News & Stories
Paris. The main news didn't come until after the half-year figures: As Accor S.A, Paris announced two days ago, the Sofitel brand is to be positioned in the luxury sector - alongside Ritz-Carlton and Hyatt and the group will give new life to the Pullman brand re-establishing it in the first class sector. In addition to this, Accor is also preparing to extend its "non standardised" economy activity in a drive to push a new brand "All Seasons".
Berlin. The Austrian hotel company Arcotel AG is building another hotel on one of the last free spaces in downtown Berlin, right in the middle of the Friedrichswerder. It is the group's fourth hotel in Germany and already the second in the German capital. Arcotel considers Berlin to be a "big player in Northern Europe" and the most important tourist destination of Germany after London and Paris.
Madrid.
The Spanish hotel group Barceló is expanding to Great Britain to minimise risks on the home market. As of September 1, the family business located on Mallorca will take over the management of 20 Paramount hotels belonging to the 4 and 5-star segment of the British competitor Dawnay Shore Hotels.Felsberg. The Center Hotels cooperative and the hotel operating company Alemannia Hotels have initiated collaboration. Their common directory now contains 18 independent 3 to 4-star hotels in Germany. They are not operated by individual hoteliers, but by a total of four operating companies.
Wiesbaden. By late October 2007, the French B&B Hotels hotel chain will sell 159 of its 175 hotels in France for a total amount of 471 million euros to the investment company ANF. In addition, ANF will invest another 58 million euros in the hotel chain over the next three years.
Munich. By 2010, Accor wants to have 200 Mercure hotels in Germany. There are 140 at present. Eric de Neef, General Director of Mercure Germany wants to achieve a growth of 25 hotels per year mainly by taking over independent hoteliers as franchisees.
