News & Stories

Luxemburg/Paris. The Suitehotel brand, in existence since 1998, will now be integrated into the Novotel family under the name "Suite Novotel". The brand presented itself officially on 1 July 2010 with the opening of the Suite Novotel in Luxemburg.

Frankfurt. He has worked "unofficially" for Steigenberger for 4 weeks already. Yesterday, on 1 July, his first official working day, the new Steigenberger CEO, Arco Buijs introduced himself to the press at the flagship Steigenberger Hotel, Frankfurter Hof. The position of CEO had been unoccupied for half a year. Now, the new Chief Executive Officer is already speaking of growth and the high expectation of delivering improvements in results. Buijs will review "Strategy 2013+" developed by his predecessor Andre Witschi. In the background, the squeeze out of remaining shareholders has been completed.

Paris. This Tuesday, Accor finally separated split into two distinct companies, Accor Hotels and Accor Services. To complete the move, Accor Services renamed itself "Edenred"; Accor Hotels will continue to operate under the name Accor. Each Accor shareholder will receive one Edenred share for each Accor share owned. Details on the move were relatively difficult to come by. The two - now separate - companies didn't even manage to issue a joint press announcement and give a few concise facts.

Munich. With the opening of the Novotel Muenchen Airport two days ago, Accor demonstrated the new and fresh style of this hotel type in the upper middle class. The 257-room hotel, and second hotel on the airport property besides the 5-star Kempinski, is proof of the future real estate strategy of Accor, which was emphasised by the separation of Accor Hotels, and Accor Services the day before.

Cologne. There have not been many changes since the new management assumed office in December 2009. The motto of Dorint Hotels & Resorts is still "consolidate, save and generate revenue". After the management was extended from two to three people, there has been a different allocation of responsibilities, but radical operational steps have not been taken so far. The figures for the first half-year follow the general upward trend. Despite problems at some portfolio destinations, Dorint aims at carefully expanding further with a single new hotel abroad. A talk with Michael H. Goeldner, Chairman of the management of Neue Dorint GmbH.

Dubai. On the ominous date 10.10.2010, Dubai's Palm will get its first "Boutique Hotel": the new One&Only The Palm with 91 rooms/suites and four beach villas. The hotel complements existing One&Only hotels. Marketing in Europe is spearheaded by a well-known sales expert: Lore Koenig.

Berlin. Azimut Hotels has founded a new hotel management company for Europe in order to manage other hotel brands as well in future. Remo Gerritsen, since January 2010 CEO for the 21 Azimut hotels in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, sets a new course.

Frankfurt. In spite of the current economic difficulties, Maritim has managed to generate an annual surplus for 2009. This year, the company expects an increase in net room rates by 11 EUR. Meanwhile, expansion plans for China move to the second phase.

Tokyo. In Japan, media reports say that Japan Airlines plans to sell its hotel division JAL. The group includes the JAL City business hotels and the luxurious Nikko Hotels.

Baden-Baden. NH Hoteles will leave the stately hotel Buehlerhoehe in Baden-Baden on 30 September 2010. This ends the long-standing dispute between the owner family Hopp and the hotel operator. Plans for a re-design are in train. hospitalityInside.com spoke to both parties.