News & Stories
Berlin. In the coming months, Ron Ben-Haim, Managing Director of the Precise Hotel Collection, Berlin, plans to push forward the German expansion of his hotel chain by way of management contract. As Ben-Haim is well aware of German prejudices against management contract, the ones he is offering come with a special success guarantee.
Wals/Innsbruck. As every year since its foundation 32 years ago, Austria's leading purchasing cooperative society for hotels and restaurants, Hogast, entered a record year for the financial year 2007/2008. Total turnover was increased to 553.7 million Euros, a figure to which 84 new member companies have significantly contributed. Inflation too played a role in the turnover plus of 14.1 percent.
Duesseldorf. Lindner Hotels & Resorts are changing their organisational structure as the number of hotels has tripled since 2000. The 34 hotels will no longer be managed by regional directors, but by so-called segment directors.
Bonn. For two years, the Munich based investment holding Aurelius plc has led a group of ten hotels and six apartment houses under the name Ghotel. With a motivated team and flat hierarchies, the hotels and apartments have been steered on to the path to success. Today, the likelihood of further growth is just as real as a lucrative sale.
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.