News & Stories

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.

Vienna (March 8, 2013). The discussion in marketing and distribution surrounding the "right" price is industry-wide. And all the more around the right strategy. The well-known Austrian adviser, Dr. Manfred Kohl, founder of the international tourism consulting firm, Kohl & Partner, with its headquarters in Villach, mixes with this subject. He presented his new book on pricing strategies at the ITB. Among other things within it, he says that the price itself can be strongly guided through emotional components. Our Austria correspondent, Fred Fettner, spoke with him.

Paris. During its annual results press conference held Wednesday in Paris, Accor CEO Denis Hennequin made it clear regarding what the group distribution system should look like in the near future.

Vienna/Berlin. Whether at hotelier conventions in Vienna, the eTourism Day in Innsbruck or the German Hotel Convention in Berlin: The dependence of the hotel industry on Google & Co is vehemently discussed throughout. A comprehensive study on solution models for Austria's eTourism is expected for May. But in Germany, there are only discussions that turn in circles and weak tips that demonstrate how over-strained the industry is.