News & Stories

Bremen. The triumph of online hotel evaluation portals is based on content – on the content of a hotel or business. The portals have used this content very skilfully – just like the booking portals, which have already snatched away the rates and availability. These "third parties" repeatedly squeeze into the value-added chain between customer/guest and hotelier to cash in as well. While many hoteliers have not yet figured this out, the next coup is looming on the horizon: through the merger of the two internet businesses Qype and Yelp, the content is now being taken away from the hoteliers and/or filtered randomly. Marco Nussbaum, dedicated internet hotelier and CEO of prizeotel describes the severe impact of this merger in this guest contribution: "Over night, 100 evaluations disappeared!" Is this legally permissible? The lawyers are in a dispute. To whom does the content in the internet belong? The hotel industry is facing a new problem.

Stockholm. Scandic is the first hotel chain in the world to offer digital check-out at all its hotels. The system was tested in spring and is now available at all hotels of the chain. With a few simple clicks on their smartphone or computer, guests can quickly pay their room, minibar and restaurant bill when it suits them.

Bonn. The Federal Cartel Office ceased the proceedings against Amazon for their enforcement of price parity in the Amazon Marketplace on Tuesday of this week after the company had fulfilled the requirements of the office. Now everyone is still waiting for the decision on the hotel online distributor HRS with even more tension.

Vienna. In Germany, online travel agency HRS has renounced the enforcement of the rate parity for the moment in view of the ongoing proceedings with the German Federal Cartel Office; in Austria, however, they seem to be applying other standards and – and blocking the "troublemaker" hotels. Complaints come from the Austrian hotelier association OEHV.

Nuremberg. The NSA is apparently leaving traces behind: Nearly 70 percent of the Germans worry about the protection of their personal data and their privacy. With all interviewees, the trust is particularly low in online offers and social networks. The Germans primarily fear financial damage through data abuse.

Duesseldorf. In the age of smartphones, laptops and tablet PCs, Internet access belongs among the standard service at many hotels. But in Germany, 40 percent less hotels offer this service than in the USA.

Hamburg. The boom on the tablet PC market is unabated. More and more Germans already own their own tablet PC or plan to buy one. Now, iPad & Co users are attracting special attention from marketing and distribution experts, in particular because they are considered to consume more than average and have strong purchasing power. Is this right?

Cologne/Munich. Sabre Travel Network and HRS/Hotel Reservation Services have closed a multiannual distribution agreement this week. Meanwhile, the HRS subsidiary, hotel.de, has paid out its minority stockholders, and internet mediators and hoteliers have sent a reminder of more fairness at a networking event in Munich.

Paris. The French Review Commission for Trade Practices issued last week its opinion on compliance with the French competition law. Contracts between hoteliers and OTAs must be more fair it said, adding thinking about a way to tax online operators commissions.

Cologne. Should the German Federal Cartel Office finally force HRS to say goodbye to the rate parity, Managing Director, Tobias Ragge, wants to complain. He said this in a talk round during the 1st "Corporate Travel Forum" in Cologne on Monday.