News & Stories
Frankfurt. Over the last four years, the Spanish hotel chain Hesperia S.A headquartered in Barcelona has expanded its share in its substantially larger competitor NH Hoteles to 25.088 percent. For years, rumours have circulated as to a planned take over of NH by Hesperia. Now they've been given new fuel.
Lausanne. Golden Tulip Hospitality Group appoints Alfred de Bruyn as Vice President Brands & Concepts and David Cruz as Vice President Human Resources. Furthermore Golden Tulip announced the addition of 27 hotels under franchise-agreement in Germany.
Augsburg. PR managers are better at it that their bosses, though when it comes to the crunch, they're often ignored. When chairmen or managing directors come and go, companies fall into the bad communications trap and journalists are given plenty of room for their own interpretations. In place of neutral or even positive reports, speculative or background pieces appear - and management once again protests about "infernal journalists - why do they never write what you say?"
Barcelona. Hospes is a relatively new luxury boutique hotel chain founded only in 2000 and based in Barcelona. In contrast to the present expansion strategy pursued by most major publicly quoted hotel groups which calls for an "asset light" approach, Hospes owns over 80% of its room capacity. This is due in part to the chain’s branding philosophy which call for the conversion of buildings with great cultural, architectural, and hereditary value, whilst preserving their intrinsic personality and soul, but, at the same time, adding an avant-garde & design touch. In the future, however, the group is considering operating with two lines of hotels.
Wiesbaden. Six weeks after the federal state of Hesse sold the Parkhotel in Schlangenbad near Wiesbaden to Summit Healthcare Management Partners in Cologne, about a dozen employees, among them the general manager, left the hotel. The press accuses the Hessian government of carelessness with respect to checking the buyer.
Chicago. At the end of the year, the entrepreneurial Pritzker family from Chicago, owner of Hyatt Hotels, sold its Marmon conglomerate for 4.5 billion dollars to the American investor Warren Buffett and his Holding Berkshire Hataway. In this respect, there is new speculation about Hyatt Hotels.
Vienna. As part of its new advertising and marketing campaign, Austrian Advertising has chosen a new route with subtle irony and this time without the penguins. Tourism experts are satisfied with the approach, which is clearly geared towards the established upper middle classes.