News & Stories

Bern. The Swiss hotel association "Hotelleriesuisse" intends to revise its 26 year old hotel classification system for a fifth time. An important factor was the planned cooperation with GastroSuisse. Failure to reach agreement between the two associations resulted in the final collapse of the plans now. Guglielmo L. Brentel President of Hotelleriesuisse regrets Gastrosuisse's withdrawal. A further problem for him is the fact that many Swiss hotels now assign themselves their own star rating.

Heilbronn. The 1 euro Christmas special offer announced by the Ibis hotels last week, startled hoteliers. They are angry about the new price dumping signal set by the market leader in the budget segment of all market participants. But market experts also pricked up their ears: What seems to be a clever PR promotion at first glance jeopardises the value position of the Accor brand. A new book that came out only four weeks ago aptly deals with the "hotel brand performance". The authors have developed an indicator model that allows measuring the strength of a hotel brand.

Paris. The Accor Supervisory Board approved the proposals of the Governance Committee, created on October 10 and chaired by Serge Weinberg. At a Combined Meeting, Accor shareholders will be asked to approve a corporate governance structure based on a Board of Directors to replace the current structure comprised of a Supervisory Board and a Management Board and to modify the company bylaws accordingly.

Berlin. After several months in a political vacuum, the two largest German parties CDU/CSU and SPD have now formed a coalition. Industry experts regard the first measures decided upon as almost pure drawbacks for the industry.

Cologne. The aging population will not only change families and budgetary spending, but will change the whole region in its infrastructure. Even today, concrete recommendations for hotels can be drawn from the predictions. The Association of German Hotel Directors considered practical solutions at its recent management conference in Cologne.

Cologne. The aging population provides new potential for German tourism. Senior citizens remain inland and are quickly becoming a consumer group with high spending power. New opportunities for the hotel industry. Practical tips from the HDV forum.

Munich. More than a third of working hours worldwide are unproductive and a waste of time. The main reasons for this are mistakes and weaknesses in management and thereby mainly inefficient business meetings.

Munich. Meetings which are unprofessionally organised, are time-consuming and nerve-wracking. There are clear rules, however, for managers and staff.

Munich. According to statements from the hotel industry, some hotel chains already operate an efficient meeting culture. Others are busy introducing rules or revising them. A number of hotels/hotel groups, however, gave no details.

Frankfurt/M. Wireless surfing on the internet is not without its risks, meanwhile, however, laptop users have increased the precaution they take. A point of some concern and completely underestimated, even unknown risk is that posed by Hotel-TV. The codes used for hotel television are easy for a professional to crack. An array of security firms warn guests and hoteliers alike about unpleasant consequences.