Dear Insider,

Next week the GMs of Kempinski will meet in Istanbul. There, the new Group CEO Barbara Muckermann will introduce herself and her far-reaching plans. In conversation with me, she described the rough framework: The luxury hotel group is to shrink by around a third of the hotels, dull 5-star hotels will be weeded out and only ultra-luxury gems will survive. Residences will be reduced, the management company should become asset-heavy. So again upheaval, again uncertainty. Why is the former cruise manager presenting such a dramatic change in strategy after just eight months in office? The shareholders from Bahrain have allegedly approved everything. But what do they really want to achieve? Perhaps peppering the management company with trophy assets, then selling the real estate at a high price and leaving the operator standing? I did a lot of research. 

The world apparently only knows extremes and disruption: first smash all the china, then build on the broken pieces. This is also the approach of the Trump administration. It does not want any "climate assets" or green financing. And warns the largest banks in the US not to resist. BlackRock is still holding out. However, European banks could also find themselves in a quandary.

Data experts are again predicting stable growth for US hotels this year, but they did all the maths without adding in Trump. So everything remains questionable. The Spaniards, on the other hand, are delighted: Investments in hotel assets now account for a third of the capital invested in the country! The hotel industry is becoming a "key sector"! We congratulate them on this! 

Following our less optimistic article on the British hospitality industry last week, professional market observers are still predicting a relatively stable year in 2024, but the mega cost pressure is forcing pubs and restaurants in particular to close ever faster. 

The hotel industry as a sector is doing better in most countries, at least on the surface; hotel takeovers and openings are not slowing down. The Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) from Dubai is celebrating one superlative after another with its chains, driven in part by generous guests (see Financial Results on our Home page). Others, such as the small Loisium Wine & Spa Hotels, are using the positive mood for their first crowdinvesting. People everywhere are looking up at the blue sky or, as in the case of distribution specialist Quality Reservation, at the rising number of direct bookings. Nevertheless, after a "pulse check" by the Schörghuber Group in Munich, Generation Future is concerned about politics. However, it also remains fundamentally positive.

We wish you a week without any broken china! 

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
Editor-in-Chief