Dear Insiders,
The Lehman crisis of 2008/09 caught the financiers, Covid-19 the operators and today’s multiple crisis now catches the project developers. They are no longer able to secure finance. "They too must now understand that everything has a cycle," the manager of a hotel group told me this week, who of course - like many - is hoping that, as the pipeline dries up, the cost of land, project planning and construction will plummet again.
The project developer market is facing a consolidation, and that across all asset classes. The hotel industry is still in a relatively good position compared to residential property or offices. B&B and Dorint are optimistic, as is Radisson, although their project in Cologne is affected by the insolvencies of Corestate and Gerchgroup and the domino effect those have created. Max Luscher, Dirk Iserlohe and Max Gross explain their situation and point of view.
Beatrix Boutonnet also provides more general insight today and lets consultants, financial experts and investors have their say. The overall forecast: One-third of project developers are likely to go bankrupt and no new construction will be financed by 2025.
But let's talk about more positive things: An unknown but very socially minded hotelier family from Menorca invented the "Solidarity Room" in the first Corona summer: Whoever books this room will donate the entire amount to Caritas for people in need. The idea has become a national project, massively supported by Caritas Spain and the Dutch sustainability bank Triodos. This is best practice of the most social kind, just as the "S" in ESG would like it to be.
As a hotelier, how much good do you do for people in need or the community around you? Let me know! Journalism is also about publishing good things.
Austrian hoteliers now really have to worry about ESG and in particular about the S in that acronym. Policymakers are now beginning to collect sustainability data from the industry. In line with the new EU reporting obligation (valid as of this year), every hotel entrepreneur must participate, collect measurements in the company and also disclose how active they are in the social sphere. The relevant ministry and the sector together prepared the questionnaires, by company size. Everyone understands the drive, says our colleague Fred Fettner.
We can no longer deny climate change. That's why one US-American scientist is imploring the nations of the world to cooperate unconditionally and without borders. Otherwise, the follow-up costs of the disasters will bring about national bankruptcy. And very quickly.
Some things can make you dizzy, because still - almost everywhere in the world - money, greed and power continue to drive economies along old lines. The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund is investing one billion euros in 24 Meliá hotels in Spain and 27 hotels in Japan. Sarah Douag brings us the background.
The summer season in France has been analysed by Macy Marvel. The 2022 record has been broken, and occupancy declined on some coastal regions. Nevertheless, RevPAR shot up.
The "Wanderlust" on wheels is unbroken, only a few small details have changed. Otherwise, mobile travel is bursting with potential. And the fuel takes caravanning and mobile home fans to the most beautiful areas.
Business travellers, on the otherhand, do not always attach importance to beautiful routes, but certainly to cheap taxi fares. Munich wants to make it possible. The trial starts there today, 1 September. Hamburg and Berlin want to follow suit.
We round off our edition today with the usual interesting mix of market news and personnel, and we also commemorate two hoteliers who have passed away: Hans-Peter Kolditz, a well-known name from Accor Germany, and Elena David, who was CEO of the Italian UNA Group for 16 years, among others.
I wish you a pleasant week.
Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief
