News & Stories

Bad Doberan. An end to the saga in Heiligendamm is becoming ever more improbable for this year. Even the hot potential candidate, Median, is reported to have meanwhile surprisingly changed its offer.

Berlin. The German legislator has taken on board arguments from the funds industry. As was reported in summary last week, the German Ministry of Finance conceded many points on the first draft of implementing legislation of the EU's Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive - and the financial sector breathes a sigh of relief in many points. Open-ended real estate funds and specialist funds are to stay and closed-ended funds will be less strictly regulated than initially proposed. Some adjustments are still to be made, overall though, the funds industry appears satisfied; it remains operative.

Berlin. The amended draft for the implementation of the controversial Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive comes with a sigh of relief from Germany's financial sector. Open-ended real estate funds and specialist funds are to stay and closed-ended funds will be less strictly regulated than initially proposed.

Vienna. Equity hurdles for bank loans still have little impact on Austria's resorts. Largely because the assumption of liability by the Hotel and Tourism Bank provides critical support: Two thirds of the EUR 500 million allocated for the assumption of this liability are still available. The role of ÖHT is becoming increasingly important as it is feeling just how much commercial banks are holding back with hotel finance. If loans are made available, then today these are only for new rooms and no longer for luxury spa projects.

Bad Doberan. "No decision has been made to sell," said the insolvency administrator of the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm to hospitalityInside.com. A final decision needs more time.

Munich. Crowd-funding has been made possible with the rise of the internet. The principle is as simple as it is creative - as we explained in the first part of this series last week: Anyone who fails to secure credit through traditional means can fall back on finance from the internet community. Crowd-funding platforms bring together people with ideas with investors interested in supporting these ideas. If an investor likes a certain project presented on the crowd-funding platform, he or she need provide only a small amount - mostly between one and ten euros. This is the basic idea. For start-ups, the contributions are somewhat higher. The platforms in detail.

Munich. Hotel financing is an urgent subject for the industry. Who is still financing where, which way are the big players going, and under which criteria are they expanding at all? And how do established banks face up to the current funding shortfall? Last week at the Expo Real, the 11th dialogue of the hospitality industry shed light on many of these aspects in the detailed opening talk with seven experts from the hotel industry, classical and alternative financial world. The opinions, at least, those of investors and operators – Starwood Capital and Hyatt – were quite similar. The banks, Aareal and Deutsche Hypothekenbank, defined their criteria, and Siemens Financial Services presented a niche-financing model as a silver lining on the green horizon. One assessment specialist has only seen little change since 2008. The highlights in the summary.

Munich. Budget hotels are in the trend and so is travelling. Were it not for the problems there with financing. Now in times of the crisis, the scanty cash and loans as well as the rising meaning of social networks is also the trend of the subject "Crowdfunding" or "dream financing" through the masses of the Internet Community. Even popstar David Bowie had already financed the legal security of his songs in 1997: His fans "donated" millions to him. Now, the trend has also come into the hotel industry. It can be illustrated by the cool concepts in Amsterdam: A pilot project has currently sprung up there with the name "City-Hub". Hidden behind it is a modular system of the private sleeping units much like the Japanese sleeping boxes from which unused office buildings could be converted into budget hotels in the future. It is financed via Crowdfunding. In the USA, this alternative financing form is already established within many industries, in Europe it is still in its baby shoes.

Bad Doberan. Despite creditor meeting on Wednesday, still no decision on the future of the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm has been made public. Everything seems to be a matter of the sales price. In parallel, Anno August Jagdfeld now has a new problem.

Vienna. The private resort hotel industry of Austria is also concerned by the credit crunch. Now the industry association OEHV, along with partners, is offering a credit alternative for hotels. At the same time, the largest purchasing cooperative in Austria is assisting in financing.