Expo Real and the market: Tense or relaxed?

2.10.2026

Dear Insider,

At the Amsterdam Commercial Court yesterday, members of the Smura family were required to explain why Grand Metropolitan Hotels Holding B.V. had categorically refused to grant the lawyer – who, following a court ruling in July, had taken over the management of the holding company – any access whatsoever to documents or email correspondence. My colleague Sarah Douag was at the hearing.

Following our critical article on Kempinski last week, traffic to our website and LinkedIn impressions have soared to unprecedented record highs. A wide-ranging discussion is taking place on social media about mistakes, weaknesses and consequences. A new CFO was appointed on Wednesday – the second new appointment at corporate level within two weeks. The COO is still in office; is there a new CEO as well? It’s all very unclear.

Airbnb has recently set aside USD 250 million to help finance new apartments, on the most favourable loan terms. But the money isn’t a gift. The short-term landlord wants to be celebrated in public once again. Behind the scenes, it looks as though this is a thorn in the side of the European Commission, which wants to restrict short-term lettings.

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Kempinski and Adagio – without and with a strategy

25.9.2026

Dear Insider,

Things are heating up again at Kempinski Hotels, but only internally, behind the scenes. All things are pointing to change after too many changes in recent months. Barbara Muckermann’s strategy does not seem to be working. The luxury hotel group has lost 19 hotels in two and a half years. On the one hand, the aim was to separate the unprofitable luxury hotels from the iconic properties, whilst at the same time transforming the company from an asset-light to an asset-heavy model. The group recruited a whole host of high-earning chief officers; 120 staff now manage 63 hotels and a meagre pipeline. To wind up the unprofitable hotels both operationally and formally, a new company (KISA II) was also quietly set up. But a KISA already exists. So why do there have to be two?

There are still a great many unanswered questions. Kempinski Hotels is less transparent than the respected luxury hotel group has ever been. The true value of Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group lies on the floor. It is now up to the supervisory board members and the owner family from Bahrain to take the final decision. They must now decide on the future of Kempinski, not just on a CEO.