News & Stories

Munich. Asian chains keep a lookout after their own hotels and consortium possibilities in Europe while on the other hand, Europeans prefer being active in Asia as operators or franchisors. Those who would like to be involved in moving the continents together successfully should know the rules of the game. The talk on the subject "Asian Chains: How does business pay off in Europe?" at the 10th "Hospitality Industry Dialogue" during the Expo Real 2011 made it clear where the differences and mutual expectations lie with a few figures.

Bad Salzuflen/Cologne. At the end of September, the Maritim Hotel Company from Bad Salzuflen took over HMS International Hotels with which a master franchise contract for the development of foreign hotels had existed since 2004.

Vienna. One week ago, the moment had arrived. With an evening celebration at Hellbrunn Palace near Vienna, 33 “minor” hoteliers celebrated the birth of their new group called “Private City Hotels”. They want to grow internationally as well.

Paris/Munich. The restructuring of the Accor economy brand, ibis, has profound reasons: The European market leader has already lost too much in this segment in its second most important market, Germany, to Motel One and B&B Hotels. "We must find our way back to real market leadership in Germany," Grégoire Champetier admitted in a conversation with hospitalityInside.com at Expo Real in Munich. A sign for this is also the fact that Accor has appointed its German Chief, Peter Verhoeven, as Head of Europe for the new mega brand, Ibis, as well as for its sub-brands. The restructuring from a marketing perspective.

Frankfurt. The new Jumeirah Frankfurt joins the city’s 5-star hotel phalanx. But does it know that it has entered a fiercely fought-over market? Expectations of the Arabian chain of superlatives of its first hotel in Continental Europe are high in all aspects. This makes the plain result all the more surprising. In a hidden corner, behind the former main police station, which is teeming with tourists and smelling of fried sausages, the hotel highrise provides 25 floors of peace and discretion. However, leisure space remains luxury. The public rooms have been kept to a minimum size. The only oasis: the guest rooms themselves, which are admittedly highly attractive. General Manager Dagmar Woodward aims to lead the city’s RevPar ranking in future.

Berlin. How far have hotel brands penetrated the German market? According to the German Hotel Association , the brand hotel industry presently accounts for around 10.3% of hotels, 36.3% of rooms and over 50% of total revenues generated by the hotel industry in Germany. However, specialist media and experts claim that Germany reveals by far fewer brand hotels than Europe as a whole and much fewer than the US. As an analysis of 31 German hotel markets shows, the actual state of affairs is much more complicated than that though.

London. Last week, the Blackstone Group acquired British City Inn Ltd. and its eight-unit Mint Hotel chain for a reported 600 million Pounds Sterling.

Wiesbaden. The B&B budget chain has a luxury problem: It has money, but too few locations. Since the takeover by Carlyle Group exactly one year ago, the goal has been to open a new 2-star hotel every month at best – at least in Germany. "The market can still sustain quite a number of budget hotels and B&B hotels," says Mark Thompson, Managing Director in Germany, who is heavily drumming up with respect to hotel locations in the forefront of Expo Real Munich. In contrast to other budget providers, B&B will neither build any XXL-sized hotels nor water down the product. An update on B&B.

Paris. Tuesday`s announcement from Accor Management caused share prices to fall on the Paris Stock Exchange. Investors appear to be sceptical of the new strategy to be implemented by Europe`s largest hotel chain. At its core is the bundling of economy brands: allseasons and Etap are to be swallowed up by ibis as the main brand from 2012 and renamed as "ibis styles" and "ibis budget". ibis is to remain ibis. At the same time, CEO Denis Hennequin is changing the strategy for the not-so-profitable Motel 6 in the US. He also announced a new investment plan and has categorised markets under new priority schemes.

Munich. Schoerghuber Unternehmensgruppe has changed the legal form of the Arabella companies documenting the definite detachment of its hotel area.