News & Stories
Geneva. "Kempinski Hotels today announces the appointment of Bernold Schroeder as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer ad interim with immediate effect. The news follows the decision of Kempinski's Board of Directors to part ways with the previous Chief Executive Officer, Martin R. Smura." This is the official press release from the luxury hotel group this morning. However, Smura had to leave the office already on Friday, according to information from hospitalityInside.
Cologne/Geneva. With a sale-and-lease-back deal, Honestis AG Cologne and another owner want to sell their hotel pearls in Wiesbaden, Bremen and Baden-Baden for around 160 million euros to an Egyptian investor, lease them back and then have them managed by Kempinski Hotels. And Kempinski CEO Martin Smura is prepared to waive fees. Martin Smura is under pressure: The expansion with the investment and development partner 12.18, announced with much fanfare in 2019, will now not take place. The deal will be rescinded.
Paris. Covid-19 has reduced luxury down to its roots: spoiling guests. In other words, those fulfilling expectations and experiences will prevail. The locomotives for this are food & beverage as well as spas and passionate service. At the moment, Marc Dardenne, COO Luxury Brands Europe of Accor, experiences ups and downs like all of us do. And he realises how important the real relationship to guests is. He has encouraged his general managers to act like entrepreneurs.
Munich. The 84 Leonardo Hotels in Central Europe entered 2020 with a healthy cash buffer. By mid-September, business expectations had been dampened significantly, and now a loan has been placed on hold as a precautionary measure in case the market recovery does not take hold until late 2021. Yoram Biton, CEO of Leonardo Hotels Central Europe, is disillusioned, but still finds the hotel group to be doing well.
Paris. Covid-19 has not changed the assessment of market potential for Serviced Apartments, especially in Central Europe. Karim Malak, for the past nine years CEO of Aparthotels Adagio - a joint venture between Center Parcs and Accor - is also feeling the impact at the moment, but he also expects to be quickly able to smooth out the dip. One of the factors contributing to this is the recently presented design concept intended to remove the last glimmer of sober functionality from the rooms. A tour d'horizon with Adagio, which wants to double its market presence by 2025.
Wiesbaden. Politicians without strategy are driving the hospitality industry deeper and deeper into despair. Only two keywords: continuing contact and tourist travel restrictions, protracted November aid. From the hotel industry the first ones have set off in the direction of the Federal Constitutional Court. Small glimmers of hope are given by the first three vaccines and the first approval for vaccination, as well as activities by airlines to make flying faster and safer in the foreseeable future.
Wiesbaden. Open or close them? The question of how the Christmas and winter business will go on is written in the stars for many European hotel companies. In Germany, the ongoing second lockdown was just extended from late November to at least December 20. Restaurants remain closed, but how many hotels will stay opened, and how do you plan at all? A hospitalityInside flash survey among major hotel groups and consortia revealed disagreement. Some will not open up again before April.
Paris. Accor changes and expands its structures once again: CEO Sébastien Bazin gives 12 lifestyle babies and teenagers a permanent home - in London, under the name Ennismore. Their parents are Sharan Pasricha and Gaurav Bhushan.
Hong Kong. The elixir of life for Mandarin Oriental through corona is flexibility and creativity, with a touch of courage added into the mix. The most effective ingredient in the recipe for the fight against Covid-19 was and is Food & Beverage. Hunger is local, and the appetite for more is even larger. Chief Operating Officer Christoph Mares reports how the Hong Kong luxury hotel group has so far managed to save itself from the pandemic with its hotels in the virus hotspots. Covid-19 is like "a marathon... and we've already put 20 kilometres behind us!"
Washington. While President Trump is still refusing to accept the outcome of the recent presidential election, hospitality leaders in the United States have not wasted time congratulating the new President-elect Joe Biden. From Marriott, Hilton and Accor to Hyatt, Best Western, AHV Associates and the US Travel Association, the industry calls for unity, a proper Covid-19 plan, economy stimulation, immediate financial relief for small businesses and protection for the millions of hospitality employees who have lost or are about to lose their jobs.