News & Stories
Brussels. On 14 March, Rezidor SAS Hospitality, a subsidiary of the SAS Group, announced that it had concluded a partnership agreement with the US enterprise Carlson Hotels Worldwide. This puts an end to the franchise relationship between the two companies.
Hongkong/New York. Pageboys, chamber maids, chefs and service staff posed in front of her camera lens and emerged as the true stars. The star American photographer Annie Leibovitz stage-managed striking calendar photographs in black and white. But this was only the beginning.
London . Hilton International is concentrating increasingly on the Scandic brand with regard to its European expansion strategy. Its main target area is Southern Europe.
Dublin/San Mateo. Web Reservations International based in Dublin/Ireland aquired the business and assets of Californian WorldRes, the online hotel reservation network last week. WorldRes will operate as a new division of WRI and continue to use its brand.
London/Frankfurt . One and a half years ago the future of the former french hotel group Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts was insecure. Main-creditor Lehman Brothers took over the debts of the company, joined by Starwood Hotels & Resorts which also took over 200 Million Dollar debts of Le Méridien. Meanwhile Le Méridien continues its aggressive worldwide expansion. The difficulties in defining the value of the chain grow. Behind the curtains new problems arise.
In January 2005 Rob Hornmann took up his post as Managing Director of Accor Dorint SMARD, in charge of more than 50 000 Accor and Dorint hotel rooms. The company was founded in 2003 to merge the distribution and marketing structures of Accor Hotellerie Germany GmbH and Dorint AG.
Rob Hornmann
Rob Hornman had been running the sales department as Senior Vice President since July 2004. After seven years in charge of distribution and marketing for Accor Asia he moved to the Accor headquarters in Paris. There he was responsible for International Sales. Joost Serrarens and Toni Leiner will support him now in distribution.
Steffen Weidemann, former Dorint executive board member, resigned as Managing Director of SMARD at the end of 2004. Following that he has been a consultant to Accor. Weidemann had successfully implemented the branding strategy of Accor and Dorint. Marketing and distribution for the brands Dorint Sofitel, Dorint Novotel, Novotel, Dorint Resorts & Spa, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, Etap and Formule 1 have merged.
In the wake of the turbulences at Dorint, Dr Michael Theim has learned to keep his head above water. His executive board membership has recently been extended for a further three years. However, Theim’s partner in the board, Jochen Dobel from Accor, will be replaced by Daniel Vrancx. He comes from Accor as well and has been a supervisory board member of Dorint AG.