News & Stories
Berlin. The Grand Hotel Esplanade in Berlin was sold to a subsidiary of the Blackstone group on April 11. The new operator will be Event Management GmbH in Cologne.
Baar. Swiss-based Hapimag is one of the leading vacation membership providers in Europe. For many decades, the company founded in 1963 had recorded impressive growth. Around the end of the nineties, sales revenues declined significantly. Two years ago, there was an internal affair, but now business is growing again – thanks to new ideas such as the categorisation of resorts into worlds of experience or new products that only grant so-called "rights of residence" for a maximum of ten years.
Berlin. The Bundesanstalt fuer Immobilienaufgaben sold the Cumberland house at Kurfuerstendamm in Berlin, which has been vacant for many years. Both buyer and purchase price are being kept secret.
Berlin. One of the innovations of this year's International Tourism Exchange in Berlin was the Immovest Congress 2006. For the first time, the real estate and tourism/holiday industries met. One of the essential points was that the market for holiday real estate remains a growth market. About 1.5 million Germans own a domicile abroad. Hotels are also a factor in this market. However, they need to develop concepts for multiple uses.
Dubai. Nakheel, property developer of real estate to the value of more than 30 billion US Dollars in Dubai as well as of the artificial islands The Palm and The World announced expansion plans and the foundation of Nakheel Hotel & Resorts. The company wishes to expand in the Middle East, in Africa, Asia, Russian and in commonwealth countries.
Augsburg. Banks do not entrust only insolvent hotels to an interim manager. These take over responsibility for a certain time period, but sometimes even longer. However, not every hotel that is back operating in the black is resold. Interim management has its own rules; it is a business in which partners prefer staying in the background.
Munich. Interim management is now institutionalised in the industry. There are even specialised agencies for "temporary managers". More and more unemployed executives are applying for such jobs. The reorganisation of a company is the most common cause for their assignment. But: rogue elements are lurking everywhere.
Andermatt. The Egyptian tourism entrepreneur and immensely rich global player Samih Sawiris is toying with the idea of building a big resort in the Swiss mountain village of Andermatt in the northern Gotthard area. Last weekend, the 48 year-old entrepreneur personally informed the villagers about his ideas. Insiders know Sawiris as a local partner of Moevenpick Hotels in Egypt. It was only in October that the entrepreneur presented his mega resorts at the Expo Real property fair in Munich.
Heiligendamm. The ministers of the G8 countries will arrive in 2007. But contrary to expectations, they probably won't be checking into the historic beach villas of the Grand Hotel Kempinski in Seebad Heiligendamm in North Germany. The Fundus group that owns the luxury complex have now made official that preparations have not been running according to plan.