News & Stories

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.

Wiesbaden. In many locations, a hotel with 100 to 300 rooms is considered ideal as it can be easily managed and filled with guests. However, in history and up till now, substantially larger hotels with 1,000 rooms or more are being continually built and posing greater challenges for their operators accordingly. Today, even the budget hotel industry in Europe ventures to operate mega hotels. However, this leads to scepticism. Where are the challenges of these "sleeping machines"?

Zurich. Shortly before the Annual General Meeting on 11 May 2010, Samih Sawiris's Orascom Development Holding AG announced a planned share capital increase of almost 10 percent on the Swiss Stock Exchange. The reasons for the move are unclear. Apartment sales have already begun for the mega resort in Andermatt.

Baar. Despite the difficult economic situation, Hapimag, the leader in the European market for part-time rights of residence, achieved a positive result last year, showing itself to be stable and crisis-resistant. The operating income of Hapimag increased by 3.7% to EUR 171.6 million.

Berlin. This year’s International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin prior to ITB saw a misnamed plenary ‘developers debate’ in which hotel operators gave their take on how their brands are going to support developers get deals done. In order to meet investors’ expectations, the operators have a high propensity to keep the development pipeline going. Banks are still the bottleneck: Loans in default were being rolled over rather than called in. The status quo in hotel development.