Dear Insiders,
It hides a certain special irony: At the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai, which Maria Puetz-Willems visited the day before yesterday, Rezidor CEO Wolfgang Neumann was to speak on mergers and acquisitions. His sudden and premature departure raised questions which remain unanswered since yesterday: The Chinese HNA Tourism Group is set to acquire Carlson including its 51.3-percent stake in Rezidor. Neumann it seems doesn't only talk about takeovers, but is himself right in the middle of one. Sarah Douag explains the deal.
The Chinese appetite for Western hotel and tourism companies is unabated. The reasons for this are obvious. Whereas we reported last week that China for the first time made it into the Top 10 preferred conference destinations, today's news is that in 2015 the expenditure of Chinese business travellers for the first time exceeded those from the US. And the gap continues to widen in favour of the Chinese.
Back to good old Europe: Here, the Southern European holiday destination countries Italy and Spain have enjoyed great popularity. This of course also raises interest in real estate there. In Spain, investment in historic buildings has increased, many of which are to be converted into hotels.
Massimiliano Sarti visited the annual conference of the biggest Italian hotelier association Federalberghi and identified various shadowy areas there despite the sunny booking figures. President Bernabò Bocco, again criticised the unfair tax treatment of the shadow hotel industry and the bed tax imposed on hotels.
In other releases today: Dubai is back down to reality. Tourism in the Arab world has waned in the wake of the oil crisis and exchange rate gyrations. A first impression from this year's Arabian Travel Market and from the AHIC this week. Booking.com has asked customers about sustainable travel, TUI has found buyer for its bed bank Hotelbeds.com Another article summarises the current state of mergers and hopes: of Marriott/Starwood of AccorHotels/FRHI and of TripAdvisor, which has acquired HouseTrip.
On our Page 1, all users also find the last written summary of the "ITB Hospitality Day" panel, this time on loyalty programmes. And a nice coincidence: A Marriott representative also sat on this panel. And Arne Sorenson, speaking at the AHIC, has just described the power of the loyalty programme as crucial reason for the merger with Starwood.
And here is the very last news of last night: Darren Huston, CEO of Priceline Group has resigned, effective immediately, following an investigation linked to a personal relationship that he had with an employee who was not under his direct supervision - an act which is contrary to the company internal code of conduct. He is replaced by the ex CEO and current chairman Jeffery Boyd, while the Group is looking for a new CEO now. Darren Huston, who was also the CEO of Booking.com has been replaced by Gillian Tans. She was already COO at Booking.com.
