News & Stories
Frankfurt/Munich. With the Steigenberger Porsche Design Hotels brand announced in mid-July, Deutsche Hospitality is now stepping on the gas on its journey to global luxury lifestyle heaven. CEO Marcus Bernhardt explained details about the contract, design, costs and expansion in a conversation with hospitalityInside.com.
Augsburg. How resilient is the hotel industry in this crisis? It is certain that the businesses are still experiencing highs and lows. Investors and operators are questioning each other, banks remain selective for now, while new diversity and new competition is emerging under the cloak of "hospitality". A snapshot prior to Expo Real 2021, which starts on Monday in Munich.
Augsburg. Holiday hotels and holiday apartments are booming right now. The latter benefit from social distancing and their housing concepts from an increase in demand. Since 2010, this segment has become increasingly professional and is now narrowing the gap to the classic hotel industry, also driven by the consumer trend towards bleisure and workation. A comparison of sales figures and official statistics.
Berlin. The pandemic has made it impossible to pay higher salaries. Other solutions are needed: The new "talent pool" is made up of refugees. And the next big opportunity to fill empty spaces in hotels is the "remote industry" that is now emerging. Covid-19 has given Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor, the necessary space for a rethink of certain highly charged issues. He has become humble, but tackles problems with vision and new insights. Maria Puetz-Willems met him in Berlin.
Toronto. On Wednesday, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts announced that longstanding shareholder Cascade Investment LLC has agreed to buy about half of the existing 47.5% stake owned by Saudi Arabia Prince Alwaleed bin Talal for 2.21 billion dollars, valuing FS at 10 billion dollars on an enterprise basis.
Paris/Amsterdam/Brussels. France, Netherlands, Belgium: in all three countries, tourism professionals and businesses hope for a return to normality. France officially ends the solidarity fund but continues to support the tourism sector. For the other two countries it will be bitter.
Munich. Business is slowly coming back; development continues as planned. The topic of staff members is cause for anguish. Duncan O'Rourke, CEO Northern Europe at Accor – which encompasses 31 countries – matter-of-factly evaluates the situation after one and a half years of pandemic. He learned that some changes are necessary concerning Accor's structure and focus.
Chicago. The run on resorts within the major international hotel groups continues. Hyatt has announced the acquisition of Apple Leisure Group, doubling its number of resort hotels.
Augsburg. Through the corona pandemic, political decisions meant a long period of suffering for Germany's hotel industry. However: Its original core, hospitality, continues to carry the industry into a new future. The culture of service and care and its new lifestyle provide impulses for new hospitality facets, even in other industries. Hospitality is everywhere! Almost. An overview of new trends and modified concepts through which hospitality and living are moving ever closer together.
Innsbruck. Despite endless lockdowns and the collapse of Austria’s city hotel industry: Optimism prevails among the hotels of the Verkehrsbüro Group, the budget group Harry's Home and the individual Ipp Hotels. They all solved the problems around rents/leases, government subsidies and employees in their own different ways. And all three want to expand.