News & Stories

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New hotel consortium in the Alps

12.12.2008

Meran. On 1st December 2008, the online portal of the new hotel consortium "Relais und Alpen" was launched. The consortium consists of six hotels in South Tyrol and one in Berchtesgadener Land, Germany. Hotels in Austria are to follow shortly. Consortium founder, Christa Leopold brings decade-long experience in tourism as well as fully new quality demands with her.

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No sudden changes of strategy

Rudolf Tucek, CEO Vienna International, about the crisis and reactions

12.12.2008

Vienna. With 33 hotels and 14 projects in the pipeline, Vienna International is one of Austria's major hotel groups looking at Eastern Europe. CEO Rudolf Tucek confirms: the impact of the crisis has reached his group across borders - mainly city hotels. The background: Vienna International currently has about 2,300 employees and generated total revenue of 130 million euros with more than 1,700,000 room nights in 2008. The company's city, resort, spa and congress hotels are situated in nine European countries.

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Urgent call for action

Lesson for hotels: Crisis communications after attacks on Taj and Oberoi

5.12.2008

Mumbai/Munich.
The terror attacks in India's metropolis Mumbai put the crisis management of the hotel chains involved to the acid test. The challenge was mastered in differing degrees of ability. But the attacks should entail consequences for all hotels: crisis management should be put to the test now at the latest! The dramatic happenings are a model lesson in terms of crisis communications for hotels. Google shows the importance: The search enginge lists about 337,000 hits for Taj Mahal only.

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Back on track to the old profile

80 years Leading Hotels of the World - Convention in Boston - CEO change

5.12.2008

Boston. The mood moved between pride in respect of what's been achieved over the last 80 years and serious concern for times to come... Even the 450 Leading Hoteliers of the World attending this year's convention in Boston, USA, couldn't avoid the subject of the current financial crisis. Quite the opposite in fact, speakers were asked at short notice to make special reference to the subject in order to supply participants with as much relevant advice as possible. Leading's own results for 2008 were down. Now, all hopes are on new CEO Ted Teng who presented points of action in his first official speech. He intends to move Leading back to its "core business" and to jump start revenues. His predecessor Paul McManus received thunderous applause as "thank you" after 16 years at the head of the undertaking.

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The "Collection" takes shape

Before he died, Stefan Schoerghuber purchased Schloss Pichlarn

28.11.2008

Hof near Salzburg/Munich. Stefan Schoerghuber's planned "Collection" is taking shape, even if the future collection of unique 5-star hotels has not been announced officially yet: on December 1, 2008, the renowned Austrian Resort Hotel Schloss Pichlarn in Styria will become a one hundred percent subsidiary of the Schloss Fuschl Betriebe GmbH. The traditional luxury hotel with its focus on spa and golf complements the Schloss Fuschl Resort with the two hotels Jagdhof and Schloss Fuschl near Salzburg, which were renovated lavishly just a while ago. Stefan Schoerghuber bought Schloss Pichlarn four days before he passed away.

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Unrest in Berlin and among luxury hotels

Rate comparison of online systems: Do rates decline or not?

28.11.2008

Wiesbaden. The European hotel industry is sticking resolutely to its promise to keep room rates stable. But off the record, hoteliers are already pointing their fingers at those who have broken their word and decreased their rates in the face of the threatening economic crisis. The comparative figures of hotel.de emphasise these accusations. And regarding the company segment, travel managers are hesitating to make agreements given the uncertain situation. hospitalityInside.com carried out random checks in the online reservation systems.

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The new ailments of the luxury hotel industry

Leading Hotels Convention: Talks on the crises facing the super rich

21.11.2008

Boston. America's Ueber-Rich are suffering: The crisis has them in its grip and overnight has brought them into a liquidity problem. Currently, they remain with their villas, yachts and artworks. The average super rich person has, after all, eight cars and three to four houses. Two speeches at the annual conference of The Leading Hotels of the World in Boston last week centred in on the new "misery" of the rich and their ideas on service. Leading hoteliers can learn from both - and emerge from the imminent luxury crisis victorious.

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Everything but interchangeable

Fairmont and Raffles expand with modified concepts

14.11.2008

Singapore. Singapore's most famous hotel, The Raffles, once formed the very core of the Asian hotel group by the same name. Since February 2006, however, Raffles has been merged with the North American hotel group, Fairmont Hotels, and Swissôtel, originally a Swiss company. In Singapore, these three hotel brands stand directly beside one another, their proximity standing for the synergies gained from the fusion. During the "ITB Asia" three weeks ago, hospitalityInside.com spoke with Fairmont and Raffles managers on profile changes, new distribution emphases and their global expansion plans - now extended to Europe.

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Progress in Concorde and JJW negotiations

14.11.2008

Paris/London. Starwood Capital is thinking seriously about selling the majority of its luxury hotels, among them the 33 Concorde hotels and resorts. JJW Hotels owned by the Arabian Sheikh and business man Al Jaber displays interest.

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Research: Non-smokers spend more money

31.10.2008

Nuremberg. Even renowned scientists have now confirmed it: since the smoking ban has been in force in Germany, frequent smokers visit pubs, discotheques, restaurants and cafés significantly less than before the ban. Regarding non-smokers, the reduction in guests is considerably lower. Furthermore, they spend a lot more money than before.

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