News & Stories
White Plains. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has acquired the Le Méridien brand and the related management and franchise business for the portfolio of 130 hotels and resorts globally for approximately 225 million USD, roughly equal to the amount of Starwood's current investment, including accrued interest, in the debt of Le Méridien.
Munich. German Ibis Hotels are giving away 10,000 rooms for just one Euro as a little "thank you" to their guests. This "Christmas present" will be available to book online as from this coming Sunday.
Brussels. Rezidor's attention is currently focussed on creating a distinctive image of its hotels. How can a guest distinguish one hotel from the portfolio of the Rezidor group from another? By brands. There are currently four: Regent, Radisson SAS, Park Inn and Country Inn. In future there will be five as the group has now announced: With "Missoni Hotels" CEO Kurt Ritter hopes to create a lifestyle brand which he originally announced with Cerruti two years ago.
Brussels. Cerruti is dead, long live Missoni. Two days ago, Rezidor SAS Hospitality coined a new lifestyle und wellbeing brand called "Missoni Hotels". This way, it brings to an end its unhappy chapter around the originally planned Cerruti hotels – while continuing to expand rapidly. Over the next five years up to 30 Missoni hotels are expected to open. Overall, the plan is to expand from the current 263 hotels to around 700 hotels worldwide. At the fringes of the opening of the Radisson SAS Media Harbour Hotel in Düsseldorf, Vice President and Chief Development Officer Martin Rinck described the focus and spreading of risk in this dynamic, but not undisputed expansion.
Munich. On the website of an online travel agency, the renowned travel law expert Ronald Schmid now comments on important laws and judgments concerning holidays. But Schmid's own homepage is also a goldmine for hoteliers.
New York. The Institutional Investor's 2005 survey of the "world's best hotels" is published. The St. Regis hotel in New York has been named the overall top-ranked hotel in, marking the first time that a New York hotel has claimed the honor in the survey's 25-year history.
Lucerne. Since October, the Swiss Alpine Classic Hotels are operating under a new name, a name that immediately attracted new members in France, in Mallorca and in Germany. The new selection will market itself particularly on the German market in 2006.
Boston. Advocacy will directly influence more than 30 billion Dollar in travel and hospitality sales in the U.S. this year alone, reports a market research firm from Boston.
Offenbach/Munich. More than a week after the search in the Novotel Frankfurt-Offenbach ordered by the district attorney, Accor's head office in Munich still has not been allowed to examine the files. This is what Marc Schnerr, Accor's spokesman said upon request.