News & Stories

Bern/Siders. In 2014, every fourth hotel booking in Switzerland was generated through online booking platforms. The online travel agencies are therefore continuing on their growth rate. According to estimates, their revenue in Switzerland alone amounted to one billion Franconia in 2014.

Paris/Bremen. From the outside, it looks like France holds a grudge against giant OTA Booking.com. At first, hoteliers' unions together filed a complaint against Booking in July 2013 and then the Minister of Economy claimed contracts between the OTA and hoteliers were anti-competitive. Now it's Accor's turn to take legal action against its current "partner" for unfair competition. Peter Verhoeven switched from Accor to Booking only nine months ago. The mood on the market is turning against Booking.com. The German HRS online reservation portal headquartered in Cologne refrains from legally attacking the most recent court decision on maintaining rate parity. Consequently, the German antitrust agency finally had enough leeway to discipline Booking.com – being HRS's competitor – in the same way as it did with HRS. Moreover, last week, German hotelier Marco Nussbaum, CEO and founder of the prizeotel budget design group accused Peter Verhoeven, Booking's head of EMEA, of "guest theft" in an open letter.

Bremen. As hotelier and CEO of prizeotel, Marco Nussbaum, was not directly heard by Booking.com, he then resorted to the means of an "open letter". In this, he accused Peter Verhoeven, Managing Director Europe, Middle East, Africa with Booking.com, of "guest pilfering". This was last week. Neither the company nor Verhoeven have reacted yet.

Munich. Check-in, drop off your suitcase, freshen up and jump into the Internet – this is the daily routine among many business travellers. And, at the latest, that is often when the trouble starts, as accessing the web comes with additional charges. Free Internet is usually only available in the lobby – if at all – but with a reduced bandwidth. Those who need high-speed online access have to pay most of the time. Marriott's case in the US shows how particularly major hotel chains vehemently battle free online access. The court penalized Marriott's actions with a fine of 600,000 dollars. Many chains are quite subdued in this respect and not transparent when directly asked and/or on their websites.

Amsterdam/Brussels. Last Monday, Booking.com agreed to soften the "rate parity clause" part of its agreement with European hoteliers. Under investigation in several countries, the Amsterdam-based company seems to have moved fast in order to end EU probes. But it only seems to be a smart move.

Norderstedt. The new booking portal "HotelDeals Direct" arose like a Phoenix from the ashes this week. Here, hoteliers in German-speaking Europe will pay a commission of only 5 percent per booking. Until then though, there's still a long way to go as the start-up must first drum up capital. It's here that the scepticism begins.

London. One of the large software companies in the hospitality industry, which up to now has only distributed its products via "white labels products" or as supplier to third parties and remained in the background, is entering the market directly now. Next Gen Opti wants to distinguish itself from other businesses through affordable and customised modules for private hotels and chain hotels. This is possible through accessing its own large software pool.

New York. According to information from the US, Amazon plans to sell hotel rooms. Contrary to initial assumptions, this has not resulted in a storm from the hospitality sector, but has been greeted with excitement and approval.

London. Sabre developed a smartwatch which will allow travelers to receive real-time flight alerts and other travel information conveniently on one's wrist.

Paris/London. "Customer focussed not product focussed" was the heart of the message transmitted by Accor's top management during a morning-long presentation of the chain's new digital strategy in London on Tuesday, 30 October. Clad in a black t-shirt and black trousers, standing on the podium barefoot, Accor's CEO, Sébastien Bazin had more the air of a Silicon Valley 'guru' addressing a crowd of tech business angels than the head of Europe's largest hotel group. Aside of this show, the main message quickly was clear: All Accor distribution channels are supposed to increase significantly in near future.