News & Stories

Bologna. 2019 seems to becoming a record year for the Italian hospitality real estate market. Most recent published data draw a brilliant scenario for the country's hotel assets which have become the first segment investors are currently looking for.

Vienna. "The development of hotel real estate is worthwhile even in these challenging times – if you know your business". Martin Löcker, Chief Operating Officer of the Vienna-based UBM Development AG, doesn't want to complain, despite rising costs and prices. At UBM, the pipeline is full and the asset class Hotel continues to dominate business. The aim: UBM wants to shore up its position even further as Europe's number 1 hotel developer. The drivers of its success are that little bit more quality, a special touch and larger hotels. An update with Martin Löcker.

Hamburg. The market volume of investment-relevant hotels in Germany reached a new record of 57.5 billion euros in 2018. This represents an increase of around 9.5% over 2017. Particularly upscale-hotels have won.

Cologne. Co-working spaces or flexible workspaces have also come into the focus of the hotel industry. Despite the media hype, the segment in Germany is still small – and above all, opaque. Investors are interested all the same. Art-Invest from Cologne has now analysed the market.

Berlin. The demands of operators and investors concerning the digital equipment of hotels are constantly growing. At the same time, the construction costs are increasing on the one side and the wishes of guests on the other side. Digitalised buildings are designed to help save costs. But this will still take more time, according to Reiner Nittka, Chairman of GBI AG, Berlin. Very often, project developers stand between all parties and demands. Locking systems and Wi-Fi routers are sufficient to bring all of them to their limits. The head of Germany's largest project developer about his everyday life.

London/Atlanta. Hotel values across Europe registered another strong year in 2018 despite six of the 33 analyzed markets showed a decrease. The influence of geopolitical uncertainty and instability on the industry seems to shrink. In addition, many other factors also influence the CapEx.

Munich. In the hotel industry, digitalisation has mainly concentrated on the booking processes up until now. But this is only one part of the "customer journey" and it focuses on the customer. However, the hotel operator wants to know more about the following: How will digital processes help to operate the business, to reduce costs and to increase efficiency? This way, operations also concern the property. But where is the building in this whole discussion? It's missing. This is a huge mistake, as the participants of the first HITT Think Tank realised, which took place in Berlin last June. In October at Expo Real in Munich, experts commented again on this topic, more critically and demanding this time. For hospitalityInside.com, this subject is the starting point for the topics of digitalisation in the next months.

Milan. Most destinations in Italy record positive figures for 2018, nevertheless national hotel performances haven't returned yet to 2000 levels. Italian hotel assets are valued at almost 100 billion euros, with properties in Venice being the most expensive and the ones in Rome the least attractive.

San Francisco. While many hoteliers, in their wildest dreams, imagine a life without Airbnb, the reality is quite different: The rental platform is here to stay and is even coming up with plans to enter a new business segment. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia spread the word last week that Airbnb was going to build the sharing homes of the future.

Portsmouth. In a recent report, Europe's total construction pipeline, which is in a three-year surge, stands at 1,449 projects/228,588 rooms. Four hotel chains contribute 50% to the total hotel construction pipeline which increased 18% by projects.