News & Stories

Paris/Syndney. While Chinese investments are said to be keeping the pace despite government restrictions, M&A is becoming a hot topic in the Asia Pacific region. This week, AccorHotels and Australian Mantra Group as well as Millenium & Copthorne Hotels made the headlines with multi-billion-dollar deals. Global consolidation continues.

Paris. AccorHotels announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement to acquire Gekko, a major player in the business travel hotel reservation segment valued 100 million euros. Also AccorHotels acquired a 50% stake in the share capital of Orient Express. And in Berlin, the private hotel Das Stue now belongs to the group's luxury hotel brands.

Chicago. Preferred Hotels & Resorts are growing by 30 to 40 hotels per year at the moment. Philipp Weghmann, Executive Vice President Europe, is very happy about that. This year, the global consortium is also growing through Preferred Residences: Up to 100 properties are to be added to the portfolio by the end of the year. In addition, the consortium distinguishes itself by its young but already internationally operating consulting subsidiary.

Munich. At the end of August, the German hotel consortium Ringhotels and four other European hotel consortia merged to form a global alliance of private hotels, which, together, represent more than 500 hotels in 65 countries.

Madrid. The Spanish hospitality industry says goodbye to the best summer season ever. But the Spanish market is also facing rumors: According to media reports, Barceló Hotel Group might be considering a merger with NH Hotels creating Spain’s biggest chain.

London. A leaked document from the Home Office, the British Ministry in charge of Law and Order, Immigration and Security, published last week by "The Guardian", confirms hospitality leaders' worst fears. The British Hotel Association calls the proposals to limit free movement "catastrophic". Many businesses will fail warns the association.

Frankfurt/M. For ten years, the two future partners have been in negotiations. Now, for its 30-year anniversary, IntercityHotel GmbH, domiciled in Frankfurt, is able to announce a new international connection: From January 2018, it will cooperate with the Brazilian hotel brand Intercity Hotels. This could bring advantages for both sides.

Vienna/Wels. The boom in the German market has also motivated Amedia to change its strategy and to put its foot down. The initial idea, to turn the Austrian Amedia Group into one of the few internationally present hotel chains, came from Udo M. Chistée. His Austrian Hotel Consult has created various hotel groups since 1983. Today's principle stakeholder is now slowing thinking of pulling back a little the last five turbulent years and for this reason has brought a new partner on board: Roland Paar, also Austrian and the man who recently cleared the path for the Chinese group Plateno Hotels to make its way into Europe. A review and outlook.

Amsterdam. Dutch Bilderberg Hotels has changed hands. An Asian-German consortium just took over the 17 properties located across the Netherlands for an investment of 200 million euros.

Norwalk. Over the years, hoteliers around the world have learned to work with OTAs, whereas working against them has proved to be a vain strategy. Priceline for instance has gained power ever since it purchased Booking.com. Now the firm owns technology, human power, money, customer data, and master online marketing. Traditional hotels can still grow and prosper…but only in the shadow of a 100-billion-dollar giant. The hospitality top five chains do not reach the latest valuation of the world's largest online travel company.