News & Stories

Stockholm. The Swedish Pandox group is a discrete, but very successful hotel owner-operator. Its stock price is soaring, well outperforming most European indices. CEO Anders Nissen seems to be successful in what he does. Even the daring Jurys Inn deal in Great Britain was perfectly timed in light of the insecurity prior to the final Brexit decision. A portfolio analysis.

Wiesbaden. Car manufacturers announce more painful job cuts while initial German car suppliers announce their insolvency. This economic driver vital to Germany is suffering from a massive slowdown and additional external influences. Will the economic downturn pull the tourism sector down into the abyss? How are hotel groups reacting to the uncertain situation when planning their budget for 2020? Vienna House, Choice Hotels, Achat, IntercityHotels, IHG, and Novum Hospitality answered to these questions.

Munich/Cologne. Consolidation continues: in the third week of January of the new year, Cologne-based investor and project developer Art-Invest bought the GHOTEL hotel & living Group with 17 business hotels. "Now we are a fully integrated group," says Art-Invest Managing Director and Head of Hotels, Dr Peter Ebertz, explaining the final step into the operative business

Bregenz. It was probably one of the most "political" annual conferences ever of the Austrian Hotelier Association in Bregenz this week. It showed what a great lobbying organisation the industry association has become – in both senses of the word. The new old Minister of Tourism, Elisabeth Koestinger, did not hesitate to demonstrate her solidarity with the industry. She publicly praised the joint constructive work for the corresponding issues in the new government programme.

Munich. Within this new decade, there will be more changes than in the past 30 years. And the hotel chains will realise their asset-light model is dying that they are solely managing their brands, that their loyalty programmes are a bubble, and their distribution channels an illusion. And their customers will hardly be able to satisfy asset-light chains, as they are no longer travellers but owners and investors. At the start of the year, Richard Adam, who grew up in a hotel family, became a hotel and tourism marketing specialist and is working as an international consultant today, speaks frankly about the silent earthquakes across the sector tearing the current hospitality business apart.

Atlanta. Airport hotel operators should prepare for new trends in the terminals. In the next decade, taxis will fly and airports will think for themselves. The traveller will be totally controlled, as will his or her journey.

Berlin/Salzgitter. A new online guide is now to set to help shed some light on the complicated issue of subsidies for the tourism industry in Germany. The federal initiative is also geared towards the hotel industry. The platform is now live.

Wiesbaden. Rising land and construction costs are driving up prices for hotel buildings in Europe – and have a massive impact on room sizes in sought-after city locations. And now there are even 4-star hotels like Radisson with rooms in the 16 sqm budget format. Will we end up with rooms the size of rabbit hutches or is a counter trend in sight? An interview with architects Peter Joehnk, Oliver Massabni and project developer Olaf Steinhage.

Fribourg. Aevis Victoria plans to become a hotel chain of national importance in Switzerland. The owner of the Victoria-Jungfrau Collection just added eight properties – sold by Credit Suisse for a discount.

Paris. No longer had Huazhu acquired Steigenberger, Accor announced a partnership with the Chinese distribution giant Alibaba. Yet Accor owns 10.8% in Huazhu, behind is the founder of Ctrip. Now, four weeks later, it plans to sell Huazhu shares amounting to around 5% in the company. A withdrawal by instalment?