News & Stories

Vienna. Austria had played first violin in the marketing of the Danube for many years. However, the gentle Danube waltz does not currently determine the music. The chafing between policy and product rules in the Vienna blame game. There has been an extra marketing campaign after the flooding, but many other problems have deeper roots in the past. Above all, the politically-inclined Danube Tourist Commission that is, in practice, a "paper tiger" is harvesting criticism. The Danube could even soon become EU inland waters: They are sitting on their own strategy in Brussels.

Hamburg. The market-leading positions of the powerful technology companies Amazon, Google, Facebook, eBay and Apple – in short: The "AGFEA" companies - are admired and feared. Facebook polarises Internet users; they view Apple second-most critically.

Duisburg. He who knows the costs need not have fear of Google... Half a year ago, Michael Puetter established a calculator with which one can calculate the breakeven point for distribution costs through Google's Hotel Finder. This mathematic model should aid the hotelier in developing a sense of the conversion rates of Hotel Finder and, if necessary, changing their online strategy. His summary after 1,600 clicks on the calculator and many conversations: "The uncertainty in the industry is great and likewise with the worry that Hotel Finder will turn everything upside down by tomorrow," says the Managing Director of Puetter GmbH, a service provider from Duisburg for eCommerce services.

Augsburg. Google loves to make a noise, but the company generally does not happily provide the concrete. Less than ever with the hotel industry that the Internet giant quite obviously drives forward in the virtual world like a blind chicken. With the Google Hotel Finder – introduced in Germany in autumn 2011 – Google has now allied itself with the Online Travel Agencies and they are now both hunting for hotels together. However, many hoteliers are not at all aware of who and what they are financing with their commissions … hospitalityInside.com wished to question the Hotel Finder model, placed 11 professional questions to Google and received 11 ultra-scanty and partially generalised or elusive answers in return from Christian Baerwind, Industry Head Travel at Google Germany. The longest answer consisted of three sentences. You will find again this, dear readers, in full length and in the original wording in the following interview. Because a professional medium is there to create transparency, we asked distribution expert Bruno Wolf, HHC Consulting in Frankfurt and the online-savvy hotelier Marco Nussbaum, CEO prizeotel, to comment on the scanty Google answers. They found sufficient words to analyse the activities of the giant – and to reproach the industry with their mistakes in parallel.

Munich. Now Accor has tied all of its brands, including ibis Budget, to HRS.

Hamburg. Every third German internet user reads newspapers and magazines that they regularly consume and during this, only digitally. Even half are apparently also ready to pay for digital content; nevertheless, paid content barely finds friends in reality.

Berlin. The American last-minute mobile app HotelTonight is expanding its offer for summertime travel. In the meantime, Germany has become the third largest market for bookings and downloads; in Italy, Spain and Mexico, the app is starting up now.

Frankfurt. In the battle to reinforce direct marketing, the hotel industry has achieved a partial victory. A cooperation of Deutsche Telekom and the booking portal HRS concerning "Gelbe Seiten" and "das Oertliche" is to be stopped as it is misleading the consumers.

Vienna/Munich. Google is dominating the digital world increasingly stronger. New distribution and marketing channels are revolutionising the hotel industry, they are faced with new challenges – they are put under pressure. Now, in time for the Christmas business, "Google Glass", stands before market launch: A display is integrated into these "glasses" that should deliver digital information to the sphere of the traveller through "Augmented Reality". The glasses combine numerous functions and features on a mini-surface: In addition to a phone and camera, it offers an Internet connection including GPS. And one can even ask it questions. A seemingly eerie novelty. Is it important to the hotel industry?

Moscow/Vienna. Different markets, different customs: This is also valid for digital lives. While in the west, Google and Facebook are the undisputed market leaders in their areas, the new companies that can already refer to considerable user's figures urge onto the market in Russia. Badoo is one of the suppliers – half social network and half dating service that by now, has fetched nearly 160 million users worldwide, three million of which are in Germany.