News & Stories

Chevy Chase. For the first time in their history, the luxury hotel chain The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company will offer a frequent guest stay program – "The Ritz-Carlton Rewards". Originally, the program was said to start next year but now it was brought forward to September.

Munich. Almost completely unnoticed, an enormous Golden Tulip has appeared on a street corner in the Euro Industrial Park Munich. 378 new rooms have been constructed here, in prime business park location between Munich City and Airport Motorway. Towards the end of the year, the name Golden Tulip will, however, disappear and the new brand name "The Rilano" will take pride of place on the roof. The change marks the start of a further new hotel operating company in Germany. Behind Rilano Hotels & Resorts, with two sub-brands, is private investor and former ArabellaStarwood Manager and Hotel Consultant, Holger Behrens.

Kelkheim. According to the Kids Consumer Analysis 2009, 6 to 13-year-olds in Germany alone receive almost 2,5 billion Euro in allowance payments each year. And an additional 3.6 billion Euro sits in their savings accounts. Children, it seems, are not only consumers, but they are also a decisive influence on their parent's spending decisions. The "Angry Girls" have the highest spending power, but "Papa's Razzi" could also be interesting for hoteliers. Experts classify children in ten different groups. A study provides insight into the opportunities presented to the hotel industry by so-called "future kids".

Berlin. The range of Germany's brand hotels has become both more versatile and more international. This is the result of the recently published annual "Kompendium der Markenhotellerie" providing information on 152 companies that are active in this sector.

Bad Ragaz. The robbery in the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz on August 23 resulted in the hotel tightening its security measures. It is the first hotel in Switzerland to introduce an automatic teller.

Munich. As Wolfgang Neumann, CEO of ArabellaStarwood Hotels, returned to the office after his 3-week holiday on Monday morning, Dr Klaus N. Naeve, Board Chairman of the Schoerghuber Company Group in Munich, asked him to come into his office. What Naeve was about to say came completely out of the blue for Neumann. As of immediately, Neumann was relieved of his duties as CEO and was told that the management company for Schoerghuber's hotels would be dissolved. As we reported in "Breaking News" on Wednesday afternoon, the group only intends to invest in real estate and will no longer operate hotels. Management responsibility for all existing ArabellaStarwood Hotels will be transferred to the joint venture partner Starwood Hotels & Resorts. "It's a purely financial decision," Dr Naeve admitted in an interview with hospitalityInside.com. Wolfgang Neumann said: "I was faced with a decision that had already been taken, there was no prior discussion." The decision will be implemented by the end of the year: ArabellaStarwood Hotels will be dissolved and the majority of the 45 staff at headquarters will lose their jobs. Germany will also lose a large hotel company. The background to this radical act.

Augsburg. The news that ArabellaStarwood Hotels will be dissolved hit the industry like a bomb on Wednesday. Nobody would ever have expected the renowned Schoerghuber Group, one of the financially strongest companies of Germany, to give up its hotel business. Concentrating on investing in hotel real estate, however, reflects a current trend: Schoerghuber is comparable to Blackstone, and Starwood to Hilton. Controllers decide on the “people’s business” today. But is this good or bad? Three hospitalityInside experts say what they think about this.

Munich. ArabellaStarwood Hotels & Resort will cease to exist. The management company for hotel group of the Munich-based Schoerghuber Company Group will be dissolved. CEO Wolfgang Neumann and Managing Director Dr. Christoph Scherk will leave the company. This has just been announced by the Schoerghuber Company Group.

Paris The period for exclusive sales negotiations for the B&B Hotels between the two investment businesses Eurazeo, France, and the Carlyle Group, USA, have been prolonged to October 12 at the latest. B&B remains confident.

Paris Even before the end of this week, a new investor is supposed to be found for B&B. The current main investor Eurazeo has started decisive and exclusive negotiations with a partner.