, which brought a good many individual hotels a good many well-paying guests. On the continental European and German-speaking markets, the idea is still unknown, although it has existed for some time. This market also fascinated a American family, which opened up a stylish design hotel in conservative Bad Ischl, Austria. An emigrant story - this time, Europe is the goal.
The general equal treatment act has resulted in many different perspectives over the past twelve months. In many HR departments there is a great feeling of uncertainty about what formulations and questions are still permissible in legal terms. This is why a labour lawyer has gathered 20 "sample questions" that are meant to help you react correctly.
Today's news consists of a mixture of interesting staff issues, expansion announcements and concept changes.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Your comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com
The flight attendant on the Air Berlin plane from Hamburg to Munich announced the snacks served: crisps - and popcorn "sponsored by Ibis Hotels"(!) .... Not a bad idea, advertisement in the clouds as it were; I had to grin at least .... The majority of the passengers chose the crisps.
The flights are full, the cities are full. It's the holidays. And it was accordingly quiet on the news front. Then came the reports from the battered stock markets and in the middle of the summer break, it all seemed a little more threatening. What the crisis means for the hotel industry and how it came to pass, is explained exclusively by Martina Fidlschuster. The Hotour Managing Director has done some extensive research into the topic and explains the complicated processes in plain English. A must read for all working in finance!
"A little too simple" is the impression provoked by the "Outlook" report by the Swiss Credit Institute UBS. The bank formulated its expectations of the hotel industry in a report, expectations which for an insider sound so banal that they're almost embarrassing. But obviously not all hoteliers have understood the core of their business, nor what the banks expect of them. UBS, at least, was taking the contents of its report very seriously indeed.
As it's the holidays, I took a small trip through South Tyrol's wellness hotels - through those implementing regional concepts with convincing authenticity. If you're already caught up in your wellness planning, I recommend the "colleague visits" in South Tyrol. The region and its wellness hotels lag behind Austria no longer. It's a shame therefore when such well founded wellness concepts are not convincingly and logically conveyed. And after a treatment à la Henri Chenot, my colleague Baerbel Schwertfeger was confused after being presented with appendix values for an appendix which she no longer has. Such moments often give me pause to contemplate what actually runs through wellness providers' minds after leaving their guests in such a state of unease. Whatever they think, it's certainly not professional.
Professional and light hearted are, however, the Hotel "CaricaTours". Take a little popcorn and just a moment for a little satire ....
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
Investors are flooding the hotel industry: there are four times more buyers in the market than sellers. This remark and the most recent investment study by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels correspond to the general assessment of asset managers and consultants: real estate is changing hands ever more quickly. In the process, operators do not always topple, but the agreements are often adjusted. German hotel real estate obviously holds great potential for an increase in value. Today, two articles deal with investors, investments and assets.
Increasing a spa's value begins with choosing the right concept. Those who want to stand out in the wellness market by offering medical beauty require convincing products. An overview of 14 brands - keyword "cosmeneuticals" - is to provide some orientation.
Private hoteliers often face the agony of choice when they have to decide on a marketing consortium. Historic Hotels of Europe are now intensely competing for new members - in bulk. The association only accepts groups. In Italy, we are dealing with quantities of an entirely different dimension: Italian "alberghi" add up to the fourth largest number of beds in the world. A statistical game of numbers.
Immerse yourself, too, in the news in brief and in our hospitalityWhisperings. Let's see what proves to be true after the summer holidays.
Have a great week,
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Remarks? maria@hospitalityInside.com
Dear Insiders,
It's becoming increasingly difficult to attract and hold holiday guests. If this were otherwise, the Austrians wouldn't be building a visitor centre in a national park with a price tag in the millions of Euros. And Andrea Scherz, owner of the famous Gstaad Palace in Switzerland, is also not exactly swimming in Champagne. Both articles show from completely different perspectives what difficulties the tourism industry faces in its attempt to bring together innovation and amortisation. Whilst the Austrians have discovered nature as holiday potential, the Palace has no "exit" strategy should snowless winters persist.
In black and white, neither the hotel purchasers nor the hotels want to see the mutuality of their relationship. On the contrary, our article on hotel purchasing shows that the price is important, but isn't everything.
Dreams of high rates are spurned by the results of the Deloitte survey of European hotels. Every where is booming! Two digit RevPar increases confirm what the large chains have been announcing for the first six months of 2007 - once again the trend is upwards as current figures from Hilton, Starwood, Sol Meliá and the Hospitality Allicance also show.
Two interesting CVs: Rocco Forte has found a GM for his third German hotel and a well known Ritz-Carlton hotel manager moves to China.
We wish you a pleasant week!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Remarks? maria@hospitalityInside.com
The "Harry Potter Hotel" in London burnt down on Wednesday - shortly before 100 million pound renovations were completed .... Here in the Midland Grand Hotel above St. Pancras, parts of one of the Harry Potter films were shot. Perhaps a certain demonic wizard was left behind?? Something not wished on the LSF Hotel Palmengarten in Offenburg. It will be home to several professional cyclists during the Germany Tour 2007 in August. Let's hope they find their way without the steroids.
Party chat .... In July, many celebrated the summer with informal get-togethers. At NewGen plc, on the other hand, things were a little more serious. Last Monday was their general shareholder meeting. After the ups and downs of recent years, in particular the integration and later split with Dorint, top priority in Berlin on Monday was to convey a feeling of "business as usual" to shareholders.
Just four days previously though, NewGen plc appeared before the county court in Moenchengladbach after a shareholder contested their recent decision. Judgement is expected on 9th August. André Witschi by the way, Board Speaker at NewGen plc, played no active role any more last Monday, but he was there. Yesterday, Accor officially confirmed that the top manager will leave the company.
The Varta-Guide intends to redefine itself on the hotel scene. It is now sending out interviewers to survey guests in hotels. The plan doesn't fill every hotelier with joy. In Dornbirn, Austria, one businessman has built and is now busy marketing quite a clever little hotel as a sort of motel. The idea is catchy. And the idea of hotel videos encouraging hotel bookings seems to be a challenging one .... .
The positioning of the luxury hotel group Four Seasons is meanwhile difficult to fault. Six months after taking on the new position, new Chairwoman Kathleen Taylor, Wolf Hengst's successor, spoke with hospitalityInside.com on the new owner structures, on expansion and her understanding of the brand. The core message: Four Seasons is to stay Four Seasons.
Submerge is the many big and small news reports, all of which show: The classic "summer break" is a thing of the past.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com
André Witschi will leave Accor. This is our insider information. Officially, this news has not been confirmed. But we are inside, as you know. Next Monday it will become obvious anyway, during the Annual General Meeting of the NewGen AG in Berlin. There, Witschi should appear as spokesman of the board. We will keep you informed....
The "locusts" are about to enter professional education in tourism. Last week's marginal note has become an interesting topic - we spoke with the new owners of the Internationale Fachhochschule Bad Honnef near Bonn. The takeover of this private school is planned to be just the first of many for the private equity company located in Munich.
Capital will flow for Park Plaza as well - since last week, the hotel group has been quoted on the stock exchange. Susanne Stauss provides an outline about the group's current expansion plans. The Feuring consultancy is also entering large-scale real estate deals with Vivico due to sales of unused railway areas.
There is still a lot of room for hotels backed by the financial power of foreign investors in Germany - mainly in the resort segment, says Martina Fidlschuster of Hotour in Frankfurt. Her consultancy has been observing the development of the domestic holiday destinations for ten years and considers resort hotels in Germany to be part of a profitable niche! Cast a glance at this interesting analysis.
Not a resort hotel, but a niche - that's what the meerSinn health centre on the island of Ruegen decided. Last November, it turned away from the classic resort hotel concept with wellness and took on a new health philosophy, which is unique in Germany so far. Here, only people who want to recover from diseases are allowed to go on vacation. The start has been difficult, but there is considerable confidence in the project. It is just another example of how the vague term, "medical wellness", can be realised in a serious and professional way.
If one takes the multi-million plans of Beberbeck with multi-hotel plans, there is still a lack of confidence... Five hotels in the middle of nowhere? A single expression of interest by Kempinski - and a mayor already considers himself to be the communal Redeemer. This will probably become an episode of the series: "How politicians create a monument for themselves...."
In Villach, Carinthia/Austria, the former Dorint board member Alfred Weiss officially reappeared. He will manage a new Holiday Inn there....
Enough of these meaningful tidbits - form your own opinion.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief
Your comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com