News & Stories

Bangkok. A surge in expansion regarding Six Senses resorts and spas: the luxury hotel group is aiming at managing at least six further resorts and 40 spas worldwide - even in cooperation with other hotel chains.

Munich. New brains from the House of Accor occupy former Dorint positions, the tight cost management remains, it all boils down to selective brand alignment. Two years after the merging of the french bed provider with Germany's biggest hotel chain, there is a new wind blowing in the relationship between Accor and Dorint. Accor is also continuing to develop its own profile in the German market.

Frankfurt/M. While restructuring their sales team, Steigenberger worked together with the company Flow in Celle, Germany. It used a training system "Jobfidence" which was developed in 1964. The data of 10.000 specialists and executive staff are stored in the "Jobfidence" system to provide a standard by which others can be measured. Steigenberger staff was compared with the best 1000. Interviews were subsequently held with each individual sales member to determine their relative strengths and weaknesses. They were given a list of suggestions about professional training measures especially targeted to themselves.

Frankfurt/M. Since the proposed sale to the Arabella-Sheraton hotel group failed around two years ago, the Steigenberger hotel group is now concentrating on a strategic reorientation of itself. Its latest move: the setting up of a "Global Sales Force", including an additional 30 sales staff.

Rome. ".... and it pays off." One year after launching "SPG.TV," the new television channel for Starwood Europe’s hotel guests, its innovators are proud of its economic success. Colourful pictures and emotive dialogue create improved customer relationship and attract new promotion partners.

Madrid. The Spanish hotel group NH Hoteles, which took over the German business hotels of the Astron Group in 2002, continues to surprise the industry over and over again. Now it is even rumoured that there will be a takeover. However, NH still believes in its own strength and the recovery of the German market. At the opening of NH's first "nhube" restaurant in Frankfurt, Gabriele Burgio, Chairman and President of NH Hoteles S. A. answered a few questions - keeping them short and concise.

Munich. Roughly two months after their announcement, Schoerghuber Unternehmensgruppe located in Munich and ITT Sheraton Corporation signed an agreement about founding a joint-venture company last Friday. Now the monopolies and mergers commission has to approve the deal by the end of February. According to this agreement, the four Sheraton and 12 of the 14 Arabella Hotels in Germany, Switzerland and on the Balearic/Canary Islands will bear the common name of "ArabellaSheraton". This marks the first "co-branding" of two chains on the German hotel market. Looking back on the beginning of the ArabellaSheraton brand in 1998.

Augsburg. Eight years ago, Maria Puetz Willems interviewed Simon Sherwood, the fairly young President of the Orient Express Hotels at that time. The most important statements of the interview are shown in the following.

Munich. Spain's second largest hotel chain, NH Hotels based in Madrid, have after two years' intense negotiation taken over the Aston Hotel Group in Munich. The Spanish hotel group thus extends its portfolio of 237 hotels in 18 countries by 46 German hotels and a further seven hotels with a total of 937 rooms in Austria and Switzerland. NH have also assumed ten Astron projects; as concerning the twelve projects still in the pipeline, negotiations continue.