News & Stories

Philadelphia/Greenwich. Starwood Capital Group will provide an American hotel management company the the resources to expand its highly successful platform across the United States.

Singapore/Frankfurt. In the past year, Banyan Tree Holding pushed forward with the expansion of its resort brands Banyan Tree and Angsana in Mexico. The Singapore-based company now plans on establishing a firm foothold in Europe by 2012. There are already projects underway in Greece and Portugal and numerous additional projects are in the pipeline in Asia and in the United Arab Emirates. Asian guests are now playing an increasingly important role for all destinations.

Parsippany/Mallorca. Last Monday, Wyndham Hotel Group acquired the Tryp hotel brand from Spanish Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts. The name will slightly change but Sol Meliá continues to run the brand. This deal is based on synergies and is unique in the industry so far. The details.

Lucerne. It is still open whether the Buergenstock Resort in Lucerne, the Schweizerhof Bern and the Savoy in Lausanne will be integrated in the Swissôtel group. Rumours are already circulating in Switzerland.

Vienna. While shopping becomes more and more important as a motive for travelling, Vienna still insists on very rigid shop closing times. The guests' satisfaction is decreasing. Sunday opening hours would yield Viennese trade 50 million euros and the hotel industry 325,000 overnight stays.

Munich. Will company websites become superfluous? Is it true that advertising loses its influence compared to communication in social networks? And how can hotels be presented on mobile platforms? Early April, about 300 experts from the hospitality industry and IT service providers talked about social media at the “e-Marketing Day” of Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association Germany.

Velden. Capella Schloss Velden finds no peace. Following on from a double director switch in June 2009, experienced hotel manager Elmar Greif has hardly had any time at all at the helm of the Capella Hotel before it begins making negative headlines again. Reason: owner problems. Now, all hopes rest on 2010.

Dubai. "Regent was never a success." Speaking at the "Arabian Hotel Investment Conference" in Dubai this week, Kurt Ritter, CEO of the Rezidor Hotel Group, commented publicly on the sale of Carlson and Rezidor's luxury hotel brand to the Taiwanese Formosa International Hotels Corporation three weeks ago.

Hong Kong/Zurich. Peninsula Hotels are still among the finest luxury hotels in the world. Without much ado, the group is continuing its expansion: the Peninsula Shanghai just opened, 2012 will see the first European hotel in Paris, and there are highly ambitious plans concerning India. Clement K.M. Kwok, CEO of Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels Ltd, the parent company, sits in the group’s headquarters - next to Peter C. Borer, Chief Operating Officer, from Switzerland. Last week, Borer was on the road with Rainy Chan, General Manager of the Peninsula Hong Kong, and Paul Tchen, General Manager of the Peninsula Shanghai. Silvia Pfenninger, our correspondent in Switzerland, met the three and asked them about the new hotels, the economic situation and cost-saving measures as well as the challenges concerning employee quality.

London. Key Asian cities showed exceptional growth in wealth in 2009, but globally even the majority of healthy investors believes that 2010 will be a good year to invest in property again. Taking decisions, they rely on their own expertise.