News & Stories

New York. Karmenu Vella, Chairman Corinthia Hotels International and Frank Orenstein, Chairman of the Hospitality Investors Group LLC, made a joint announcement yesterday about forming a world-wide strategic alliance to aggressively assist CHI in expanding its brand.

Berlin. Before German reunification, the Travel Charme Hotels were among the pearls of the "Reisebuero der DDR". Back then, they had the name "Travel Hotels" and were regarded as being special, among other things, thanks to their excellent locations. Today, the group is Germany's only pure resort hotel company and is still something special. With a new high-quality concept, the group generates top results unnoticed.

Singapore/Zurich. "The mood is very good on both sides." Meinhard Huck, managing director of Swissôtel Hotels and Resorts, is back from Singapore. The reason for his trip was the first talks at the parent company after Raffles announced the sale of its hotel business to U.S. investment fund Colony Capital last week.

White Plains/Paris/London. According to two consulting firms, Starwood Capital has acquired a 65% stake in Groupe Taittinger and its subsidiary Societé du Louvre. It has also associated itself with Lehman Brothers for the acquisition of the Le Méridien Group.

Eschborn. Seven hotels that until today were Queen Hotels will now join the hotel brand Best Western Deutschland. Of a total of 24 Queens Hotels in the country, 16 trade under the name of Holiday Inn, seven under the name of Best Western Queens Hotels with just one house in Hanover remaining a Queens Hotel - at least for the moment. Further brand changes are not excluded.

Sold: The famous Raffles Singapore

Singapore. The US investment fund Colony Capital, LLC, announced this week that it has entered into an agreement to purchase all of the hotel interests of Raffles Holdings Limited, comprised of 15 Raffles Hotels & Resorts and 26 Swissotel Hotels & Resorts in 35 destinations, for approximately one billion Dollars. With the Raffles purchase, Colony Capital is presented with the opportunity of solving a long standing problem - namely, the search for a management company for its own real estate interests.

Singapore. Raffles Holdings is owned by the largest listed property companies in Asia, CapitaLand Limited. The background: 

Southlake/London. Sabre Holdings Corporation announced two days ago that the acquisition of lastminute.com plc by Travelocity Europe Limited has been completed.

Rust. Travel managers complain that hotels are still offering their services in an unprofessional manner and they expect precise answers to their questions, not just sweet talk. Given the enormous amount of uncoordinated sales visits and their own stringent guidelines, more and more companies are losing patience. An HSMA workshop has predicted that rigid sales procedures could result in a serious loss in turnover.

Meerbusch/Düsseldorf. The study is two years old, but its explosive force has lost none of its strength. Whilst the sales training and development consultancy Mercuri International conducts the "Pisa Study of Sales' Performance" for a second time, the rest of the hotel industry remains largely oblivious to its existence. hospitalityInside would therefore like - in connection with the discussions from the HSMA workshop on the changing demands placed on suppliers - to reiterate a number of core statements.