News & Stories

Munich. The Hotel Real Estate Working Committee of the German Association of Independent Real Estate and Housing Companies is set to convene at the Commercial Real Estate Trade Fair, Expo Real in Munich. The agenda includes possible changes from the IFRS.

Paris. This week, Accor signed a memorandum of understanding for a major 367 million € real estate transaction in Europe involving the sale of 48 hotels. Representing a total of 6,300 rooms, the hotels operate under the Novotel, Suite Novotel, Ibis and Etap Hotel brands. Yesterday, Accor also published it half-year revenues 2010: Recovery is confirmed.

Stuttgart. Definitions and foundations of the various shared ownership real estate models have been described several times in the past. Practical experience shows that hotel and real estate specialists understand the basic “vacation ownership” concepts, such as timesharing, fractionals and private residence clubs, etc.. Yet, even though almost every international hotel group is active in this area, the operational and calculation approaches remain uncharted territory for most specialists. Joachim Mezger, Regional Director Central and Eastern Europe of Interval International, Stuttgart describes the interesting context. Part 1 of his guest article today extensively talks about the fundamentals of business administration.

Munich. On August 31, the application deadline ends for the “Hotel Property Award" and the "Hotel Innovation Award" of the year 2010. The awards will be presented at the “hotelforum" on October 6 in Munich. This time, the focus is on "sustainability and ecology".

Berlin. "The German Property Federation will increasingly represent the interests of investors and owners of hotel real estate as well in future", announces ZIA President Dr. Andreas Mattner. A new platform has been founded.

Baden-Baden. For the public, the Buehlerhoehe in Baden-Baden has been sold surprisingly fast; however, there has been a potential buyer for a longer time in the background. "Price and point of time were right," says the representative of the current owner, the family of the SAP founder Dietmar Hopp. Soon, the headline-making prestige property will belong to a circle of patrons.

McLean/Munich. Five years ago, the American senior citizens residential chain Sunrise wanted to build 40 to 50 luxury residential homes in Germany; in summer of last year, the company announced it would withdraw from Germany. Now, the existing Sunrise homes have been sold to a fund and passed on to a well-known operator. The move was made public yesterday.

Berlin. The optimism at this year’s International Hotel Investment Forum in March in Berlin was heard in the talk of vast expansion plans by the big hotel groups. Marriott are, for example, to double their European guestroom portfolio by 2015 and Starwood will add 50 hotels in EAME by 2012. Shiny, bright new hotels will, of course, steal much of the limelight. However the word “conversion” is in vogue. Conversion of existing hotels from one brand to another, from one category to another, up or down, and of non-hotel buildings into hotels.

Zurich. Despite reports to the contrary, it is clear that the former Atlantis Hotel in Zurich will not be reopening as a hotel. The Sheraton brand used to hang resplendent on the roof, but then it became a place for asylum seekers.

Wiesbaden. Real estate lives from its concept and its operator. And it's for this reason that hotels must increasingly revise and reinvent. All current hotel repositioning projects have one thing in common: The new structures are aimed at savings and at shoring up the business against the current and future financial crises without detracting from guest comfort. "Conversions" are currently en mode. Because the crisis has put a block in the pipeline or has even cut it off completely, hotels are looking to expand through restructuring and rebranding - with conversions. This often demands the courage to make dramatic changes to processes whilst at the same time making deep cost cuts. Those venturing this step already – such as pentahotels, for instance - have seen their profits rise.