News & Stories

Vienna. Ski-lift operators in Austria originally created mountain bike trails and downhill parks to stimulate summer tourism. Today, everyone benefits, including hotels. With their results, two parks in Lower Austria and Salzburger Land also demonstrate that the ski-lift, which becomes a bike shuttle in summer, can attract new target groups and hundreds of thousands of tourists. Family trails also appeal to the kids.

Paris. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is close to a deal to buy the B&B Hotels chain from PAI Partners for about 2 billion euros, people familiar with the matter said, reported "Bloomberg" on Friday. Meanwhile more media have been picking up the news but the deal ist not yet finalized. Representatives for PAI and Goldman Sachs declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Goldman Sachs is doing the deal through its merchant banking division, which includes private equity deals, agency sources said. Accepting the deal would give PAI a return of three times its initial investment, sources added.

PAI bought the French hotelier in 2016 in a deal that valued B&B at about 790 million euros, expanding the firm into new markets. The chain was founded in 1990 and has more than 479 hotels in markets including Europe, Brazil and Morocco, according to its website. / map

Amsterdam. In the beginning all found Airbnb "cool", very late hoteliers and cities discovered that they had not understood, and underestimated the business model of a marketing professional. With slogans such as "Living like a local", Airbnb took the travellers by storm – and accelerated overtourism. The disruptor from San Francisco is still rebuffing hospitality professionals and politicians until today. Exactly this lack of transparency and secrecy will become the biggest challenge for Airbnb to survive the next years, despite every billion-dollar evaluation. As a hybrid of a hospitality company and OTA for rental homes, Airbnb is currently standing in the way of its own growth. Dr Jeroen Oskam, Director Hospitality Research at Hotelschool The Hague in the Netherlands, is convinced of this. He spent three years researching and analysing the cause and effects of this phenomenon for the book "The Future of Airbnb and the 'Sharing Economy' ", fresh from the press – and explains to hospitalityInside.com.

Amsterdam. Choice Hotels Group operates a dozen brands, only four of which are present in Europe. But CEO Patrick Pacious sees a lot of potential for more brands in the region, e.g. for Econolodge, which comprises about 900 hotels, primarily located in the US. While other companies give birth to new brands multiple times a year, the franchisor continues to invest in its brands and relationships to its key partners. Technology is one pillar and 5G is the next big thing but all of it will not decide about the hotels' success in the future, he told hospitalityInside.com during Choice's recent European convention in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam. Empowerment to exceed. Choice Hotels' European convention theme was all about giving the franchisees the guidance and most importantly the tools to better control their products and distribution to increase their bottom line. On stage, in Amsterdam, in front of hundreds of European affiliates, a 'seductive' Mark Pearce, Vice President International Division, got the crowd's attention with a slack routine, praising Choice's strategy and its latest investments which led to "a spectacular growth in 2018". The completely refreshed Comfort brand adapted to Europe's demand promises a great future; guests' comments are already honoring the new identity. For Germany, the group is thinking about the launch of an extended stay brand.

Bethesda. The homesharing battle is on. On Tuesday, Marriott launched its homesharing platform named "Homes & Villas" which will start next week and it features over 2,000, non-exclusive highly curated homes in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Owners may not share the new approach as for them it only means one thing: more competition. Competition has even increased over-night: On Wednesday, India-based OYO acquired Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group from Axel Springer, the German media giant and technology company. It enters the market with over 85,000 homes and 300,000 rooms across 50 countries.

Florence. Italian Lungarno Collection makes no secret out of its plans. Its medium-term target is to renew the splendour of the old internationally renowned CIGA brand which was the iconic symbol of luxury hospitality in the world for many years. Lungarno, based in Florence, is still a small but ambitious hospitality company which has started to leverage its Italy fashion heritage. Especially with its super-luxury brand Portrait; the first two of these all-suite properties in Rome and Florence grant EBITDA margins exceeding 30 percent. The next one in Milan will break all benchmarks. Valeriano Antonioli, the CEO of the Lungarno Collection explains the group's concept.

Rostock/Vienna. On Tuesday at noon, Vienna House from Vienna signed the taking over of 17 German arcona city hotels and two projects. Among them are all arcona Living hotels and the five Steigenberger franchise properties. This way, the Austrian hotel group strengthens its position in Germany with an immediate increase from 21 to 40 hotels. At the same time, its Thai owners allow it to continue its development as owner-operator. The expansion plan goes far beyond this mini deal and is contemplating real estate acquisitions in the whole of Europe. In addition, the "small cap IPO" in Bangkok and Singapore is waiting. The background story.

Gurgaon. Forget about Airbnb, the new disruptor in the hospitality industry is now called OYO. Its young entrepreneur believes that the vast majority of independent properties around the globe don't deserve to be treated as poorly as they are, in comparison to branded ones. To solve the issue, OYO proposes a full-scale model through leasing, franchising or managing entire buildings using technology. The company vows to answer the need of customers who expect better quality at lower prices when traveling. Raising over 1 billion dollars in funding, the Indian unicorn is rapidly spreading. OYO is clearly a disruptor to legacy master franchisors such as Choice Hotels and others, yet they don't seem to care much about the newcomer… for now.

Berlin. Design Hotels AG will probably be delisted by the end of the year. The board of the consortium under the Marriott umbrella has approved the corresponding application. It has nothing to do with the costs, said CEO Peter Cole on request.