News & Stories

Vienna. In Vienna this week, Shangri-La Hotels has unexpectedly gotten out of the contract for its first European hotel - two months before the hotel opening. The Asians should accept a renewed postponement of the opening.

Bonn. The Kameha Grand in Bonn closed its first full operating year 2010 with revenues of 16 million EUR. The hotel also received numerous awards. Carsten K. Rath, CEO and founder of the operating company LH&E Management AG has already announced further projects.

Berlin. Exactly at the turn of the year, the Steigenberger Airport Hotel Berlin has been sold by the Hamburger ECE. The buyer has its grip in Germany for the first time.

Frankfurt. At the railway station for long-distance trains in Frankfurt, people are used to waiting: In the basement, it is commonplace that passengers wait for their trains to arrive, upstairs, the IVG Development GmbH and the owner of Frankfurt Airport, Fraport, are waiting for The Squaire to open its doors. Known under the name "Airrail Center", it is supposed to start operating at the beginning of 2011. The investors have been waiting for The Squaire to open for business for almost ten years, whose completion is imminent, despite many setbacks along the way. The on-off project has met with many difficulties over the years, causing its investor IVG the occasional sleepless night. The Squaire looks like a giant ICE on stilts. One of its traction engines will accommodate two hotels: a 247-room Hilton as well as a 314-room Hilton Garden Inn. There`s an escalator connecting the railway station for long-distance trains to the hotels. As far as the hotel chain is concerned, this project constitutes an important piece in Hilton`s Germany portfolio.

Stuttgart. The fundamentals of business administration of Vacation Ownership business models are clearly different to those of classic hotel sales. Also, the marketing of VO rights is completely different. In his previous guest article, Joachim Mezger, Regional Director Central and Eastern Europe of Interval International, Stuttgart elaborated on the financial and economical basics; today he explains the systems of the most traditional and still largest segment of shared ownership real estate, timesharing as well as the specifications in the luxury areas of high-end-Fractionals and Private Residence Club concepts.

Milan. Professional design has found its way to student residences as well. Youniq AG, Frankfurt am Main, was able to win over the studio Matteo Thun & Partners for its student-housing concept Youniq. Wood is the primary material for this flexible project.

Andermatt. The diggers are hard at work in the Ursen Valley. In the end, 1.5 million sq.m of fallow land will have been completely redeveloped. At the moment, only the mounds of earth indicate what the developer has in mind: In Andermatt in Switzerland, the outline of "Andermatt Swiss Alps" is slowly taking shape, the mega destination resort which the Egyptian Samih Sawiris will build from nothing by 2016. The plan is to attract tourists to this less popular part of Switzerland, located between Grisons and Valais with a whole new infrastructure. 850 hotel rooms, 490 apartments and at least 20 villas/holiday homes, a massive sport and leisure centre, congress hall, concert, golf and ski facilities are planned. The first million CHF villas and the first two buildings with condos have already been sold. And just a few weeks ago, Sawiris' own Orascom Development Holding AG began to advertise the holiday properties for sale in Great Britain, Germany, Austria and Italy. After all, the whole undertaking for the Egyptian developer is not a simple tourism project, but a hard, long-term property deal intended to bring huge capital gains. Sawiris' business model is quite unique in Europe, both in terms of geographical dimensions as well as detail of planning.

Zurich. In recent years, Switzerland has seen more lodging establishments open than close. And for the next few years, numerous large hotel projects will reach the construction or conversion phase. Yet although Switzerland stretches over only 41,285 sq.km. and counts only 7.7 million inhabitants, there is no reliable list of future hotel projects. And the hotel association hotelleriesuisse has no plans to set up such a database.

Munich. The hotel markets in Asia are exciting for both investors and operators alike. New locations in Russia, on the other hand, are proving to be somewhat tougher. Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as ailing North America, show smallest RevPar growth. An overview of the global market and single markets from this year's real estate fair Expo Real in Munich.

Singapore. One of Asia's most powerful real estate companies, CapitaLand and its wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited, sold 28 of its serviced residence properties by sale and lease-back. Most of them are managed under the Citadines brand.