Dear Insiders,

The worldwide ranking of a French consultancy says there is still a lot of room for chains in Europe. easyHotels took up on this statement and announced ten "super budgets" for Germany on Wednesday. The bubbly head of easyGroup with his conglomerate of a low-price airline, low-price cruise line, low-price hotels and many other low-price companies is on the verge of reducing the German budget concept dominated by a rather noble budget design down to an orange plastic standard. You can see the first easyHotel in Basle.

A new old hotel group dares to enter the German hotel market: Dorint: Now, after merger and marketing errors with Accor, it is "the" Dorint again, with a new logo and a hotel portfolio many describe as being only second-class. However, who says that in second-class it is impossible to earn money? The new Managing Director of New Dorint GmbH gave her press debut yesterday in Cologne. Susanne Stauss was on site for us and provides an up-to-the-minute report.

Speaking of up-to-the-minute, we also have a report on Heiligendamm, although the media probably wrote more about the G8 summit than about any other event last week. GM Martin Kolb was not tired despite a hundred press interviews and told us eagerly about what had been gained by the world economic summit and how he wants to conduct marketing for the shaken resort at the Baltic in future. The investor of Fundus will have to decide between mass and class.

There were no big concerns for Emirates when it came to securing the future of the desert resort Al Maha in Dubai. The Sheikh collaborated with them and created a national park around the resort. This marks the first environmental counterpoint in the exploding concrete giant of Dubai. The environmentally conscious Europeans are drawing new hope. But for Emirates Hotels Group, this is only the beginning of a consistent ecological-resort strategy. The portrait of global IFA Hotels, whose CEO does not speak with any press medium, shows that Dubai definitely looks beyond its own borders.

Have a great week.
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief

Ideas? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

Paris Hilton has been shortly in jail this week now; for two days, until tonight the participants of the G8 summit are "behind bars" in Heiligendamm at the Baltic Sea for two days. Both circumstances provide indirectly inestimable advertising for hotel brands; and for by way of exception the "white town at the sea" - a property of the German investment fund Fundus under the management of Kempinski - is getting paid well for it. The German Government is paying a seven-digit amount to owners and operators, as we were told by the former General Manager Torsten Dressler in January. Next week, the current hotel manager we will hopefully tell us more.

Today, Kempinski is still one of our subjects - with a little different "acknowledgement" of its 110th anniversary. Our reporter Karin Krentz dug out notes and internet prints, which had been stored away for years, and examines a less known and less pleasant part of Kempinski's history. Until today, Kempinski's heirs have been fighting for their name.

Andreas Pflaum also continues the story of Pflaums Posthotel Pegnitz. An exceptional German hotel manager who, with the aid of his family, transformed a Franconian provincial hotel into an international magnet. The "PPP" is known to state visitors as well as to the Dalai Lama, Michael Jackson and Simone Beauvoir. Pflaum's Posthotel is celebrating its 300th anniversary and I am personally pleased to reserve a special place for one of the most creative, innovative and also most down-to-earth German hotel managers - in our VIP column. He very clearly belongs to the "very impressive people" in this industry. Also, because he was finally able to conclude the refinancing of his business - in recent weeks after his bank went bankrupt four years ago. The 300-year old PPP trusts private equity now.

The first time that I have heard the saying "quality results from torture" - it came from Andreas Pflaum - thus, it is not surprising that it was he again who defined the term Service Design after searching for new qualities in hotels. A professor from Cologne explains the meaning of Service Design.

The niche is in demand again. Customers reward convincing niche concepts - because they are willing to pay more for them. A Swiss research institute draws up 10 theses for the niche market. - Read more about niches; in this respect, our news is not easy today either.

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief

Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

Competence and quality show themselves in many ways: Hilton has decided not to fill the company top job with an external CEO, but to trust in their own number 2. Matthew Hart therefore follows Stephen Bollenbach. The move signals continuity and reliability. Perhaps this is a lesson well learned from the Starwood disaster. The vacuum affecting Orient Express Hotels, on the other hand, is becoming ever larger. Now, the finance boss has announced his departure from the sinking ship. A state of affairs that is certain to leave the hotel collection in ever more perilous waters.

Peter Leitgeb is a further cause of mystery. The German, who was ever rhapsodising his fantastic relationship with Leela Palaces, will now leave the chain. Captain Nair soberly invites replacement candidates to submit their applications. Will Leitgeb come back to Frankfurt?

Sir Rocco Forte was this week extremely tight lipped, obviously determined to give nothing away in respect of the difficulties experienced with construction of his golf resort in Sicily. We bring you the news all the same. German travel managers unleash heavy criticism on the competence and quality of conference hotels. They refer to salesmen as "walking prospectus stands" and accuse the hotels of playing a game of hide and seek in respect to expenses. Every manager may put the criticism in perspective for himself with reference to his own banquet department.

In Berlin, a reservation platform has established itself, quietly and shrouded in secrecy. For the first time today, we will report on Escapio, a platform which will not be known to every hotel. But then again, it doesn’t intend to accept every hotel. And different to others are also the two Chedi hotels, one in Milan - the first in Europe - and the other in Muscat. As fate might have it, we were able to visit both at the same time. 

We also bring you a further article from Dubai this week, where just on time for the Arabian Travel Market in April, a further spectacular hotel group has been founded: Tamani. Tamani comes into existence alongside the creation of a billion heavy investment fund. The new group is to concentrate on women as target group and will adhere to Islamic values, in particular an alcohol ban. "The 'dry' concept is the fastest growing in the Middle East", the CEO says. And it’s not only targeting Muslims.

More on people, competence and quality in our new column hospitalityWhisperings, in the News Mix and remaining articles. Enjoy reading!

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief

Ideas? Comments? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

The hotel world is as colourful as the new "Park Inn" airplane - another smart marketing gimmick of the Rezidor Group.

I've compiled colourful impressions from everyday life in Dubai for you - a small summary after three weeks in this boomtown. On the one hand, the events in Dubai are quite impressive. On the other hand, we Europeans stand speechless in front of the towering challenges for the environment, logistics and infrastructure. Now I'm able to understand the Dubai model a bit better after lots of talks with developers, investment experts, head hunters and hoteliers. Dubai will work as a business location - but the question is whether you will be as powerful as marketing makes you believe. In addition, the most important question concerning Dubai's future will be how to create quality of life. Finally, they want to persuade millions of people to move there. Go on reading a bit more between the lines... and also our "hospitalityWhisperings"! Yet, our supply of Dubai stories is far from being exhausted. But first, I will have to carry out more profound research for the next articles on hotels, investments, residences, environment and human resources.

Baerbel Schwertfeger concentrates on the issues of medical wellness in today's issue. The first German hotel now bears the seal of Deutscher Medical Wellness Verband and hotelier Andreas Eggensberger considers it to be good to the core.

A 39-year old career changer is also treading new paths: as Director of Tourism, the former car expert wants to revolutionise Austria's skiing destination of Oetztal Valley to take on summer tourism. In doing so, he has clear visions about how the hotels should act.

Harald Muecke, a hotel consultant from Moenchengladbach, wants his contribution to be regarded as a guide to proper behaviour in difficult situations arising with hotel operators. He has raised questions that an owner should ask as soon as his hotel operator stops paying...

From an abundance of news one item in particular should not be left unmentioned: InterConti wants to go to Oberstdorf - but it still doesn't know the brand. When Susanne Stauss asked all parties she noticed one thing: the InterConti office in Berlin had already filed away the project, while the developer thinks very highly of it. Has the right hand ever known what the left hand was doing at InterConti?

Have a colourful week.

Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief

Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

Three terms which will determine the future of the hotel industry are the topic of this edition of hospitalityInside.com. The first is real estate and its investors, a topic which gains greater influence by the day.

Something which isn't all good for the peaceful co-existence of investor, operator and guest as our correspondent Karin Krentz just back from "Hotel Dialogue Asset Hotel Real Estate - A Complex Management Mix" reports. Investors will place increasing pressure on operators whose life is also complicated by the ever more rapidly changing demands of guests.

Niche products created to satisfy these demands, are developing faster than conventional hotel types, something which is having negative ramifications for real estate. A vicious circle as it seems. Maria Puetz-Willems saw a lot on the topic of real estate during her trip to Dubai as she visited "The Palm Jumeirah". There, accommodation of many varieties is being built.

The hotel chains ready to present themselves on the island, are for the most part, already represented on mainland Dubai. In order to attract guests to the island then, special motivation will be needed. Investors must both bring out the exceptional in the hotels as well as find new niches to entice their target groups.

And what's happening in Dubai on a grand scale, our author Fred Fettner was also able to observe on a small scale at the Austrian Hotel Spitz in Linz. There, a daring investor and two internationally experienced experts, a designer and a manager, sought a niche for a hotel product, painstakingly renovated it, and have managed to construct a bridge between design, culture and regional charm - an achievement which has been rewarded by the guests.

Our Swiss correspondent Silvia Pfenniger meanwhile met with the American Mark Advent, who together with financial heavyweights is planning a "Las Vegas" in Hungary. "Euro Vegas" will not only look impressive and earn its money with hotel rooms and one armed bandits, but will also be designed with the environment in mind. Which brings us to our third topic of interest this week.

Every second property developer, whether in Europe or on the Seychelles, purports  today to give thought to the environmental ramifications of the construction project. Taking the building boom in Dubai as an example, which Maria Puetz-Willems has been able to describe for us in recent weeks, one can certainly say that such considerations don't really seem to have much weight there. But perhaps investors in Dubai are simply just more honest and know that an indoor ski-slope in the middle of the desert or an artificial island with six lane access roads is just as incapable of being environmentally friendly as a Las Vegas in the Hungarian Steppes. Let us take you on a journey into a world of illusion, passion and hard and simple fact: the hotel industry.

Let yourself be taken by surprise.

Yours, Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor

Questions? Comments? susanne@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

With the European Tourism Conference and the Germany Travel Market both taking place on home soil, the gaze of many tourist specialists is likely to have been fixed on Germany over the past few days. There, two tourist destinations, both of which up until recently have tended to work against rather than for one another, presented their best sides to colleagues from abroad: Berlin and Brandenburg. The potential locked up in Brandenburg and how the topic of tourism is being dealt with is looked at in an article by our correspondent Karin Krentz.

Germany's upturn - and concomitant strategies - are a further topic in a number of announcements in this week's edition. For the first time in nine years, Hyatt has announced a new hotel in Germany, a Hyatt Regency in Duesseldorf. And full of optimism, the meanwhile once again independently operating 4 star brands Dorint and Novotel, present their new brand strategy for Germany. The feeling of progression is also underlined by announcements from the German Hotel and Restaurant Association which predicts further positive development ahead of the German hotel industry.

Maria Puetz-Willems in Dubai brings further interesting news on investments, human resources and strategies from the Emirates. And during her research, she happened upon an old colleague: Thomas Klippstein, former Director of the Kempinski Hotel Adlon in Berlin, today working for the management company Emerald Palace Group. But it's not only Germans who are tripping off to Dubai, wealthy citizens from Asia, Arabia and South Africa have meanwhile also acquired properties or second homes. On arrival, they find western standard of living and buy themselves a "secure" second home - and that closer to their countries of origin. Many take advantage of the rule in Dubai that whoever buys property immediately acquires residence status.

Last but not least, this edition of hospitalityInside.com sees the introduction of a new topic column. hospitalityWHISPERINGS is to be our "people column". There'll be branch chitchat, a hint of rumour and other noteworthy additions. The column will entertain and amaze as we keep an eye out for interesting people and events.

Let yourself be taken by surprise.

Yours, Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor

Questions? Comments? susanne@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insider,

Life long learning is necessary in all branches of industry today. Whilst management staff in the hotel industry not only have to learn to take advantage of the newest technological advances, they must also stretch and add to their knowledge of personnel leadership, finance and property development as well as keeping on top of the rapid changes of the international tourism industry.

The importance of choosing the right training provider for your course is this week highlighted in an article by our Switzerland correspondent. Silvia Pfenniger writes on dubious training providers in her native Switzerland and shows the way to avoid falling into such pitfalls, pointing the way to the more serious of Switzerland's institutions.

We also bring you much more inside news from the branch and its international developments. Whilst Editor in Chief Maria Puetz-Willems continues to report live from the breathtaking developments in Dubai, our finance expert Karin Krentz reports on the introduction of Real Estate Investment Funds in Germany. Our Austria correspondent Fred Fettner has also discovered that the last winter season at home in Austria did in fact, contrary to all expectations, close with thoroughly positive results. The road is certainly open for further investment in tourism in Austria.

Across the border in France, Le Méridien, recently swallowed by the hotel giant Starwood, announced its new strategy. And the marketing machine surrounding the "fitness guru" Dr. Ulrich Strunz is despite a recent cycling accident once again running at top steam. A hotel consortium founded last year under the name "forever young" in accordance with his philosophy already counts 15 members and aims for double this figure by the end of this year.

Have fun reading, or better "lifelong learning".

Yours, Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor

Questions? susanne@hospitalityInside.com

Dear  Insider,

Alone in the past few days, various hotel groups in the United Arab Emirates have announced a flurry of new brands and massive expansion plans. In the luxury market, Dubai, where Editor in Chief Maria Puetz-Willems will be for the next weeks, budget hotels too are hoping for a piece of the cake from this rapidly developing hotel economy. Yet, investors in budget hotel meet with scepticism from the locals, as Maria has observed. Another exiting topic: We got first details from the CEO of Bawadi about the progress of the world's biggest hotel project with 31 hotels and 29,200 rooms.

In the USA, there's also movement on the budget market. The French Accor group has decided to concentrate on its budget brand Motel 6. The sale of their Red Roof Inns brand to Westbridge, a partnership between Westmont Hospitality and Canadian pension funds, opens up the necessary funds for the French to drive forward their expansion plans for Motel 6. At the same time, however, competition is strengthened.

As for new developments closer to home, the German chain 25hours, still very much in its formative stages, has managed to span the gap between luxury and budget. More on their refreshing - and up to now very successful - concept is also to be found in this edition of hospitalityInside.com. Germany remains, it seems, an attractive market for foreign hotel investors. With Grand City Hotels, we present a relatively young hotel group on the German market behind which international financial heavy weights are hiding.

Meanwhile across the border in Switzerland, the luxury hotel industry is recovering well. Members of the consortia Swiss Deluxe Hotels are celebrating a successful winter season. Finally, recently made and long overdue investments in hotel hardware are paying off.

Dubai will continue to be in focus next week, whilst those of us who remain at home bring you the latest news and trends from the rest of the world.

Enjoy your week,
Yours, Susanne Stauss
Senior Editor

Questions? susanne@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

That is what we call up-to-the-minute: all main news of today's issue deals with press conferences and talks of this week. That is why we are focusing on figures and strategies today.

But that is the way it has to be when important players like InterContinental finally say something about the German market or when Steigenberger, the biggest hotel group of German origine, announces its 2006 annual account figures. The same goes for Victoria-Jungfrau AG in Switzerland. Its hotels are among the leading businesses there.

The positive trend in every case: figures point upwards and expansion is ongoing. Although, not all brands are included, as InterConti shows: there was no room for Crowne Plaza in "low-price Germany", but for more upmarket InterContinental. Strange. How do the British calculate? A typical phenomenon for quoted companies: their panic before lease agreements. They prefer tricky triangular structures with Dorint and the investors.

A few weeks ago, a study about hostels was issued; our colleague Karin Krentz looked for an in-depth explanation of the economic characteristics of this new hotel segment, which comes "dangerously" close to the classic budget hotel segment. Etap, Motel One, B&B and co should keep an eye on this!

The field of MICE is another booming segment. Susanne Stauss gathered some facts & figures round about the Frankfurt Fair IMEX.

Susanne will be welcoming you, dear readers, in the next four weeks as well. I will be in Dubai on the occasion of the Arabian Travel Market and will of course take the opportunity of having a close look at this bustling city and its existing and new hotel projects. The aim: to provide you with top first hand information as an "editor at the destination". As an online medium, this is possible and thus you hear from me "live" from Dubai in the next few issues.

Best regards
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief

Questions? Wishes? maria@hospitalityInside.com

Dear Insiders,

Steve Heyer was CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts for two and a half years only - he has thus lowered the statistics significantly. Most CEOs stay much longer - for nine years on average. Our own survey in hotel groups emphasises this impressively. Steve Hayer, a leader I described as "colourless" last week, apparently had non-business reasons as well for leaving the company according to US media.

Today's issue has relaxing aspects to end the Easter week, although the fitness subject - under business aspects - should strain many brain cells. In order to offer business travellers relaxation, city hotel managers do not have to put up fitness parks any longer. A qualified fitness counsellor offers ideas. The Radisson in Frankfurt reveals how it uses fitness to lure new guests from nearby offices.

Fitness and movement are also an elemental part of the Kneipp Cure. In the workplace of the priest Kneipp in Bad Woerishofen in Allgaeu, a classical cure hospital was transformed into a medical wellness resort with the emphasis on Kneipp. I visited the "Kneippianum" four days after its opening. With projects like this, Germany could market itself very well internationally - if there were not envious and narrow-minded persons in local districts and among hotel managers. Other countries would be proud of possessing such wellness roots.

Next Tuesday, the IMEX starts in Frankfurt. The MICE Trade Fair grows every year. This is reason enough for us to draw up an overview of all trade fairs which are important for hotel managers. You can read details about the development of trade fairs and about the individual trade fairs we summed up in a table.

Our articles contain news about balance sheet figures, projects, European hotel performance figures and hotels changing their brands.

Have a nice week!
Yours, Maria Puetz-Willems
Editor in Chief


Questions? maria@hospitalityInside.com