News & Stories

Berlin. The luxury hotel The Monarch Dubai, owned by the Kuwait based Refad Group, opened towards the end of 2007 in Dubai. Its Austro-German management team officially presented the hotel at this year's ITB as well as giving away further details of the Group's expansion plans.

Augsburg. The keyword "News Mix" will bring to you tiny bits of news about considerable events of the past week. The following companies and destinations are mentioned today: Althoff, A-rosa, Design- and Lifestyle-Hotels Schweiz, Derag, Dorint, Hilton, Ritz-Carlton, TUI AG/Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Berlin. On the global level, outbound trips rose in 2007. The Europeans took a total of 407 million outbound trips and spent 381 billion euros. The most dynamic European source market with 16% more trips was Russia. Compared to the previous year, the Germans' domestic holidays increased by 3%, whereas outbound holidays, like the year before, decreased again.

Bad Salzuflen. In 2008, Maritim will open its first hotel in Asia, in the Chinese capital of Beijing. All things being equal, the signs continue to point toward further expansion abroad. According to the German hotel group's own indications at this year's ITB, Maritim managed to increase its turnover by 13 million Euros to 413.6 million Euros last year, although average room rate sank slightly.

Portsmouth/New Hampshire, USA. Lodging Econometrics, a reputable research institution for hotel real estate in the US, announced in its 2008 Outlook for the Lodging Industry in Europe that the construction pipeline stood at 949 projects and 163,919 guestrooms.

Munich/Berlin. Germany's health spas, increasingly struggling under recent health reforms, have now discovered the booming health market. Instead of restricting themselves to traditional health spa facilities, many are now investing in wellness and prophylactic programmes.  A promising concept, Treugast Solutions believes, after it recently instituted a ranking of German health spas. This year, for the first time, Treugast also awarded the health spa innovation prize at the ITB.

Munich/Berlin. Hotel investors in Germany are spoilt for choice. Room rates and occupancy in hotels are increasing. Medium sized and small cities as well as health spas are attracting the attention of developers. The travel market for children and young adults is hotting up and the number of for-eign business travelers is growing. These and other trends are evaluated in the recently published Trend Report Hospitality 2008 compiled by Treugast Solu-tions Group.

Berlin. "The Soccer World Cup 2006 kick for the hotel industry was able to be extended into the year 2007," said Fritz G. Dreesen, Chairman of the German International Hotel Association, at the association's annual press conference last Tuesday in Berlin. "The hotel industry in Germany keeps on growing."

Dubai/Barcelona. UAE-based hotel operator Coral International Hotels, Resorts and Spas has entered into a strategic commercial alliance with Spanish hotel company Husa Hoteles. The move is focused on broadening business platforms for both groups.