News & Stories

Rome. Rome will not increase its bed taxes. The city council has just withdrawn its projected increase in levies from 7 to 10 euros per night on 5-star hotels.

Kitzbuehel. The situation has not become easier: Austria's tourism is currently registering a rising rate of unemployment, yet at the same time, the operations are imploringly searching for staff members. Apparently, none are still to be inspired by the industry – the decline with the young people is most drastic: There are currently 30 percent less trainee. At the annual convention of the Austrian Hotelier Consortium that took place at the beginning of the week in Kitzbuehel, the politicians smirked at the industry. Their presidents have now announced a quality and qualification offensive.

Kitzbuehel/Vienna. Six years after the unsuccessful and often implemented "compromise", a general prohibition of smoking in the catering trade could come to Austria until this summer. Triggers were, among other things, a persistent discomfort of the international guests in particular.

Livigno. A family business changes a townscape and successfully boosts its tourism development: in Livigno, in the Lombardy region in Northern Italy, the Lungolivigno group operates three hotels and seven fashion shops, thus making it an entrepreneurial engine in the winter sports resort near the Swiss border. The town itself has 14,000 guest rooms, 7,000 of which are in hotels. An unusual story in our series "small chains".

Augsburg. As the year comes to an end, the subject of taxes surfaces again and for the most part, causes new frustration in the hotel industry. Soon, Greek and Austrian hotels will have to pay a significantly higher VAT and tourists in Lisbon will have to pay a "visitor's tax" starting in January.

London. A portfolio of four properties mainly located in second tier locations, or "alternative but very interesting destinations", as the group's CEO and founder Manvinder Puri loves to call them: Nira Hotels and Resorts is a young London-based hospitality company, with very ambitious development plans, specialized in boutique properties of the "barefoot luxury segment". Currently present in very different places like the Indian Ocean, as well as Switzerland, in Edinburgh/Scotland, and, from today, December 5, 2014 in Italy, the group was created against the odds in 2009: right in the middle of one of the worst global financial and economic crises.

Geneva. Obviously programmed to conquer the world, Airbnb does not limit itself to urban areas. The platform goes higher…up to the mountains. In the Alps, Airbnb aims to accommodate up to 10,000 snow fans during the next ski season. And to let people know they are coming, the company is even sponsoring major events such as the ski world cup in Méribel.

Vienna. Sometimes one can think that there are two "EUs": While – as reported in the last issue – great uncertainty still rules in Germany over the imminent implementation of the EU-wide obligation to label allergens and one considers whether general written information in restaurants is in compliance with the law, their Austrian neighbours are managing this quickly and crisply: As the first EU member country, they have created their own implementation of the law. This views the verbal information to the guest as sufficient. The requirement is the written notice in all menus that the trained staff members are able to provide information regarding allergenic ingredients during all opening hours.

Amsterdam. Allegedly, Airbnb is planning an initial public offering in order to achieve market capitalization, which is higher than the capitalization of most hotel groups. At the same time, the number of administrative and legal measures against Airbnb is increasing as the pioneer of the "sharing economy" is not willing to share – only to cash in. The voices of the critics are getting louder, individual cities are revealing "illegal" landlords of apartments more and more frequently. Airbnb remains uncommunicative – as usual. The key subject is taxes and the payment of taxes. An Airbnb manager admitted to not stating the correct figures on a French broadcasting program. Apparently, Airbnb is deliberately provoking and playing cat and mouse with the public. Sarah Douag did some international research.

Brussels. Last month, HOTREC held its General Assembly in Riga. On the agenda, a major topic which seriously concerns the hospitality industry: „the shadow hospitality economy” – the new name for the Peer-to-Peer platforms of the Sharing Economy. We asked Christian de Barrin, CEO of HOTREC to share his concerns about the new but fast growing phenomenon.