News & Stories
Hamburg. This story could run under the headline "summer spectacle" if its contents weren`t quite as serious. The matter is this: How long should owners be allowed to bleed their hotel real estate. Recently someone noted that the renowned Hotel Atlantic Kempinski Hamburg no longer had official five star status - and that since the end of 2006. Since then, the media have poked and jarred about the hotel and its downfall. Germany`s Sun newspaper, the "Bild" even snuck in a reporter. The headline that followed "Spider Alarm in the Atlantic" could be modified to "Real Estate Alarm in the Atlantic". The Hotel attempts to draw attention away from the real problem by questioning the Dehoga star classification system. And Kempinski had to face questioning as to whether hotels with less than five stars are appropriate to its quality image.
Frankfurt/M. Concierge services stop by no means at the hotel door. The experience and know-how of a Frankfurt based concierge agency are used by busy professionals, managers and banks independently of the hotel. They come to the agency for help in organising their lives and use the services as "life coach". Although the wishes of regular guests with the Leading Hotels of the World don't yet go quite so far, even there the splitting of services into various and variously expensive service levels has proved successful. The trend is clear: Confidence in the concierge is growing. A new business model is evident in this new customer relationship.
Lueneburg. This year, the German Seminaris group from Lueneburg specialised in conference hotels celebrates its 30th birthday. In early 2009, it plans to open the Seminaris CampusHotel Berlin - Science & Conference Center. With this concept, Managing Director Guenther Strube opens up a new chapter of the company's history.
Eschborn. For the first time in Germany, Progros Einkaufsgesellschaft, headquartered in Eschborn near Frankfurt, has launched an online evaluation portal called pro-CHECK allowing customers to evaluate all suppliers of Progros.
Berlin. The Berlin hotel management company Grand City Hotels & Resorts assumes, with immediate effect, an advisory position for the small group of Mark Hotels in Berlin. With this "strategic alliance", GCHR lists nine new hotels in its portfolio.
Zurich. In Switzerland, spying in the form of so-called "Fichen" which were created by Basel council members of Turkish descent and who had been observed by police authorities, are currently being discussed in the media. The report "Hoteliers planen schwarze Liste" issued by the Swiss newspaper "Zuricher Tagesanzeiger" of July 2 added fuel to the fire while the issue was taken up by Swiss media the next day.
Frankfurt/M. Nearly 600 German hotels and hotel groups have already joined the purchase pool of the Progros Einkaufsgesellschaft mbH, founded in 1986 and based in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. The total purchase volume of the Progros hotels increased to about 330 million Euros in 2007. The turnover liquidated and mediated by Progros increased by more than 12 percent from 93.5 to 104.5 million Euros.
Zurich "Already, hundreds of millions of Swiss Francs have been invested in the Swiss hotel classification system. Now, a new marketing idea is on the table," hotel revue reported, the magazine published by the Swiss hotel association hotelleriesuisse. Guglielmo L. Brentel, President of hotelleriesuisse, presented a new architecture of hotel classification at last week's delegates meeting.