Starwood Hotels steps in with Design Hotels

Munich. Schoerghuber Unternehmensgruppe has changed the legal form of the Arabella companies documenting the definite detachment of its hotel area.

Berlin. Design Hotels is still scooping up new members primarily from Europe, "nevertheless, Asia will come". Claus Sendlinger, CEO of the global consortium currently with 204 hotels in 120 destinations made no secret of where the potential for the future lies in a recent meeting of the members in Berlin. A clear trend in the distribution per online reservations through their own booking engine and the hotel websites is to be recognised. "This makes us think about new services in direct distribution channels," says Sendlinger. Now the group is working on a new consumer strategy. For a long time, the Design Hotels never looked so creative and ready to take up competition with the big chains in particular since the mad rush is increasingly stronger under the professional, private hotels.

Munich. In future, there will be only two parties in this partnership: the owner – Bayerische Hausbau within the Schoerghuber Group – and the manager Starwood Hotels & Resorts. The former intermediary operator Arabella Starwood Hotels will be dissolved on July 1, 2011. The joint venture agreement with Starwood, once initiated by Stefan Schoerghuber in 1998 with a 51:49 ratio, no longer exists. 23 of a total of 39 hotels from the current Arabella Starwood portfolio will be transferred directly to the management of Starwood. Starwood will have its own offices in the Schoerghuber house. The remaining staff members will be taken over/ transferred. So far, 25 employees have already left or will leave the business. Before the press, both parties signed the new agreement on Tuesday.