News & Stories

Frankfurt/Munich. The contracts were already signed in January, and on 1 March, the flag of the budget hotel group B&B Germany was already flying at the four Letomotel in operation.

London. Data drive the world and the hospitality industry. Without surprise, there is a Global Hotel Data Conference already established in 2009 in the United States. The original HDC is held each August in Nashville. Covid-19 makes it embracing the world now as a virtual event, hosted by STR and Hotel News Now. Save the date for 25 March, to learn from this data conference covering all time zones. HospitalityInside is a media partner.

The event will be held with 12 straight hours of live, data-driven presentations and panels, kicking off in the Asia Pacific region and then “following the sun” with stops in the Middle East, Europe and Central/South America before closing in North America. Attendees also will be able to access a library of pre-recorded content for on-demand viewing.

STR, known as the world-leading hotel performance database is underpinning the gathering of the hotel industry data community. The conference content includes, among others:

• A review of the unprecedented number of temporary closures and their impact on hotel performance
• A look at pricing psychology during a downturn, and how the behaviour of certain properties can affect performance of their peers
• A deep dive on break-even, which will help attendees understand what to look for when determining whether to close or re-open their hotels during the downturn
• An exploration of shifts in booking windows, which leverages STR's growing, forward-looking data set

Brand executives, owners, developers, operators, revenue management specialists, pricing analysts and destination marketers characterize the audience. Among the speakers 2021 are Amanda Hite, President and her executive team; DillipRajakarie, Group CEO Minor International, Peng Sum Choe, CEO Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Carol Dodds, SVP Commercial Interstate Hotels, Amanda Elder, CCO Kempinski Hotels, Inaki Gonzales Arnejo, CEO DOT Hotels and Liam Brown, Group President, United States and Canada Marriott International. More speaker will be added closer to the event. – The fee is 250 USD.

Check it out! www.hoteldataconference.com / Twitter @HotelDataConf / Questions? hdc@str.com

Munich. Do you still have small crochet tablecloths and doilies, porcelain dogs and a letter case in your basement? Then please give them to us! In doing so, you do all people a favour who love to live in a mixture of styles from the 1970s, in an ambience of bad taste. The first hotel of this kind – Tante Alma – opens on Monday in Cologne; it is primarily conceived for students in distress – and for others that are not.

Frankfurt. Deutsche Hospitality will not expand and go public as fast as recently reported by a business journal. Here, CEO Marcus Bernhardt specifies the course of action, the time horizon and the 300 million euros of expansion mass. And in other respects, he is quite clear: From an industry association, he has already been expecting more prior to the pandemic, and in his opinion many large institutional investors are simply too arrogant when it comes to the discussion of leases. He will change a few things.

Milan. The new hotel concept by the Italian Benetton brothers has a little bit of everything: The Student Hotel, Zoku, Mama Shelter, Jo & Joe and 25hours. Alessandro and Mauro combine short and extended stays under one roof and communal areas become a creative space to be furnished individually.

Berlin. The lockdown has been extended again, the aid is still not arriving, the ministers are promising something new again. Everyone is frustrated. Hoteliers and restaurateurs are protesting for a perspective, knowing full well that an opening around Easter could drive the virus up again. But they have had enough. A summary of the emotions and facts.

Augsburg. In view of the halving of arrivals in Bavaria in 2020, Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger spoke on Wednesday of a tourism industry that is "only limping on one leg". He called for a perspective for the industry.

Munich. At this precise location, in the centre of Munich, Pfanni once produced its world-famous dumplings; now, smart gastronomic businesses and creative hotels are providing jobs and new life in the new Werksviertel. Re-thinking urbanity - that's what Gambino Hotels also wanted to do when it took part in the alternative concept of the Pfanni heir. The Gambino Spirit draws attention to new, sustainable paths in the hotel industry.

Hong Kong. When Covid-19 broke out in China, Stefan Leser wasn’t there but on business in Europe. Since then, he's already travelled twice around the world, totally infection-free. The CEO of Hong Kong's Langham Hospitality Group is working hard to grow the portfolio of 24 luxury and first-class hotels - most quickly and preferably in Europe.

Berlin. Two German economists calculate that a nationwide testing strategy is significantly cheaper than a continued lockdown. Their paper is freely available on the internet. If the current strategy is continued, they warn of another lockdown after Easter.