News & Stories

(March 6, 2015). Dusit International and Prince Hotels have entered into a strategic marketing alliance that allows the companies to leverage on each other's local expertise, as well as sales & marketing resources, to create opportunities for cross-selling, marketing and promotions.

(March 6, 2015). Accor signed an agreement to sell MGallery Zurich in a Sale & Management-Back-Transaction to a private investor. He already is a franchisee of the group.

(February 27, 2015). Hyatt Hotels Corporation in conjunction with Miami-based development group Robert Finvarb Companies and its partner David Martins announced the anticipated April 2015 opening of Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami.

Paris. Hyatt International started into the new year with three clear development strategies. On the one hand, the hotel group intends to push its franchise brands outside North America for the first time; countries on the wish-list include Spain and the Scandinavian countries. From a brand perspective, the focus will clearly be on those cities in which Hyatt has not been present up to now - or cities will be "topped up" with further brands. Two weeks ago, Hyatt presented its newest brand "Centric" - for the "curious". This certainly does make one curious. A tour d'horizon with Peter Norman, Senior Vice President Acquisitions & Development at Hyatt International.

Rome/Milan. Six Sicilian hotels will soon be auctioned as part of a compulsory winding-up procedure. The properties include business and luxury hotels as well as trophy assets. They are owned by the Roman holding Acqua Marcia, which has been under a reorganization program since 2012… A fund in Venice is also going to invest in trophy assets. Both moves show that Italian hotel heritage is undergoing a beautification to be sold soon.

Vienna. The European Investment Bank will make up to EUR 250 million available to Austria's tourism industry up to 2020. The funds can be accessed by tourism companies through the specialised Austrian Hotel and Tourism Bank. Tourism is the driving force behind Austria's economy. Politicians have long recognised this fact. In order to stimulate investment through difficult times, the supply of subsidised loans will be further expanded. A welcome fact: Austria's hotels have again built up equity.

London. Institutional investors continue to be attracted to the pan-European hotel sector, the global real estate investment manager Invesco Real Estate recently found out by its H2 2014 "European Market Outlook Report". This is further strengthened by IRE's strong transactions activity of c. €500m into the sector in 2014 by its hotel team.

Vienna. Austria's hotel investment market concluded the year 2014 with a remarkable result. However, the volume of the previous year was not achieved entirely. Private investors purchased the most.

Munich/Frankfurt. At the moment, Extended Stay products belong among Marco Bari's passions. The official opening of the Element Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday also meant the launch of the first hotel of the Bari Group as a multiple franchise partner. By now, the American who has found a new home in Munich is a firm partner of Starwood Hotels: Each had announced the second joint Element in Amsterdam one week ago. At the same time, however, Marco Bari is also negotiating with another chain – and also this does not only concern an Extended Stay brand.

Bergamo. A country at stake and international investors who are only able to access interesting opportunities with great difficulty - two weak points in Italy's daily business. These factors make their mark as many structural issues currently entangle Italy: the economic difficulties the country has been struggling with for far too many years and the supply stock that was often not in line with current demand. At the same time, trophy assets and "Expo 2015"-related developments are coming up, especially in big cities like Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan.