News & Stories
Berlin. "There are still rooms to be had for the football final in Berlin." Thomas Edelkamp reassures fans. The Managing Director of FIFA World Cup Accommodation Services in Frankfurt announced figures about sold beds for the football world cup in June/July at the International Tourism Fair in Berlin.
Bangkok. Dusit Thani's reputation as one of the main pillars of Thai hospitality is legendary. All the same, reputation is not enough to save the 517 room hotel from renovation pressures. Competition is strong, and the Tsunami has forced concentration on to business travellers. For one and a half years German born Reinhard J. Heermann has managed the hotel. Silvia Pfenniger visits.
Frankfurt/M. In 2005, Worldhotels generated room revenues of altogether 248 million US dollars. The number of sold rooms amounted to 1.4 million. 79 new hotels joined the group. Adjusted by these, the marketing and reservation association still achieved a two-digit growth in room revenues.
Frankfurt/M. The new strategy of Best Western Hotels Germany includes more individual service and the move away from pure chain thinking. The group also wants to push on expansion plans. Growth rates as high as last year are, however, not expected.
Palma de Mallorca. The spacious terrace is the soul of the Castillo Hotel Son Vida in Palma de Mallorca, the view over Palma bay simply breathtaking. Since 1961 the stately hotels has crowned the landscape, Spanish kings, Maria Callas, Grazia Patricia and Onassis have all stayed here. Since 1995 the hotel has been in the hands of the Munich based Schoerghuber group. Now, after a whole year of renovation works, the hotel reopened. As a Leading Hotel with butler service and Rolls Royce waiting outside, it's to become the top resort of ArabellaSheraton on Mallorca. In fact it's said to be higher positioned than the Mardavall Hotel & Spa and certainly higher than the newly planned fourth resort "Son Muntaner".
Palma de Mallorca. The newly opened Castillo Hotel Son Vida on the Spanish island of Mallorca is in future to be marketed primarily through The Leading Hotels of the World and not through the reservation system of the company's joint venture partner Starwood. What at first sight may seem of little significance, is part of the new brand and luxury strategy within the ArabellaSheraton hotel group. The hotels are to be repositioned - and not only in Mallorca. The Schoerghuber subsidiary has also signalled further expansion plans. To mark his first "100 days" with the company, Carsten Rath, Management Chairman of Arabella Hotel Holding International and of the Advisory Board of ArabellaSheraton Hotel Management Ltd. explained the first steps of his new strategy under the motto "People, Passion, Performance".
New York. Headlines and confusing lines published by the street press were once again a crowning success for bad journalism: "Hilton and Ritz Carlton now belong to the finance investor Blackstone" titled the German daily "Die Welt" last Wednesday following a news by Bloomberg. The true course of events behind the misleading headline: Blackstone buys the American hotel company Meristar Hospitality which owns real estate of the known hotel groups.
