News & Stories

Amsterdam. Over the past five years, startups promised to revolutionize the hotel industry. Several of them targeted hoteliers trying to get a commission on a service they should have been selling themselves in the first place. Phocuswright's last report clearly confirms that hospitality is entrepreneurs' preferred sector in the travel industry, even before rental accommodations. Investors though think the other way and their funding goes into alternative lodging instead. Nothing to fight over anyway as most of the money is invested in America and Asia.

London/Zagreb. The new luxury touches the soul – and one's innermost values. The "spiritualised" consumers are the new luxury guests. They question their surroundings, their lives, follow a healthy lifestyle and translate their personal transformations into their luxury behaviour. They are no longer impressed by tangibles and heady marketing. A new report by Horwath HTL Croatia and luxury lifestyle consultant Claudia Roth explain how to approach it.

Dubai. When in Dubai, during the Arabian Travel Market, the first rumours on AccorHotels/Moevenpick arose, Chris Hartley, CEO of Global Hotel Alliance was sitting in a meeting: with the 35 other CEOs who spearhead the hotel groups in this alliance of small and medium-sized chains. The current consolidation waves pushes GHA as an alternative to the giants' brands.

Munich. In future, virtual and real worlds will increasingly begin to merge. For sectors of industry which sell dreams, this opens up new doors to customers. Virtual Reality will be key in increasing revenues. Tests have shown: The brain is unable to distinguish between VR and the real world. For this reason, it can also be used to impact on customer behaviour. The step towards Augmented Reality is also a short one. It incorporates virtual reality images into everyday life, for instance, by means of virtual reality headset: Then monsters sit next to you on the sofa and little robots fall out of the ceiling... BNP Paribas has already tested VR for real estate. Researchers expect VR to cause a revolution similar to that provoked by the smartphone. Reason enough to take a closer look at the impact to date.

Paris/Zurich. In order to arrange the Moevenpick deal, probably only one single attempt was necessary: to convince Prince Alwaleed. The Saudi Arabian prince, head of the multi-billion Kingdom Holding, possessed 33.3 percent of Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts. At the same time, he holds 5.7 percent of the shares in AccorHotels since 2016. CEO Sébastien Bazin probably pushed open this door himself. A good move, which would have not been possible for several reasons three years ago… In any case, AccorHotels is stirring up the upscale and luxury rankings in the hotel industry now. Moevenpick, however, fits well into the brand puzzle of the French company. AccorHotels continues to be on the lookout for new business. After the acquisition of Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts on Monday was announced this week, the French company still has 1.5 billion euros at its disposal for new acquisitions.

Leipzig. What will economy hotels look like in the future? Will they do entirely without employees, or will they return to more humanity? How will the demographic change affect their hardware? A recent study takes a close look at this particular type of hotel.

Munich. The three loyalty programmes of Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Starwood were merged in mid-April. "But another 17 systems have to be adapted and integrated by the end of this year," says Reiner Sachau, Marriott's Chief Operations Officer for Core Brands in Europe, describing the huge workload behind the scenes after the merger of Marriott und Starwood Hotels. "This is not a normal condition for us," he said. Therefore, it is not surprising that it has been quiet in the industry around Marriott for some time now. In Sachau's region, Starwood added 176 hotels. He has been "on the road" since then. Within 18 months, he has been able to talk to all owners respectively investors. Now, he has given Maria Puetz-Willems some background details during a meeting in Munich.

Paris/Zurich. The rumours have become true: AccorHotels has today announced that it has signed an agreement with Mövenpick Holding and Kingdom Holding to acquire Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, for a cash amount of CHF560 million.
The transaction implies a 14.9X 2019e EBITDA multiple before synergies, and less than 10X pro forma 2019e EBITDA after run rate synergies and committed development pipeline. The transaction will have an accretive impact on Group earnings from the first year.
Founded in 1973 in Switzerland, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts operates in 27 countries with 84 hotels and a particularly strong presence in Europe and the Middle East. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts also plans to open 42 additional hotels by 2021, representing almost 11,000 rooms, with significant expansion in Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The goup, which has high-end expertise in the main hotel-related services, employs more than 16,000 people worldwide.
Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO of AccorHotels, said, "With the acquisition of Mövenpick, we are consolidating our leadership in the European market and are further accelerating our growth in emerging markets, in particular in Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The Mövenpick brand is the perfect combination of modernity and authenticity and ideally complements our portfolio. Its European-Swiss heritage is a perfect fit with AccorHotels. By joining the group, it will benefit from AccorHotels’ power, particularly in terms of distribution, loyalty-building and development. This transaction illustrates the strategy we intend to pursue with the opening up of AccorInvest’s capital: to seize tactical opportunities to strengthen our positions and consolidate our leaderships, as well as leverage our growth."
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will benefit from AccorHotels’ loyalty program, distribution channels and operating systems, which will help optimize their performance. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. It should be completed during the second half of 2018. / red

San Francisco. The American Hotels & Lodging Association wants to put an end to Airbnb's special treatment which it claims cost millions of dollars to normal tax payers. AHLA also says that if Airbnb wants to enter the hotel business, then it needs to be regulated, taxed and subject to the same safety compliances and oversight that law-abiding hotel companies adhere to each day. The gloves are off.

Munich. While fathers are willing to take some risks on holidays, the 20 to 29-year-olds prefer to play it safe. This reversed logic of generations has been revealed by the current survey of Europaeische Reiseversicherung, a European travel insurer. Young people are even booking again more often via travel agencies.